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On the Road with Kevin
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Journal Entry 1
BOZEMAN, MT - Hello, my name is Kevin and this is just a quick introduction to the journal entries below and on the following pages about a unique, American travel experience. I was recently recommended by a woman friend of mine on the GreatBoyfriends.com dating web site, and now I'm out on the road looking for a possible connection, taking a road trip across the country to personally meet the intriguing women with whom I've been corresponding. I'm writing journal reports about this adventure here and on the GreatBoyfriends.com site as well, where you can also find my actual profile under the nickname, "RuggedSweetheart." (And no, if you're curious, I did not select that name ... My recommender friend has complete control over my profile.) Anyway, let the journey commence!
 Montana to Maine to Monterey. “What an unfortunate time to have stopped drinking pop,” I was thinking to myself the other day. I’ve never been much of one for making New Year’s resolutions, as I tend to rather make up my mind about doing something without being limited to the constraints of the dawning of a new year.
As the last couple weeks of 2002 were drawing to a close, however, I remembered a friend of mine telling me he had never felt better than during the year when he had cut out pop altogether. I was not a big consumer of pop to begin with, but I felt I was up to the challenge and am happy to report that I’ve been pop-free during 2003.
Now I say it was an unfortunate time to have stopped drinking pop because of a recent turn of events in which it might be extremely beneficial to slurp down one of those caffeinated, carbonated beverages to keep alert during the long hours of an upcoming experience. As I mentioned above, my name is Kevin and I am going to be driving the roads of America meeting in person several of the beguiling women I have been corresponding with on GreatBoyfriends.com, and detailing some of the adventure as I go along right on this here web site.
 A little bit about how this situation came to pass. Back in the early days of the Greeks and Romans, there used to be a… Just kidding, as I was making sure you were still with me here. A few months ago, I was (somewhat reluctantly) signed up for GreatBoyfriends.com. I have always been pretty leery of internet dating as I feel I really like forming a strong connection with somebody, and one just never knows who you’re communicating with through a web site sometimes.
 But the concept of GreatBoyfriends.com quickly peaked my curiosity, though, in that the idea is for women to recommend their single guy friends to the site, so that other women can feel comfortable with the situation where every single man comes with a woman’s stamp of approval. It never hurts either when something is promoted by Ms. Oprah Winfrey herself, as is GreatBoyfriends.com. Plus, I do have to admit, it’s quite rousing to be called a bewitching animal when I log on, and a handsome brute when I sign out.
 I very much warmed to the recommendation aspect of GreatBoyfriends.com, and was impressed with the quality and intriguing women I was encountering on the site. Living in Montana, however, I soon sensed that most of the cool women I had been e-mailing or speaking with actually lived in other states, many of them even on the East or West coast. So I was pondering one day, "Wouldn't it just be nice to be able to separately meet several of these seemingly enchanting women over coffee for an hour, and learn about each other in person to see if there was even a connection at all or not."
I should also state here that I've always had the notion I wanted to drive across America, as have countless other Yanks before me. Though the United States is imperfect in many ways, I feel it is still the best nation on earth and I think it would be an incredible opportunity to drive its soil from coast to coast.
 An idea springs forth. In light of this, I actually proposed the interesting idea of driving across our beautiful and amazing country, meeting some of these appealing women, and perhaps keeping some type of web journal highlighting stories or hi-jinks that transpire, to the lovely founders of GreatBoyfriends.com, Cande and E. Jean Carroll (of Elle Magazine). They thought this was a fantastic idea, and have actually come on board in the journey.
This all started for me out of a sincere thought to meet a few of the women I had been corresponding with on the web site. I feel the very nature of a dating web site belies the fact that both parties are probably communicating with several other people as well, trying to engage with new people and determine if there is some spectacular person out there they can truly click with. I realized for myself, though, that I'm the type of person that very much needs to interact with somebody up close once things have reached a certain level, as one's perception of the real person is of course so much more astute.
