PR Chat: Angela Berardino

Angela Berardino works for Turner PR; she’s the rep who helped us get our REI loaner gear lined up. She’s also on the “Bloggers and PR” panel at TBEX — our destination in Chicago. Angela tackled the same questions Lisa answered in the last PR Chat post. The road trip crew is really grateful for the insight these PR people are giving us in to the process of working with bloggers. We hope you’ll leave your questions in the comments. Now, introducing Angela.
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TBEX Rolls! Day One on the Road

We tossed most of our gear into the Routan last night – this morning, mostly because we discovered we had a shocking amount of extra space, we tossed in a few extra items – okay, I did. A pillow for camping nights, Original Sock Monkey because every trip needs a mascot, and, wow, you should see the technical gear we have. Kelly packed an extra computer, no kidding, so she could have a bigger screen for editing photos, Peter has two Canon cameras, one that got a lens on it that weighs about as much as the car. We have stuff stuck in wells under the floor, in the seat pockets, in the upper glove box – my binoculars are there, okay, they might be extra too – and oh, we’re going to have to really go through this thing when we give it back because there are so many places to hide stuff.

We watched the landscape change from suburban Seattle to sagebrush desert, and then there were lodgepole pines and crops, labeled with signs swinging on the fences – corn, wheat, potatoes, alfalfa. Dust devils spun up high and gray, farmhouses sat down in bright green patches in the dry gold fields.

We made two stops, the first at the Ginkgo Petrified Forest. Stumps of trees, now turned to stone, sit below protective grates – probably to keep people from taking pieces of them. It was hot, the air smelled strongly of sage. On the road below us, trailer trucks carried windmill blades to the windfarm a few miles to the west. Then we stopped in Moses Lake to pick up snacks and drinks and a big bag of ice. At the offramp, an unhappy looking man in his sixties sat on a crate holding a sign that said “Free Poetry” and maybe, “Jesus Loves You.” I reached into the ice chest and pulled out an apple and asked Kelly to roll down the window and give it to him. “Is that a Macintosh?” he asked. “You know, it’s not an apple unless it’s a Macintosh!” We all laughed and he did too. “Thank you for your kindness,” he said, and handed over two sheets of photocopied rhymes, full of religion and country and military endeavors past.

When we arrived at our stop for the night, our hostess, Tawni, was out front watering the lawn. “I’ve been tracking you!” she said, making us feel extremely pleased about our interactive map. She told us a bit about the history of the property – Grandma used to live in the biggest house, one of the cabins was a logging cabin that was moved, piece by numbered piece to this property on the edge of Lake Pend d’Oreille. We met Brent down on the dock told me about the music festival and the rail bridge and the boat he’s restoring. He pointed across the water to Sandpoint. “It’s 19 miles across the water to town, we used to boat across before we could drive. Town is trouble, my dad used to say, everything we need is right here. Now I tell my son that. He doesn’t believe me, of course.”

We ignored Brett and went into town anyway. I wanted coffee, because I knew there was a long evening ahead. Sandpoint has changed this the last time I was here, more than 20 years ago. It’s got twee little shops and a few high end gear stores, I remember fishing and hunting and hardware stores being more prominent and certainly there was no yoga studio, no restaurants proclaiming that they serve gluten free meals. There were Native Americans and guys in plaid, I don’t recall seeing quite so many tattooed 20 somethings in board shorts. There’s a marina and a lovely beach park, there’s a cupcake store and a few cafes, there’s winetasting – all this on the strip that I’m sure was bait and tackle and pizza joints and diners. Now Sandpoint feels like a beach town without a beach – you can rent a bike, buy a bikini, eat sushi and tapas, and pick up a second home on a few piney acres for 500k.

When I try to think about our evening, there’s too much going on for me to tease the stories out in any kind of manageable way. There was a boat ride, there was wine and cheese, there was a lovely dinner at 41 South, a lodge on the edge of the lake. There was an osprey nest on the rail bridge, there was an amazing story of our waiter’s death defying bicycle accident. Everyone told stories – of baking bread and earthquakes and old dogs and travel in France and pet rats and technology and localism … it was one of those evenings that’s a blur of scenery and laughing and the hospitality of strangers. I know that I should write you a review of the restaurant (lovely appetizers, didn’t love the entrees, slow service but what’s the hurry, stellar location) or the wine (I loved the both wines we drank on the boat, but the Chardonnay we had with dinner was too sweet for my taste and the red just wasn’t right with my food), but to do that is to focus on the details and not so much on the fact that Sandpoint right now is lovely, the people we met almost aggressively fit and attractive, and it was an awesome first day out.

