As some may be aware I was laid off from Government Sachs on Wednesday, November 5th. (Yeah, Obama won! BTW, you're unemployed.)
I took the gig (contract programming) the week Bear Stearns went bankrupt because I had already spent two recessions unemployed and while the job at GS pretty much sucked I thought getting a paycheck during a recession would be a novel and comforting experience. The best laid plans of mice and men, etc.
This unemployment situation along with my wife's planned career change has however presented us with an opportunity.
We are both avid hikers reaching the late phase of middle age. And we're thisclose to deciding to take a year and walk across the country. Just us, a modest bankroll set aside from our savings for the purpose, our four feet and the kindness of strangers (optional).
We would very much appreciate the advice and opinions on this plan from the dKos community. Our own feelings swing between "very exciting", "down right crazy", "pretty scary in a good way" and "pretty scary in a bad way".
My sense is that the economic times are going to be bad and worse for some time (I read too much bonddad). So what better time to take to the road and see what the recession/depression looks like across the country at 3 mph?
We're still working on details; when to start, where to start, what route to take, etc. One route we are looking at is the American Discovery Trail (ADT) with detours to folks we know and places we want to visit. And we're leaning toward starting out west and walking home to Brooklyn, NY.
We'll that's it for now. We would love to hear your thoughts in comments and if anyone knows about all or parts of the ADT we would love to hear what you think of it.
Cheers.