Wanderful, wanderful, wanderful

Although fuel prices are going to make travel once again the privilege of the elite, the question begs: why travel anyway? The human landscape is becoming awfully homogenous, with the GAP, Williams Sonoma, Ann Taylor and Victoria’s Secret popping up everywhere you go. What is Lincoln Road in Miami but the Short Hills Mall with palm trees?

I think this is why my last (and final) trip to Disneyworld about 10 years ago was so damn depressing. We stayed in Kissimmee, an endless strip of cheap hotels and chain fast-food restaurants, which made me feel fat, bloated, stupid and blandly American. (Read: Homer Simpson) I thought I was just being cheap when I forced my family to forgo a day of Disney for a $5 per person rodeo; actually, in retrospect, it was a spiritual revolt. And Disneyland, that in itself is the perfect symbol for the awful homogeneity of place. That stupid Main Street, a corporate reproduction of the very kind of small town that no longer exists because of the success of corporate behemoths like Disney. Uggh.

But my young friends Mark and Katie are not so jaded, and they’re planning a trip across the country and looking for corporate sponsorship. They’ve got a name and a url for their adventure, Wanderful.us, and they’ve got a marketing proposal, looking for sponsors to wrap their van in exchange for 6 milion+ impressions as they spend three months traveling the country.

Of course, the economics of their adventure suggest a sponsorship of a national chain. They’re young and good looking; maybe they could get the GAP. But I’ve suggested they try IndieBound, and make it a quest to visit every independent bookstore in the country. Or TrueValue, the trade group for independent hardware stores. As Mark and Katie drive off into the sunset to see America, wouldn’t it be nice if they could find something that they couldn’t see right here in New Jersey? And maybe, as they burn fuel at $4 a gallon, do something really profound: help save America from itself.