ALL RIDERS TO DC FESTIVAL:
 
I would suggest everyone use this road map, and a listing or something from the following information, onto the dcfestival2008.com website, and also use for their own logistical plans for attending the DC Festival event. This is also a suggested overall "super event" plan, with mini-events tied in along the ways, during the 2-3 days before the main event, as people are where they already are going to be, naturally, on their ways (plural) to DC... I am also cc'ing several motivated and thoughtful activists, and a few familiar Y!Groups, for public domain use by anyone interested in planning ahead, right now... While people from the West Coast would most likely fly in, those in the Eastern half will largely be driving there, and can bring it all together, bigger and better, by using the attached information.
 
The attached image is a color keyed USA road map, showing all expected major routes being taken by people driving to Washington, DC, for the DC Festival... at approx 7.5-8.5 hours of driving per day, you can kinda see "rings" of three different colors, i.e., Green, Pink, and Gold, representing each day's worth of travel, further out from DC, respectively... there are also five (5) suggested lunchtime-enroute media/etc events, for Wednesday and Thursday, marked in Red spots... A complete breakdown of dates, etc., for the two dozen cities involved, is provided at the bottom, and assumes/plans on destination arrival at the DCFestival hotels on that Thursday late afternoon/evening, just in time for the big meet-n-greet, and potential DC media ready with us that night for the many arrivals, if we plan this out towards leveraging it all together...
 
The general idea is to support ALL of the following, ALL at the same time:
(A) planned "mini-events" along the routes, at the various colored spots/cities [for both: {1} increasing all of the following items in this list below, and {2} increasing media potential]...
(B) facilitating all ridesharing, duh... for best savings + most attendees, most efficient is {1} use minivans @ 6 persons/per, next is {2} use econo cars @ 4 persons/per, next is {3} rent 12/15 passenger full size vans and sharecost, next is {4} use the big buses and sharecost...
(C) facilitating the distribution of various literature, biz cards, stickers, and etc., by our movement traveling en masse throughout the entire populated Eastern half of the country...
(D) facilitating the collection and transport, to DC, of the stuffed animals (obviously can be some of the "mini-events" at nightly gathering stops - the three main city colors on the attached map)... people who can't come to DC can still meet the caravans at the lunch&nighttime (Red, Green, Pink, Gold) gathering/stopping points, plus maybe at brief/timed pit-stops in ALL major cities along the ways, or wherever along the ways...
(E) etc.
 
 
TIMETABLES / MINI-EVENTS OVERVIEW:
 
Overnight, Aug 11/12 -- Gold cities -- Bismarck, ND; Pierre, SD; North Platte, NE; Shamrock, TX; Houston, TX
 
Overnight, Aug 12/13 -- Pink cities -- Tomah, WI; Iowa City, IA; Columbia, MO; Little Rock, AR; Hattiesburg, MI; Mobile, AL; Tallahassee, FL; Tampa, FL; Miami, FL
 
Lunchtime, Aug 13th -- Red cities -- Chicago, IL; Effingham, IL; Jackson, TN; Birmingham, AL; Atlanta, GA; Jacksonville, FL
 
Overnight, Aug 13/14 -- Green cities -- Boston, MA; Albany, NY; Syracuse, NY; Buffalo, NY; Toledo, OH; Dayton, OH; Lexington, KY; Knoxville, TN; Greenville, SC; Sumter, SC
 
Lunchtime, Aug 14th -- Red cities -- New York, NY; Wheeling/Pittsburgh; Charleston, WV; Roanoke, VA; Raleigh, NC
 
Late Aft/Early Eve, Aug 14th == ALL/MOST CARAVANS ARRIVE @ DC FESTIVAL HOTELS AREA
 
 
Of course, there is no way for just a couple/few people to administer all of this. Listing an approximate timetable is one thing, but we will have to rely upon people in their own states/counties to do the actual local travel logistics planning, by starting to talk to each other.... now... the sooner, the better...
 
Soooo, in order to DO all of the above, in a natural unfolding order across the United States, we simply need every activist out there to be joined onto their respective/appropriate Yahoo Groups of UCRCoA, i.e., join their respective State & County online groups, since they are all tied together already, and more people are out there waiting, geographically based now.
 
Any and every "national" event necessarily needs, and must have, geographical support and networking on a "national" scale. Let's use it, since we already have it... Please send everyone you know, and more, directly to their own State & County online groups, so that we DO this!!
 

Regards,
------------------------------------------
Torm Howse
National Board Director,
United Civil Rights Councils of America
http://unitedcivilrights.org
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Tampa, Florida