The Return of the Travel Challenge

Back in 2009, faced with the horrifying prospect of flying nine times during the winter, I created the travel challenge. It worked. The powers of nature were no match for the powers of blog readers. Together, we raised a nice bit of money for good causes. Speaking of good causes, Allentown Morning Call columnist Bill White raises bundles of money each winter in conjunction with a Christmas Lights tour. This year, he brought in about $15,330. That money will be converted into 137,900 pounds of food via whatever magic Second Harvest Food Bank uses to work their wonders. A couple weeks ago, I sent him an email congratulating him on his latest successful fund drive. In his reply, he asked if I was going to do another travel challenge. I hadn't thought about it, since I'm not flying to any schools until the spring. But I realized I'll be driving all over the place. While I won't be facing the horror of being trapped in an airport or losing a bunch of school visits because my flight was cancelled, I will be dealing other potential travel nightmares and missed visits. So I decided it was time to rekindle the travel challenge. I'm heading off to Absecon, NJ this afternoon. I have my first winter visit scheduled for tomorrow. There is some bad weather coming, but as of now it looks like that area will miss out on the freezing rain. If you want to participate, here are the details of the 2011 travel challenge.