PR Chat: The Idaho PR Chick

If you look just over there, on the sidebar, you’ll see that we’ve got a few sponsors for the TBEX Road Trip. This is the time where I tell you that yes, we’re taking some comps during our adventure and we hope you’ll trust that we’ll review the products and services honestly.

We’re also taking advantage of access to the PR folks to unravel the sticky relationships between bloggers and PR. We’ve got a series of questions for them — they’ll all get the same ones — and we’ll post their answers here.

First up, Lisa Gerber from Idaho. Lisa has set up our first night on the road — we’re staying at Sleeps Cabins and having dinner at 41 South. She also helped us find our second night stay at Big Sky Resort.

First, an introduction to Lisa Gerber:

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Travels with Pam

Oh, Peter and Kelly don’t know what they’re in for, road tripping with me. Sure, Kelly thinks she has some insight after that field trip we made to Alpacapalooza, but that’s only a tiny slice of this annoying, glacially slow, talks with strangers one-third of the TBEX crew. In the interest of full disclosure, here’s a partial list of the reasons it sucks to travel with me.

1. SHOTGUN! No, really. I get car sick driving around the block. I’m fine on the long straights — plains states here we come! — but for those winding mountain routes, you’ll find me firmly anchored in the middle of the back seat so I can see, pleading for the front passenger seat, or begging to drive. No, I can’t read the map while we’re driving. And don’t get me started on boats. God, I hate boats.
2. STOP THE CAR! Luckily, that rarely has anything to do with the first item on the list, because after all, I poached the front seat.  Nope, it’s my camera happy eyeballs, seeing the perfect light on a falling down shed at a bend in the road. Or, well, who knows what it is, sometimes I have to get out and walk along the shoulder of the highway to take some snaps of something I thought I saw. Sometimes it’s nothing. It’s a real time eater.
3. COFFEE. NOW! Just this week, my doc told me that I had to give up the evil bean. I’ve made the switch to black tea, and so far, utter misery, but there you go. Caffeine, along with sunshine, is what makes me go. I’m trying to manage that, but if past history is any evidence of future performance, there’s a ten and a two in there somewhere, and I’m not talking hands on the steering wheel.
4. ARE YOU READY YET? I’m an obscenely early riser. Always have been. True story. My husband and I were camping in Australia. We were somewhere up north of Brisbane, maybe it was Rainbow Beach. The sun was up, we rolled up our gear and headed into town to get coffee. (See item 3 above.) The coffee shop was open, they were getting ready for the day, but they wouldn’t serve us. Why not? It was 5:30 in the morning. They didn’t open for another hour and a half. No kidding. We had NO idea. We were ready to go, why wasn’t everyone else?
5. CAN I GO TO BED NOW? When you’re up at 5, the day is half over before most people have tucked into their lunch. This means that by the time 8pm rolls around, you’re eying your bedroll and your jammies, thinking there’s nothing you’d like better than to pretend you’re reading your book while drifting off. This means I miss out on a lot of night life. I’m okay with that, plus, hey, it means I can secure the camp while Peter and Kelly head in to town to check out that country bar. Well, as secure as it can be when “watched” by someone who’s sleeping.
6. I’M NOT A REAL VEGITARIAN, BUT… I’m not a meat eater. Four legged critters, you go ahead and enjoy them, I won’t badger you with politics because for me, it’s a matter of taste. I just don’t like the stuff. When we crash your BBq, I’ll be the one with the plate piled with mac salad. In camp, however, I’m just not signing up for spaghetti bolognese. Bleh.
7. ARE YOU DONE TALKING TO THAT GUY YET? When I crested 35, I became a magnet for gentlemen of a certain age, the talky kind. I figure some old guy gets chatty with you, you ought to listen. This can take an awfully long time to get away from gracefully.
8. LET’S DRIVE THE EXTRA X MILES INTO TOWN: I have no equation for what makes this the right choice, but I always think it’s a better idea to find the maybe abandoned downtown than it is to stop at the GASFOODLODGING junction. I’m wrong, a lot of the time. It costs more, it’s often disappointing — though not always — and it takes longer. It’s my personal crusade to save downtown and I am failing miserably. Last time I did this, we discovered that the turn of the century soda fountain was boarded up and there was nothing to eat for miles and miles.
9. I HATE THE FOLLOWING THINGS that are associated with road trips: Pitching a wet tent, paying  for parking, loud music from the next campsite, damp, cold, mildewy shower stalls with decaying plastic curtains that you can not keep off your skin, conservative talk radio, Danish bakeries that are twee and cute but have mediocre baking and worse coffee, powdered creamer, internet service that’s slower than dial-up, tent sites that back up onto the highway, generators, people who do not observe bear saftely rules, iceberg lettuce and cherry tomato salad with thousand island dressing, fancy mountain towns that are more like the mall than anything else (Banff, Jackson Hole) uh, I’m sure there’s more, but that will do for now.
10. I PLAY THE UKULELE. It’s no joke, I really do play the uke. But tragically, I have stage fright so when you ask me to play something, I’ll get all jittery. You gotta sing with me, then it’s okay. I don’t sing well, not really, and I’m not much more than a strummer. Most likely I’ll be plinking along on some campground bench, just loud enough to be annoying, not really loud enough for you to click in on what I’m playing. It’s going to drive you crazy. Enjoy.

