three months of winter, $3000

It's starting to look like from roughly the middle of this coming December to the middle of March I won't have anything to do, or anywhere specific to be.

I'm overdue to move (should finish this drawn-out degree in early Dec), but the middle of winter is an awful time to move to a new city (in order to start out on the right foot, anyway, without seasonal affective disorder coloring everything). I don't expect to have a job, and I don't expect to get a job anytime soon, although not for lack of interest or willingness. I've got some savings to live off of, and I plan to pare down my belongings to just what I can fit in my truck (which, really, with a good tarp, is still a lot of crap.)

At this point, all options are on the table. However, my preferences are:

- If it's in the continental US, stay east of center (I'd like to stay clear of the obvious option: bum around my parents' houses and friends' couches.)

- Comfort is a medium-low priority (this trip is a mid-winter post-college "what do I do now?"), and I consider comfort freely exchangeable for an interesting experience.

Point of origin: Western NY.

In 1990 or 91 me and a buddy drove cross country that winter, from Albany, NY in his subaru wagon. each day we'd get a copy of USA today and look for the warmest part of the country and head there. We ended up in San Diego. spent about 6 to 8 weeks visiting friends, camping, driving.

One of the best trips I've ever been on.

I's say, stash your stuff in a mini storage or a friend's barn or something and drive to where it's warm. Live cheap and have a great time.

Yes! Life is short, take an adventure!

Helen Keller wrote:

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

if you're not going anywhere, you can't get lost or be late.

tour

Ski hard.

squirell nutkin;668443 wrote:

I's say, stash your stuff in a mini storage or a friend's barn or something and drive to where it's warm. Live cheap and have a great time.

This. The south west is where you want to go. Looks for hot springs in national forests...

lumberjim;668450 wrote:

if you're not going anywhere, you can't get lost or be late.

tour

That was a sensational read. Really and truly. You should consider writing. You style is as entertaining as it is accessible.