I see that a number of readers are writing in and urging me to talk to people outside the big cities. Thanks, I understand your concern. However, if you reflect on our route, you will see that many non-urban areas exist between the cities listed. As I tried to make clear in my update, we plan to stop there, in those non-urban areas, and try to talk to people. But I do not have any contacts in those non-urban areas, so that makes it difficult to plan a route based on them. The cities on our route will get us from place to place. America is there, in those cities, and in the non-urban areas between those cities. If you live in one of those non-urban areas and want to arrange a gathering, please let me know. (See, e.g., Roger Mitchell's kind offer to help us out in Western Montana below. Harley Lennon Squires invited us to Hillsboro, West Virginia, which I believe is relatively non-urban. A kind gentlemen just wrote to invite us to a horse farm outside Peoria, which I would love to do instead of visiting dead writers' graves in St. Louis. That is how we are connecting with people in non-urban areas, i.e., by people responding to my requests for invitations and help making those connections.)
I'm glad you have noted this. I just came here to say the same thing - looking at your schedule of cities, it seemed to me you'd be missing half the real America in between. This is an ambitious road trip for sure. I have lived in a few of those cities, years ago before they became the shitholes they are now. But Ashland and Medford Oregon may still be worth a visit, as Lubbock perhaps also.
You may be able to see some corn fields in Illinois on your way from Chicago to St Louis, and talk to a farmer, like my cousin. And before you cross the bridge over the Mississippi into Missouri, pay homage to Elijah P Lovejoy at his grave and monument in Alton IL; he was martyred for freedom of the press.
You may need to schedule a "part 2" follow up next year, when America will be celebrating our 250th anniversary, with the focal point being in Iowa at the America's Fair. Things will be so much better next year, as we are finally able to extricate ourselves from the tentacles of the deep state corruption we've been under for my entire 70 years. America's Golden Age is rapidly upon us.
"Things will be so much better next year, as we are finally able to extricate ourselves from the tentacles of the deep state corruption"
Thanks for the laugh. I hold a somewhat different POV: The last 70 years (and I've lived most of it), America has been the host of one of the most pampered civilizations in world history. If I were you, I'd buckle up.
I, too am glad you have recognized the value of meeting with people outside the big cities. I live in California, and in one respect, it is like 3 completely different states--one in the major urban areas, another along the coast away from the cities, and yet a third in the largely agricultural (and far less wealthy) central valley. I'm not sure how you plan to travel from SF to LA, but you'll want to keep this in mind if you want to talk to a good cross-section of people.
I hope your dates are flexible or you will still miss the little places in between. That would be a real shame. PS how are you planning to get people to look up from their phones?!
CJ, I noticed you don't have anything lined up for Big Sky Country, so I would like to recommend a course of action.
I live in western Montana, about 30 miles south of Missoula. One of my good friends, Dan Shumway, owns and operates a local digital radio station, BBR Radio, and does interviews with people from all over the world, including some famous ones. He has worked for years as a reporter with KLA-TV, which you may recognize since it is headquartered in Germany. I am sure he would jump at the chance to sit down with you for a little while if you have time while in this area. I will mention this to him as well.
If this appeals to you, please reply to this comment and I will begin to put it together. It would be a pleasure for me.
Thanks, Roger! Absolutely. Could you please get in touch with me via email using the contact form at the Consent Factory. I would love to try to make this work! https://consentfactory.org/contact/
We live in Oakley Ca which is about halfway between Sacramento and San Francisco. We have a house here and have room. I can give more details privately, if interested. Additionally, we have a home in Boise, just outside the city proper and also have room there as well if you do make it to the beautiful state of Idaho.
Your mountain west survey has to come through UTAH, MONTANA, Northern IDAHO, Eastern WASHINGTON (Coeur d'Alene and Spokane are close together) and trek down Hwy 95 to Boise, then up I84 to Portland. Interesting, that you will travel through the potential AMERICAN REDOUBT. These are all strange and beautiful lands.
To visit San Francisco and Los Angeles and skip over the Central Valley — you will be missing all the farmers and farm workers, and skewing the California story.
