Felonious Research

So I set out to determine where I might be able to find my "Hawk's Place" road sign. With a quick google search, I found a service called "melissadata.com," which seems to be pretty good at searching road names by zip codes. I signed up for the trial run and went to work. "Hawk's" yields a lot of responses, and without a method to sort them further, I had to do it on my own. Nest, road, landing, point, cove, circle, street, bay, beach, and rest all come through frequently. "Place," however, only exists at 3 locations in the country. After finding these, each one got further research.

1. Hawk's Place, Fish Haven, Idaho, 83287

Fish Haven was the first score, and for awhile, it looked like it might be the only one. My limited research indicates that it is a little town on Bear Lake, in idaho, just north of the Utah boarder. It's close proximity to Salt Lake makes this a day trip from my friend M*tt's house. We'll speak in code for the illegal stuff, since I'm sure M*tt will be pretty bummed if this project sends him to jail. . .
Oh, and the google map says "Hawk Place," which is way different than what I'm looking for. This will require further investigation before any rubber gets laid down to Fish Haven.

2. Hawk's Place, Palmyra, VA 22963

Palmyra doesn't seem that exciting. It is near charlettsville. In researching Palmyra, however, I realized one fact of "Place" that makes this task difficult. "Place" seems to refer to roads that dead end or cul-d-sac. Great places to live, not much traffic, but it means that (according to my google earth map) that there is probably only one "Hawk's Place" sign per host city. . .reconsideration of the Fish Haven Map confirms this setback. . .

3. Hawk's Place, Bennington, VT 05201

Bennington is at the intersections of Hwy 7 and Hwy 9 in the southwest corner of Vermont, near the NY boarder. Map research indicates that this is the shortest "Hawk's Place" so far. Only one intersection again. I like the Vermont location the best so far, and I'm not sure why. I've got a lot of friends in Vermont, and my recent "Job-ectemy" will probably cease my 2-3 annual trips to the region. This would be a great excuse to get back. Also, my friend M*ghan would totally be up for helping with a project like this. In fact, when I think about completing the project, no matter what the venue, M*ghan is exactly the kind of person who would be up for this. As I write this, I'm so sure that she'll lose sleep over how cool this is, I'm going back to search for "Meghan's Place. . ." stand by.

PS: Meghan, happy birthday. Per the usual, what a random set of events that led me to finding a sign in vermont and writing about you on your birthday. You are totally the "ORG" (original roadtrip gangsta')

So there you have it. Looks like 3 host cities of my sign, and each one probably only has one sign. Divide that by the fact that Fish Haven may have the imposter "Hawk Place" sign, and we could be down to two.

The road show is born. . .

I've never really thought of a blog as something I had time to do. Other people have always had them, and I've always thought that maybe they needed more work, or something. Well, anyway. . . I'm leaving my job in May, and it is amazing how much free time I've developed now that the pressure is off to get so much done at work. As another friend who is leaving his job in August put it: "Welcome to the Farewell Tour."

And so far, the beginning of my tour has been a sold out show. I had no idea how much life goes on around you when you are sucked into a full time (double time) job for a few years. I've caught up with more friends since I announced my departure (about 3 weeks ago) than I have since I started this job (about 3 years ago). And, as much as I've traveled in the last 3 years for work, one idea keeps coming into my mind: Road Trip. As many friends as I have caught up with in Boulder, imagine the scope if I got in my car and got serious.

I've always wanted a street sign for my house the reads "Hawk's Pl." There are some obvious setbacks to this desire, not the least of which is that stealing street signs. . . I think. . . is not legal. None the less, as I think about a list of key road trip objectives, I cannot ignore this goal. There are other objectives, subject to revision, related to things I have never seen, places I have never been, or people I would like to see. Two that come to mind:

1. See real country music in a real country music venue
1a) if necessary, buy cowboy boots in aforementioned certified venue city
2. See a Cubs game

And thus, the May 2007 "Incremential Retirement" Roadtrip is born