Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Roadgeek photography and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre are just ways to get as close
as possible to the atlas, like zooming in endlessly on Google Earth. That's how compelling
maps are to us cartophiles. We want to enter them.
“You know how most people can't walk past a mirror without looking?” Bart Bramley
asked me. “I feel the same way about maps.” While I was working on the Massacre this
year, it felt like aversion therapy: a dose of maps so strong that even I couldn't handle it.
Butifso,itdidn'twork—IhaveafeelingI'mgoingtobeenteringtherallyagainnextyear.
Look out, Bramley. I'm gunning for you!
Maybe I'll even invite the kids along again. But next time we'll run it like a real family
vacation: they'll be in a separate row of seats, kept away from the adults by a clever safety
system of straps and buckles, and plugged into a portable DVD player at all times. Family
togetherness! Next year, we might even get farther than South Dakota.