I can see how it might be hard to find them to talk to, as they aren’t standing in the street waiting to complain or chat about their lives, but are out in the fields and orchards working.
If I had a year to do this trip, I would still have to leave out a lot of the USA. I have seven weeks. I appreciate the feedback, but I am not doing a "story" on California or anywhere else. I'm doing the project I have tried to describe, on a relatively limited budget.
Used to live in Pflugerville (suburb of Austin) now retired on a small cattle ranch outside of Austin near Thorndale which is quickly becoming urbanized. Can offer old lady cooking - 3 hots and a cot. Good luck and God bless
If you’re going to the south, you should definitely go to Savannah GA. Sturgis SD is an interesting little town after the bikers leave or while they’re there 8/1-10). Drive through the Badlands to get there. I don’t see New England on your list! Concord MA is great. I hope you go to our Amish communities they are amazing people.
The weekend of October 25th, 26th in Washington DC is the Marine Corps marathon. I only know this day because I’m running it…so book your lodging in advance!
Daytona Beach, Florida Biketoberfest is Oct 16-19. Always interesting with colorful characters. You can use my 2 bed/3 bath Atlantic oceanfront condo if you decide to hit Florida.
Life-long south Texan here. Have spent alot of time in Lubbock and it’s fine. However, if your time is limited, I recommend San Antonio rather than Austin. Beautiful, historic city. I went to college there. Still offering my beach house in Rockport if you end up on the Texas coast.
1) I am in Henly, TX, outside of Austin. I'd be happy to host a lunch or dinner of native Texans and (importantly) stateside emigrants lol. Have pretty extensive knowledge and would have a broad section of invitees
2) Portland is a great place, Medford too. But suggest going north to Cannon Beach/Astoria. a) like you, Lewis and Clark searched for America and landed at nearby Seaside; b) coastal people are different. Happy to introduce knowledgeable folks about the area
Thank you, Stephen ... that sounds great! Can you please get in touch with me via email with the contact form at the Consent Factory? I'd like to explore this. https://consentfactory.org/contact/
Don't tell anyone, but there is a possibility of a New England/New Hampshire thing at the end of the trip, if Hugo and I are not in the hospital by then.
I also just came here to say the same thing and see that you have it covered (or are seeking to). A related suggestion: while in Portland, OR, also go to nearby Springfield, across the river from Eugene and much more blue-collar. It was the site of a horrible high school shooting in 1998 (Kip Kinkel). I know someone who was in junior high then and now lives in San Diego. I'll ask if he still has family or friends there.
“talking to people from all walks of life and of all political persuasions”
I hate to be the one to say it but based on your route it looks like a tour predominately through blue America. I hope you also get out of the cities and through small town America as well.
It looks to me as if the stops mentioned are simply locations/events that could be nailed down early via friends. I trust that if he's unfamiliar with other areas/peoples, he'll put in the work: West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Texas are on the route. Also, "Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas? No idea yet. It’s all up in the air at the moment."
At the close of the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787, as Benjamin Franklin left the hall in Philadelphia, he was asked, “What kind of government have you given us, Dr. Franklin?” He replied: "A republic, if you can keep it."
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” —Thomas Paine
“For, in a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, 'holds office'; every one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.” —John F. Kennedy
I feel we don't need any bosses anymore. Government is like our chaperone and tyrannical father. We are not children we are adults just like them. But we need a system that empowers us and today that's so easy to do with digital technology.
I see that a number of readers are writing in and urging me to talk to people outside the big cities. Thanks, I understand your concern. However, if you reflect on our route, you will see that many non-urban areas exist between the cities listed. As I tried to make clear in my update, we plan to stop there, in those non-urban areas, and try to talk to people. But I do not have any contacts in those non-urban areas, so that makes it difficult to plan a route based on them. The cities on our route will get us from place to place. America is there, in those cities, and in the non-urban areas between those cities. If you live in one of those non-urban areas and want to arrange a gathering, please let me know. (See, e.g., Roger Mitchell's kind offer to help us out in Western Montana below. Harley Lennon Squires invited us to Hillsboro, West Virginia, which I believe is relatively non-urban. A kind gentlemen just wrote to invite us to a horse farm outside Peoria, which I would love to do instead of visiting dead writers' graves in St. Louis. That is how we are connecting with people in non-urban areas, i.e., by people responding to my requests for invitations and help making those connections.)
