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AMS ,m, ATX p Home Events Newsletter Calend ar Security /Insecurity Contact Stories from Summer Vacation: Brendan Gaughen Researches Place Collecting ''Am'ri"• Studies In the last gasp of sLJmmer , here are a few words fr om Brendan Gaugh en, who spent his summe r taking seve ral t ri ps across the nat i on for his disse rtation research - I'm finally do ing some di ssertatio n resea r ch and did some t favel ing this summer to do some interviews and generally r eport on wha t I saw. I'm look i ng .at spec i fic ways people inte r .act with the places they vis it .and h ow some tr ea t travel as a fo rm of co ll ecting. how tech nology facilitates or enab les t hese practices, and the ways in which some of these pr actices can function as .a sort of voluntary su rve illance. I ' ' I ' •I • I I '' it .. ' 1 · Pf . I ·I , .I .. . ' . ' I I " ' I ,1 ' I' 1' Geo-Woodstock, Lakeland FL • j • : . ·r· • I ' I ' '' I ,.'111,i I ·f · • I This is the la r ges t annua l gathe ring in No rth Ame rica for .a comm uni ty of practitioners of a GPS·b.ased hobby called geocach in g, in which people hi de con tai ne rs, pos t t he coo rdin ates on line, and ot h ers go out and find them. It's pret ty simp le bu t some of these so - ca ll ed " geocachers " ta ke things to t he ex t reme, turning the hobby into a full-t ime occupation . There are more t han 2 mil li on geocaches hi dden around the world, .and an ent i re cot tage in dus try has spr u ng up in the last seve r al yea rs cate r ing to this commu nity. Geocache rs often hide obj ec ts as a way to memo r ialize places they find sign if ica nt, th ough no n -geocac hers ("muggles ," bo rrow in g a te rm from Harry Potter canon to describe th ose wi thout wizar d powers) genera ll y have no i dea these conta iners ex ist. Ext ra Miler C lub Co nvention, Reno NV This is the only formal annual meet in g for th is group of peop le wi th inten tiona l travel goa ls, generally that of vis i ting all 3141 co unties in t he un ited St ates. Many members doc u ment the ir accomp li sh ments by t ak in g a photog raph of themse l ves at eve ry co unty line sign ; others at tempt to do ce rta in things in each state (suc h as play go l f, eat at a Dai ry Quee n, etc). I spoke at length wilh one coup le who drove the ir RV through all 48 states in a very circu i tous ma nner , stopping to ge t an enve lope stamped at the pos t offi ce in every cou nt y sea t in the us, something that had to h appe n during business hours Mo n day thru Fr iday . They had a page for each county with .a postma r ke d envelope, se l f-photograph in front of the cour t house , and short write- up about what the town was l ike. This pe r sona l arc h ive totaled 20 bi nde rs, some t hing I would love to explo re in fu rth er de ta il. Lincoln Highway centennial celebr.:ition, Kear ney NE The L in col n H ighway was the fi rst t ran scontinenta l highway built in t he United St ates and Kear ney is the closest ci ty to the hi ghway's midpoi nt (it ran between New Yo rk and Sa n Fran ci sco) . A few doze n vi nt age autos star t ed at eit her end of the highway and me t up in Kearney, so the tow n was tempora rily saturated with Packa rds , F ord Model A's, and mo re cars my da d can mo re easi ly recog nize tha n I can . Aside from witn ess i ng a lo t of n os talgia for ar chaic forms of au t omo b ile tour ism, I attended some presenta t io ns ab o ut t he histo ry of the cu rre nt incarnat ion of the L in co ln f-lighway Associati on and its 12-year long effo rt to map every iteration of the ent ir e r oute - over 5,000 miles count ing all the bypasses , rea lig n me nts, and mode rniza t ions of t he ro u te. Some Lincol n Highway devot ees wish to tr avel as many mi les of the or igina l route as p ossible , and at one sto p on our bus tou r I watc h ed about 100 people feel compelled to wa lk a 500-foot stre lch of ce n tury-o ld concrete, an or igi n al 1913 section of the Lincoln Highway. I was BY FAR the youngest pe r so n th ere, so it seems th is [firstha nd] nosta lgic fee li ng t oward the L in co ln Hi ghway, and post wa r r oad cultu re in gener al. may be in danger of disappear ing altogether . I made many co nt acts and took extens i ve no tes at all thr ee ol t hese events, which , on ce I tie in a theo r et ical framewor k, will be beneficial for a coup le chapters of my dissertat ion. I s ti ll have to dec ide h ow to app roach w ri ting about th ese groups and their me mbe rs, bu t these tri ps have r esulte d in a ton of r aw dat a, photog ra phs, and in te rview no tes. B ei ng in lhese places rem inded me t h.a t Amer ica is a big, fasci n at ing, and complex place , and that the re is a cer tain joy to discovering , interpret in g, and complica ting .aspects of American culture . Share: .. QQ @ GO OG * L.i l{e Be the frst to li<. e th is . Re la1ed Sto1 ies from summer vaca ti on: Ir ene Garza on t he (lnc1 edi ble !) A MS Graduate S tu de nt Lib r ary In "Stories from summer vacation• New Feature: Stories fr om UT AMS 's Summer V acat ion In "Stories from Summer vacation" Stories from su mm er vacation : K irst en Ron al d's Summer of Dance In 'Stories from summer vacation" This entry was posted in Sto1 'ies f rom Summer Vil.c at ion and tagged geocaching, geogr aphy, highways, su rveill ance , tra vel Grad Reseax<:h: M Choic e; Te:i;:as " Announcement: Artist L;;iu1ie Anderson Be •. • Leave a Reply Enter your comment here. S!og at WordPress.com. 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