Writing Across America

This is the current itinerary for our upcoming whirlwind tour of the US. If you are in any of these locations, or somewhere close to the line we would take between two of them, contact me if you’d like to involve us in a community service project or set up a writer’s gathering. Also, for more blog posts related to our trip, click HERE:

Planned
Destinations
Gettysburg 2/15
Leesburg 2/17
Harrisonburg 2/20
Bremo Bluff, VA 2/21
Charlotte, NC 2/24
Savannah, GA 3/1
Jacksonville, FL 3/5
Gainesville, FL 3/6
Orlando, FL 3/8
Sarasota, FL 3/12
Macon, GA 3/26
Nashville 3/28
Memphis 4/2
New Orleans, LA 4/4
San Antonio, TX 4/9
Austin, TX 4/12
Dallas 4/16
Oklahoma City, OK 4/17
Amarillo, TX 4/23
Grand Canyon National Park 4/26
Pasadena, CA (via Hoover Dam) 4/30
San Francisco 5/5
Yellowstone National Park 5/17
Bighorn National Forest 5/21
Mount Rushmore Nat’l Memorial 5/22
Sioux Falls, SD 5/26
Burr Oak, Iowa 5/28
Geneseo, IL 5/30
Chicago IL 6/4
Daviess County, IN 6/7
Troy, OH 6/14
Fairmont, WV 6/19
Lancaster, PA 6/22

{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }

Alise January 2, 2012 at 11:06 PM

So I’m between Charleston & Lancaster. And Charleston is not a far drive for me at all. And if I have a gig on the 16th, I’ll drive down to Charleston to see you there. I’m not missing you rolling through again!!!

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Shawn January 3, 2012 at 6:42 AM

Alise, we’d love to visit your church on the 17th and perhaps do a writer’s gathering on the evening of the 15th or 16th, if you can pull some people together. Whatever the case, we will definitely make a point of meeting up with you.

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ed cyzewski January 2, 2012 at 11:26 PM

Troy Ohio, eh? What’s there? We have to get you over to C-Bus sometime for a writers meet up! I’m not sure what we’ll be up to, but I will keep your trip in mind if I can swing it.

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Shawn January 3, 2012 at 6:43 AM

Thanks, Ed. Would be great to meet in person. We will definitely be going through C-bus – we’re hoping to volunteer with an agency that fights human trafficking (it’s called Doma and it’s run by some friends of ours) right there in C-bus. As the dates draw closer, let’s stay in touch.

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ed cyzewski January 3, 2012 at 12:38 PM

Awesome. I’m glad you’re passing through. I’ll do my best to make it happen.

ClintM January 3, 2012 at 9:09 AM

Hey Shawn,
Tanya knows a lot of people at the YWAM base in Orlando, FL if you are interested. I’m sure they have some opportunities for you to serve. Also, do you know Ron and Nancy Good? I know Nancy reads your blog so she may see this, but they live in Memphis and are good, good people. I also have a friend in Portland, OR who is a youth leader – and he’s very passionate about helping the homeless, etc.

Oh and there are these weirdos who recently moved to Springfeild, MO – but you’ll probably want to avoid them at all costs…

Shoot me an email or call or whatever if you want me to connect you with any of these people. We should get together again before you head out! If you have any time between now and then.

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Shawn January 3, 2012 at 9:19 AM

Some great ideas there, Clint. Let’s touch base soon and hang out sometime before we leave. I’ll have my people contact your people.

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Janet Oberholtzer January 3, 2012 at 6:35 PM

Guess what… I’m running the Princess Disney Half-marathon in Orlando on 2/26 and I plan to stay in the sunny south for two weeks and I’m in the process of finalizing some speaking gigs in that area. One is finalized at Orlando Public Library on 3/10.

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Shawn January 3, 2012 at 7:54 PM

That’s awesome, Janet! I will definitely try to be there!

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Janet Oberholtzer January 5, 2012 at 2:04 PM

That’s kind of you Shawn… while I’d love to see you at the library… you might want to meet folks that aren’t from PA when you are traveling around the country.

Julie Bushre January 8, 2012 at 10:18 AM

YES!! I finally had a chance to check out your itinerary, and saw that you will be in GENESEO!!! WOO-HOOO!!!!! Let me do some checking… That would be a great time to do a cool project with our youth group… maybe at the pregnancy crisis center in the quad cities. So excited to see all of you!!!!!!

I will let you know what we come up with.

Love to you all~

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mike January 18, 2012 at 2:22 PM

Troy, Ohio.

In May and June (not sure of dates yet) we will be receiving 35,000 books for our program that will be sending out to children. Possibility that the kids could help with sorting and who knows what at the moment.

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Shawn January 18, 2012 at 2:27 PM

Awesome, Mike. Let’s stay in touch, and if we can help, we’ll make it happen.

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Michelle DeRusha January 24, 2012 at 9:12 AM

You probably know this, but I just wanted to make sure: I’m actually in Lincoln, NE, not Sioux Falls, SD. I think I would be on the way between Kansas City and Sioux Falls.

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Shawn January 24, 2012 at 9:27 AM

Got it, Michelle. I’ll touch base with you as the big blue bus draws closer.

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Joshua Sieweke January 30, 2012 at 9:45 AM

Shawn, today’s post about your housing situation forced me to finally stop and read about your plans. First, let me say how much I appreciated today’s post. Because my wife and I are at a similar point in our own adventure with God, I needed the truth and encouragement that your post provided. Thanks! Now, with a better understanding of your trip and your itinerary, I would love to explore your ability to visit us in Atlanta. I work for World Relief, and my office is a refugee resettlement office. Refugees are people who have had to flee their countries to escape persecution. Every year, our country grants permanent residence to a select few and assigns them to a refugee resettlement agency which prepares for their arrival and then helps them learn how to live in the United States. We place most of our refugees in a small community on the edge of Atlanta called Clarkston. The New York Times has called it the single most diverse square mile in the whole country. A NYT writer recently authored a book called “Outcasts United” that tells the story of a lady who has used soccer to serve the refugee youth. It would give you a good glimpse of what the community is like. Anyway, my job at World Relief is to coordinate our relationships with local churches and empower them to serve refugees and the community. In light of my work, I think there is great potential for a writers’ workshop if you are interested. I can definitely connect you with some service opportunities. Tell me what you think. It would be great to see you.

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Shawn January 30, 2012 at 9:51 AM

Great hearing from you, Josh. I’ll send you an email – this sounds like a great opportunity for our family.

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Lizzie February 17, 2012 at 10:52 AM

Incredible! I’m so glad I stumbled across your site [from Leigh's blog]. I too have plans of driving around the country, somehow crafting a book from a visit to all fifty states. Look forward to following your progress! Happy trails.

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Shawn February 19, 2012 at 9:49 PM

Thanks for joining us on this journey, Lizzie!

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Judi Fasick March 4, 2012 at 11:25 AM

Shawn, I just looked at your itinerary and saw you plan to be in South Dakota and go to Mt Rushmore. I highly recommend trying to go to Badlands Nat Park – truely awesome! Also Custer State Park has so much to offer. There are many things in that area that the kids would love too like Reptile Gardens.
I know you’ll all love the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone as well. Not sure where you will be staying but if you have time in West Yellowstone there is a place called the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center that the whole family would enjoy. Also not too far from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon is a beautiful town called Sedona – AWESOME!!!! We loved it so much we are going back this year.
Enjoy this beautiful country and stay safe!

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nance May 13, 2012 at 7:04 PM

You can just go ahead and add newberg oregon right between san francisco and yellowstone. ;-)

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