Oct 2025 — May 2026 · One Arc, Two Migrations

The Long Way Home

Portland → Austin → Philadelphia
18 cities · 242 days · ~4,800 miles · 21 state lines
The interstate West, a Mardi Gras interlude, and the civil rights corridor

Trip 1 · The West (Oct 2025) Mardi Gras spur (Feb 2026) Trip 2 · The Corridor (May 2026) ◉ dot size = nights

4,812 Miles Driven not yet reconstructed

242 Days

18 Cities

61 Records Bought not yet reconstructed

38 lbs Of Books not yet reconstructed

243 CPAP Setups

Three Chapters

Chapter I

Portland → Austin

2025-10-02 → 2025-10-26

Leaving home the long way: high desert, two mountain systems, and the loneliest stretches of the whole arc.

Portland· Boise· Salt Lake City· Las Vegas· Phoenix· Albuquerque· Okla. City· Dallas· Austin

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Interlude

New Orleans

2026-02-09 → 2026-02-19

Eleven days in the one American city that is entirely its own country. A festival, not a stop.

New Orleans

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Chapter II

Austin → Philadelphia

2026-05-03 → 2026-05-31

Austin to Philadelphia through the geography of the movement: Jackson, Birmingham, Atlanta, and the road between.

Shreveport· Jackson· Birmingham· Atlanta· Charlotte· Richmond· Washington DC· Philadelphia

Read this chapter →

Deep Dives

The Data

What curation changed, how closely each list was followed, and the fragmentation gap.

Superlatives

Best meal. Worst meal. The weirdest thing encountered anywhere.

Colophon

How this was reconstructed, what the numbers can bear, and what is missing.