It’s going to be an awesome trip. Too late, guys, I’m in!

Gearing Up: What’s in YOUR Road Trip Kit?

We’re pretty obsessive car campers at my house; I’d say we have it down to a science. We’ve got the modest campground tent, the Coleman two burner “suitcase” stove”, the kitchen box…and a fairly minimal amount of other odds and ends — if we don’t need it, it’s not in the car. I really do take my cast iron frying pan, — hello, pancakes! — a small wooden cutting board, and a decent knife. I’m not well set up for coffee, which makes no sense because I’m addicted. And in spite of the fact that I can see the value in the folding chair, I’m okay with the campsite provided picnic bench. While I’ve done some hanging out with fellow travelers Kelly and Peter, I don’t know what’s in their kit, if they have to have a giant inflatable mattress or a complicated series of tarps or a generator to power the iPod dock. (Kidding. Really. I’m just making those things up — though I really DON’T know if they have to have that stuff.)

At any rate, I’m wondering… as we make our packing list and combine our gear and pull together our communal kit: What do YOU think is essential road trip gear? We’re working with Pacific Northwest outdoor giant REI to fill the holes in our gear gap — what do you think we must have? It would be awesome if you’d tell us that one “can’t head out without it” item.

Photo: Austrian road-trippers and their gear on my Seattle front lawn. My home was a temporary hostel for these four nice 20somethings who sent us into fits of hysteria with all of their… stuff.

“Iowa Is Boring”

It’s not a very big coffee shop, plus, we had the road atlas out. We were asking for it, really. The guy was wearing his bike gear, helmet, jersey,cleats, the whole deal, and he had one of those beards with no mustache, what do you call that?

“The thing to do,” he said, “is to get across it as fast as you can. Don’t be thinking you’ll go take some side route and find something more interesting, because you won’t.”

“Oh, absolutely,” said a guy at a table behind us. “It’s awful. There’s nothing there. Just keep driving.”

Our itineary has us stopping in Sioux Falls and then, at some as of yet unknown point in Central Iowa, our last night before we roll in to Chicago. Where should that unknown point be? What’s out there in the unknown territory of Iowa?

Crowdsourcing the TBEX Road Trip: Bozeman, Montana

Without blogging and Twitter and the wonder of online community, Kelly, Peter and I wouldn’t have been sitting at Fuel yesterday scoping out our route. We’d never have met at the that travelbloggers meet-up at C&P Coffee in West Seattle and we wouldn’t all be heading to Chicago for the Travelblog Exchange conference. As we refine our plans, we’ll be asking you for recommendations — places to eat, coffee houses to hang out in and update our blogs, odd little roadside attractions, the best camping spots, you name it. We’ve already made a great connection for our first stop in Sandpoint, Idaho, now we’re turning to stop number two, Bozeman, Montana.

Our first recommendation is from Antonia at Perceptive Travel : Stop at Leaf and Bean to caffienate. We’d love to hear from you, too. What’s great in Bozeman? Where should we make our camp on night two? Anything else we should know? In the comments, please.