Day 1: DC - Syracuse - Alfred, NY - Toronto

Long, exciting first day!

01.08.2011 - 01.08.2011
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We started out, crazily enough, pulling out of DC at 1am to make our 9am interview in Syracuse, NY. Mike drove for HOURS, getting us to Binghamton, NY, in time for daybreak over many a no-longer-used factory or decrepit x/y/z. Gorgeous, if you're a photography and urban planning duo.

After a few delicious, blueberry-flavored coffees, we walked around the block a few times, zeroing in on Syracuse's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

We then climbed up to the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture to interview its director, Bob Thompson. Thompson was awesome, drawing connections to reality TV and gameshows, tracing the popularity of gameshows in American culture since their inception in the 1950's, and giving us a peek into the psychology behind the shows. Fantastic interview. And tons of amazing TV memorabilia to marvel at!

We stopped by Atonement Lutheran church across town to interview the girl with two silent "j's" in her name, Kjersten. (We'll let you guess where that second J is.)

On to Alfred, flying along the hilly roads of the Finger Lakes region of NY, sadly without stopping to sample some of the delicious wine the region has to offer. Lunch in Alfred with fans and friends Lee, Elisabeth, and their beautiful daughter, Ilona.

Final destination - Toronto, ON. That's Canada, people. We arrived to a hero's welcome, a delicious vegetarian dinner and way too much bourbon. Meeting up with Spookey Ruben was postponed, but the get-together with fans went on.

Overall, we racked up about 739 miles in 13 hours + border crossing. Thank god for the comfort and chill of our generously-donated Lincoln MKX, lovingly referred to as New Rhonda. That girl travels in style, with huge, chromed out rims, sweet leather seats, and all sorts of amazing features that took most of those 13 hours to figure out. More on her in the next posts