The Phoenix Rising

by Doug Smith

 http://web.archive.org/web/20000412040824/www.ed2go.com/news/rtrip.html

So what would you do if your home, business, and all your possessions (excluding your spouse and dog) were engulfed in a wild fire? Cry like a baby and try desperately to pull whatever pieces of your shattered life you could from the ashes? Megan Edwards, Mark Sedenquist and Marvin the Dog invoked the myth of the Phoenix, literally and figuratively, hitting the road and documenting their odyssey on the Web.

Their Altadena California home and business were destroyed in 1993 by a devastating fire. Instead of rebuilding with money from an insurance policy, Edwards and Sedenquist decided to invest the $75,000 policy money into a custom built motor home. They christened their new mobile headquarters the "Phoenix" in homage to their new life.

Revcon of Irvine California built the Phoenix. It is 32 feet long and provides 200 square feet of living and working space for its denizens. The motor home houses the tools with which the Road Trip odyssey is documented, including cell phones and laptops that are part of a wireless communications system connected to the Internet. Though they remain connected, the technology is not without its problems. Sometimes the connections disconnect or drop out during uploads, and the connection is usually about 1/16 the speed of the fastest home Internet connection. 

The communications system primarily allows Edwards and Sedenquist to keep in touch with friends and fans by e-mail, send out their e-mailed newsletter, and update their website Road Trip America once a week. This website is where some 30,000 to 50,000 visitors a month log-on to learn about, or keep up with, what's going on during the Road Trip.

The journey was originally planned as a six month trip, which has progressively mutated into a five-year-long,  48-state, 130,000-mile trek. The Road rulers have visited nearly every state (except North Dakota and Hawaii), and five of the Canadian Provinces. 

The high-tech Charles Kuralts hit the road with little income, investing their insurance monies into the new motor home. They get by on profits from promotional tours and speaking engagements across the country, set up through the website and through their marketing company, RTA Marketing. Trilogy Books has recently published Edwards' written document of the travels, entitled "Roads From the Ashes", which will bring in further revenue for the trio (don't forget Marvin the Dog).

The website is an interesting and entertaining resource for those who love or are interested in "the road." The Road Trip America site contains anecdotes, pictures of objects, people and funny signs across the country,   food, recreation, and sight-seeing recommendations. It's kept up to date for return visitors as well. 

So, if you can't leave your home or job to travel across the country gettin' into adventures, you can log on and live virtually and vicariously through the Road Trip America adventurers, and Marvin the dog.