We accidentally spend the night in Bretton Woods under the Mount Washington - the place where in 1944 some guys sat together to draw a blueprint of the global economic system as it exists until today.

A few hours before we had stopped in Kennebunkport the summer home of the Bush family. The East Coast is so full of history you, can’t avoid it.

From tomorrow on I’ll be on the road with my girlfriend Doreen and our friends Nora and Marc from Berlin. We finally mapped out a route last night. I’ll try to put my iPhone to work and send some pictures and short updates from the road.

We’re planning on a 5,500km drive all the way up to Montreal via Boston and the Maine coastline, then to Chicago with stops by the Niagara Falls and Amish County. Next will probably be a short stay in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park only to proceed to Virginia Beach for a birthday party in the sun. Last stops then two days in Washington D.C. and one in Philadelphia and a short trip to Atlantic City before we head back to Brooklyn.

We’re getting excited!

Roadtrip USA 2008

I know… it sounds like a relic from the 70s or something, which it actually is. But obviously it’s one of those ideas that even gain relevance over time.

As we now hear Starbucks will be closing more than 600 stores in the US alone, which probably no one will even notice because they have more then 10,000 of them over here.

That said, I have to add that I really feel for the 1000 people losing their already underpaid jobs. But it also shows that there is not unlimited demand for ever the same products. I admit that it gereally makes sense to have chain stores in some respect. But it also makes traveling (and living) so not exciting at times, because it kills cultural particularities.

Her comes a sermon by Reverend Billy, founder of the Church of Stop Shopping, getting the word out to the masses on Fox Biz News:

“Capitalism isn’t necessarily the same as Freedom.”…eat this Sister Rebecca! Although my favorite part is when he says that their coffee “isn’t that great”. That’s a good one.

So you can argue if Rev. Billy is taking it all a bit too far, or if Rebecca Gomez has ever given anything she said a thought - at all. Yet, one thing is for sure: supporting independent businesses is a thing we could probably all agree on.

If you do, then you can start on Sunday by showing up in New York’s East Village:

AuH2O is not only local and independent - it’s fashion with an attitude. Kate Goldwater (hence the name: Au=gold H2O=water) is a feminist, a friend of the environment, a soccer player and a sweetheart. Learn more about her store, her fashion and herself on her new blog: blog.auh2odesigns.com and come out for fashion coffee and music this weekend. I’ll be there…

This is a double post also published on tapmag.

We just finished working on an online adaption of the 2007 series of club features originally published on Slices DVD magazine. If you subscribe to our podcast on iTunes you will automatically download all four features as soon as they are released online.

Check the full feature with map here and ask me for the embed code if you wanna put it on your mySpace or blog.