I Have Elected to Go to Washington, DC
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008Yep, no one elected me, but I have elected myself. I leave very early in the morning for an AARP Convention in Washington, DC, and will be away for five days. The AARP is The American Association of Retired Persons and this is the 50th Anniversary Blowout Birthday Bash at the massive Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Famous people like Regis Philbin, Maya Angelou, Quincy Jones, Alfre Woodard, Shirley MacLaine, Judy Collins, Cal Ripkin, Jr., Jean Chatzky, Laura Berman, Martina Navratilova and Gene Simmons will be speaking. We’ll have concerts by Chicago, Paul Simon, Ramsey Lewis, Natalie Cole and Chaka Khan, plus a mixer nightclub evening with the Harway Connection, Kris Diaz & The Latin Sound Band, and The Fresh Air Band.
Plus, I plan to visit the White House and government buildings, take a Segway Tour around the Capital and maybe squeeze in the Smithsonian Museum.
Though I am packing in my backpack (which is a lot looser in the waist strap because I have lost 14 pounds since my rtw…so it’s hard to make it sit right on my hips)…I ain’t staying in no hostel! Not me, for this fancy-dancy affair. It’s the Marriott for the likes of me and some neato clothes.
All of this is in the name of publicity for my new book. I have 5000 business cards about the book, though I am not planning to carry all of them there on my back…only 2500… to give away to everyone with whom I can network. I shall be making connections and finding publicity outlets because these are the people who make up my prime market. They are the retired and the soon-to-be retired but still young-at-heart. Just the folks I want to sell my book to and to infect with the love of free-form travel now that they are put out to pasture.
My book, meanwhile, is coming through the pipeline at Lightning Source and the proof might be waiting for me when I return next week. My blogsite, heyboomers.com, is almost complete, with just the book ordering buttons to install now. Later, I will be adding photos and videos to it. My world record claim idea is also in the pipeline and I can’t say any more until they tell me if I have a chance of being accepted. The old fingers are crossed.
Some of the hurricane bowling balls which hurtle now towards Florida, have passed on by, and some others are out in the ocean looking this way. It’s an active season but peaceful here, so far. I’ve put in lots of beach time, walking many miles to stay in shape. This morning I took an eight mile hike with two friends down the trail that runs by my house. All of this exercise keeps me in shape for the long-distance rtw backpacking.
When I come home, the second phase will be launched. No more production and formative stuff. That’s done. Now, I must get into the selling and promotional stuff. Let’s see how good I turn out to be on all that.
But first, I have elected to send myself to our Nation’s Capital to have a really good time and, hopefully, make some progress in the Economic Sector.
lindajbrown