  That Was Fast... All I did was innocently ask "what's next? " and today I get a groovy offer. Not money or an acting gig, but something I need just as much: a trip. My friend DR, who's working in Toronto for the summer, is moving to San Francisco at the end of August and he wants me to drive across country with him, all expenses paid (including the return air fare from SF).
Even better, he wants to first drive down via New Orleans and Southern Decadence. This is amazing news for several reasons: First, I thought DR had completely lost interest in our relationship. He's been on the road for the past few years, but we've stayed fairly close, until he finally moved back to New York and promptly lost touch.
Knowing that he wants to spend ten days trapped in a car with me makes me very happy. I know we'll laugh our asses off, probably have a good cry every day, and party our collective asses off. And if I have to lose him to the West Coast, at least I'll have this bonding trip with him to hold on to. Second: New Orleans, urlLink Southern Decadence , my own glimpse of urlLink Blogging urlLink Royalty ...do I have to go on here?
Third, I've always, always, always wanted to drive across country. I want to see the urlLink Coat of Many Duck Heads , I want to eat in urlLink Mammy's Cupboard , chip a tooth on the urlLink World's Largest Pecan , knock one back with the urlLink Beer-Drinking Goat , pay my respects to the urlLink Astrochimp , buy something pretty at the urlLink Store Shaped Like A Rock , finally see that Grand Canyon the Brady Kids made such a fuss over, and, you know I wanna sit in one of the urlLink Cabazon Dinosaurs and say, "Everybody's got a Big But, Monique.
" Pecan logs, bad coffee, desert, Southfork...it's heaven! Getting away would be swell. I'd actually only lose one week of work, and maybe between now and the end of August I can do some overtime, maybe get a stupid part-time job, and make this work. I'd have to leave Dexter with someone I trust, and Molly's dad certainly owes me, but I'd rather have someone come apartment sit.
We'll see, I'm getting ahead of myself. But, man, would I love to do this trip. So if you have suggestions on (a) where I can make some big cash fast (remembering that I'm 38, although it still tastes like chicken), or (b) where I can visit a bear that plays the piano or the World's Largest Zipper or similar American Kitsch, lemme know. PS: Can urlLink someone tell me what one wears to Southern Decadence? 
