April and May Travel Update

I’m hoping for a very active travel summer in 2025. This has been made easier by an award I recently received. The Music Library Association (MLA) bestowed its 2025 Vincent H. Duckles Award–given for the best book-length bibliography or other research tool in music–for my second book, Recorded Solo Concert Spirituals, 1916-2022. With their monetary award, I was able to fully prep the Silver Bullet for distance travel, pay for registration and hotel for the upcoming Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and have funds left to register for next year’s MLA conference.

The fun is scheduled to begin with a full day in Baltimore consisting of a road tour of the city, my second visit to the National Aquarium, and a dinner cruise that evening. This is contingent on my full recovery from whatever bug I brought back (in addition to the Kong-sized shot glass and replica of the Empire State Building souvenirs now part of the display pictured at the top of this post) from my day in New York City.  Shortly after that, I head to my home town, Greensboro, North Carolina, for my college class reunion.

Less than a week later, I am set to  head to Tulsa. The itinerary I mentioned in an earlier post has already had to be changed so that I can be in Michigan in time to sail to Isle Royale National Park. I will need to drive directly there from the conference, rather than making a sidetrack to Wind Cave National Park as I had hoped. So the updated proposed route is to the left.

Fortunately, there are a couple of other opportunities to get Wind Cave in later. I hope to check off at least one national park from my shirt over the summer.

This is a long drive trip, but the time spent in Tulsa should make it manageable as far as wear-and-tear on me and SB.

BTW, I haven’t forgotten either Colorado or the great northeastern United States. I am holding off on planning either of those trips until I see just how much negative impact the economic situation has on funding them.

Oh, with the range of locations, I am keeping a watchful eye on the weather forecasts to try to plan my packing based on the anticipated conditions. I am also looking for new audio tracks to add to my music playlists, a crucial part of my driving experience.

Of course, I hope to share all of this in upcoming blog posts.