I'm glad you have noted this. I just came here to say the same thing - looking at your schedule of cities, it seemed to me you'd be missing half the real America in between. This is an ambitious road trip for sure. I have lived in a few of those cities, years ago before they became the shitholes they are now. But Ashland and Medford Oregon may still be worth a visit, as Lubbock perhaps also.
You may be able to see some corn fields in Illinois on your way from Chicago to St Louis, and talk to a farmer, like my cousin. And before you cross the bridge over the Mississippi into Missouri, pay homage to Elijah P Lovejoy at his grave and monument in Alton IL; he was martyred for freedom of the press.
You may need to schedule a "part 2" follow up next year, when America will be celebrating our 250th anniversary, with the focal point being in Iowa at the America's Fair. Things will be so much better next year, as we are finally able to extricate ourselves from the tentacles of the deep state corruption we've been under for my entire 70 years. America's Golden Age is rapidly upon us.
"Things will be so much better next year, as we are finally able to extricate ourselves from the tentacles of the deep state corruption"
Thanks for the laugh. I hold a somewhat different POV: The last 70 years (and I've lived most of it), America has been the host of one of the most pampered civilizations in world history. If I were you, I'd buckle up.
Same here.
I, too am glad you have recognized the value of meeting with people outside the big cities. I live in California, and in one respect, it is like 3 completely different states--one in the major urban areas, another along the coast away from the cities, and yet a third in the largely agricultural (and far less wealthy) central valley. I'm not sure how you plan to travel from SF to LA, but you'll want to keep this in mind if you want to talk to a good cross-section of people.
I hope your dates are flexible or you will still miss the little places in between. That would be a real shame. PS how are you planning to get people to look up from their phones?!
Talk to Walter Kirn who has the pulse of small towns from first hand experience as an author and podcaster.
If it has any interest.
I created a rough map of the trip:
"CJ Hopkins America Road Trip"
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=15kmXTN5TXMQP86ezwPAjHLZ-njF49yQ&usp=sharing
(Excuse the pin-stalking. Remove if Inappropriate).
CJ, I noticed you don't have anything lined up for Big Sky Country, so I would like to recommend a course of action.
I live in western Montana, about 30 miles south of Missoula. One of my good friends, Dan Shumway, owns and operates a local digital radio station, BBR Radio, and does interviews with people from all over the world, including some famous ones. He has worked for years as a reporter with KLA-TV, which you may recognize since it is headquartered in Germany. I am sure he would jump at the chance to sit down with you for a little while if you have time while in this area. I will mention this to him as well.
If this appeals to you, please reply to this comment and I will begin to put it together. It would be a pleasure for me.
Thanks, Roger! Absolutely. Could you please get in touch with me via email using the contact form at the Consent Factory. I would love to try to make this work! https://consentfactory.org/contact/
please. spend time outside the cities.
Please read my pinned comment above.
We live in Oakley Ca which is about halfway between Sacramento and San Francisco. We have a house here and have room. I can give more details privately, if interested. Additionally, we have a home in Boise, just outside the city proper and also have room there as well if you do make it to the beautiful state of Idaho.
Your mountain west survey has to come through UTAH, MONTANA, Northern IDAHO, Eastern WASHINGTON (Coeur d'Alene and Spokane are close together) and trek down Hwy 95 to Boise, then up I84 to Portland. Interesting, that you will travel through the potential AMERICAN REDOUBT. These are all strange and beautiful lands.
Yeah I saw you have lots of unscripted time in the boonies and heck there are a lot of suburbs around those big cities. Each has something to say.
I can offer a guest room in a trailer park in Vermont, the most compliant state in the union.
I hope you talk to Americans in more rural areas too, in between cities.
To visit San Francisco and Los Angeles and skip over the Central Valley — you will be missing all the farmers and farm workers, and skewing the California story.
I can see how it might be hard to find them to talk to, as they aren’t standing in the street waiting to complain or chat about their lives, but are out in the fields and orchards working.