 How does she walk? Does she glide through a room? Does she place her hand on your forearm as she's laughing with you? Does she actually get down on the ground when she's playing with children? Is her mind sharp as a tack, yet keen to take a winsome walk in the rain?
 Why are you doing this, Kevin? I really am just a guy looking to see if there is a spark with somebody that could lead to something more serious and amazing down the road. Oh, and to also find out more about this suspicious big apple I keep hearing about in New York City. Tongue-in-cheek aside, I knew that a person never really knows someone until you can look them in the eyes and get a feeling for their actual personality. Of course I fully understood as well that she might just not be digging MY vibe within a few minutes of meeting her. And that would be completely fine too.
 That's why I felt compelled to meet a few people in a situation devoid of as much pressure as possible, and just approach it from the perspective of what if. I think what also helped to drive my pursuit of this idea were some of the words of Rainer Maria Rilke in his Letters to a Young Poet, which I heard about from my friend, Kristen, who recommended me for GreatBoyfriends.com. One especially poignant passage reads, "…to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now."
So just who is this Kristen gal? Anyway, that's some of the background of how it got to the point of you and I meeting on this web journal. The aforementioned Kristen was pretty instrumental in the process as well, as she was of course the one who got the ball rolling for me to be on the site. She and I met shortly after we each graduated from Montana State University, and she has been a close, amazing friend ever since. She is one of those types of people where I almost don't even remember a time when she wasn't somehow involved in my life; I am sure most of you know exactly what I am talking about. Kristen has the uncanny ability to see and perceive things others often miss, and is quick to determine the true essence and soul of a person. She married a cool dude of a husband a little while back, and they are now enjoying numerous new facets of life in sunny Arizona.
 I have been trying to envision many of the forms or shapes this trip may take, and I guess I will just have to wait for it all to play out. Another friend of mine suggested bringing along a few Italian language CDs to listen to while driving some of the vast stretches of interstates and highways. This may indeed be a great idea in order to tell someone how very bella she is. However, I have also always wanted to apply my noggin to learning some of the more difficult and complex languages of our time, so I might just have to throw in a New Zealand or Australian language CD as well.
 I know this experience won't just be all fun and games, though, as there are bound to be some difficult and taxing periods as well (driving and parking in New York City comes to mind). Although, I realize from past capsules of time in my life that it is the complete experience that makes for the most lasting, cherished memories, including both the good and the bad. I also fully understand that this whole thing is a fairly wild hair of an idea, but maybe I'm learning that a person needs to act on those kinds of ideas sometimes. Perhaps in the next journal entry I'll explain what to do if one happens to come across a wild hare.
 I hope to keep you updated on some of the news and occurrences from the road, such as a classy, socialite woman possibly wandering the pavement in the deserts of Nevada, or a bison frolicking its way across Madison Avenue. Hey, bison can certainly frolic! And I will most certainly let you know if I happen to see a socialite majestically riding a bison across a street somewhere, as I very much anticipate seeing such a scenario.
 Yeah, yeah, Kevin, quit blabbering. Really, though, I just felt the urge to be moving rather than standing still at this point with some of my thoughts about meeting someone. And maybe, just maybe, there is THE chance of crossing paths with her in the course of this whole experience. I'd like to think there's still the potential for that in our modern, fast-paced world. As an old friend of mine likes to say, "you have to either fish or cut bait." I'm not even certain what that means, but I sure like the sound of it.
If you want a little more information about me, you can check out my profile on GreatBoyfriends.com in the Montana section of the site, or look for "RuggedSweetheart." I will of course try to remember to call pop by the correct moniker when I'm in your area of the country, as I know we all have different names for the liquid. So whether I'm drinking it or not, floating around in my head will be the terms of soda, soft drink, soda water, coke, sodium carbonate, soda ash, tonic … Until next time, ciao for now!
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