If I had a year to do this trip, I would still have to leave out a lot of the USA. I have seven weeks. I appreciate the feedback, but I am not doing a "story" on California or anywhere else. I'm doing the project I have tried to describe, on a relatively limited budget.
Yes, this. 100%
Used to live in Pflugerville (suburb of Austin) now retired on a small cattle ranch outside of Austin near Thorndale which is quickly becoming urbanized. Can offer old lady cooking - 3 hots and a cot. Good luck and God bless
Yay!! I am overjoyed that I will finally be able to enjoy in reality the metaphorical “My Dinner with CJ” I referenced in our Dissident Dialogue!
• https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/dissident-dialogues-cj-hopkins
If you’re going to the south, you should definitely go to Savannah GA. Sturgis SD is an interesting little town after the bikers leave or while they’re there 8/1-10). Drive through the Badlands to get there. I don’t see New England on your list! Concord MA is great. I hope you go to our Amish communities they are amazing people.
The weekend of October 25th, 26th in Washington DC is the Marine Corps marathon. I only know this day because I’m running it…so book your lodging in advance!
Thank you for the DC tip! And, yes, I've been thinking Sturgis.
Daytona Beach, Florida Biketoberfest is Oct 16-19. Always interesting with colorful characters. You can use my 2 bed/3 bath Atlantic oceanfront condo if you decide to hit Florida.
Life-long south Texan here. Have spent alot of time in Lubbock and it’s fine. However, if your time is limited, I recommend San Antonio rather than Austin. Beautiful, historic city. I went to college there. Still offering my beach house in Rockport if you end up on the Texas coast.
I would recommend both! They are close together enough that it wouldn't be much of a detour.
I know it’s early yet, but will you have a “heads up” for dates you will be in cities?
Some dates are listed in this update, and, yes, many more dates and details to come.
1) I am in Henly, TX, outside of Austin. I'd be happy to host a lunch or dinner of native Texans and (importantly) stateside emigrants lol. Have pretty extensive knowledge and would have a broad section of invitees
2) Portland is a great place, Medford too. But suggest going north to Cannon Beach/Astoria. a) like you, Lewis and Clark searched for America and landed at nearby Seaside; b) coastal people are different. Happy to introduce knowledgeable folks about the area
Thank you, Stephen ... that sounds great! Can you please get in touch with me via email with the contact form at the Consent Factory? I'd like to explore this. https://consentfactory.org/contact/
Stop by in Santa Fe and I’ll buy you guys breakfast!
Deal. Stay tuned.
What, no stops at all in New England? I may have to reconsider.
Don't tell anyone, but there is a possibility of a New England/New Hampshire thing at the end of the trip, if Hugo and I are not in the hospital by then.
Well, if you guys are still mobile and and happen to need a place to stay in western CT I’m located about 30 minutes north of Danbury.
I also just came here to say the same thing and see that you have it covered (or are seeking to). A related suggestion: while in Portland, OR, also go to nearby Springfield, across the river from Eugene and much more blue-collar. It was the site of a horrible high school shooting in 1998 (Kip Kinkel). I know someone who was in junior high then and now lives in San Diego. I'll ask if he still has family or friends there.
“talking to people from all walks of life and of all political persuasions”
I hate to be the one to say it but based on your route it looks like a tour predominately through blue America. I hope you also get out of the cities and through small town America as well.
It looks to me as if the stops mentioned are simply locations/events that could be nailed down early via friends. I trust that if he's unfamiliar with other areas/peoples, he'll put in the work: West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Texas are on the route. Also, "Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas? No idea yet. It’s all up in the air at the moment."
At the close of the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787, as Benjamin Franklin left the hall in Philadelphia, he was asked, “What kind of government have you given us, Dr. Franklin?” He replied: "A republic, if you can keep it."
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” —Thomas Paine
“For, in a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, 'holds office'; every one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.” —John F. Kennedy
I feel we don't need any bosses anymore. Government is like our chaperone and tyrannical father. We are not children we are adults just like them. But we need a system that empowers us and today that's so easy to do with digital technology.