Can one wander in cyberspace?

Some 800 miles later, I have new insights and a more clearly defined sense of mission for the upcoming trip around the United States.

I'm very excited about seeing the sights and meeting the folks; but I am now just as excited about "exploring" the virtual worlds that are visited through conduits with strange new names, like "podcasts," "blogs" and "discussion boards."

As I traveled along Interstate 5 and Highway 99 for a Christmastime visit with family and friends, I wondered, "Why would anyone care about "What I did on my "summer vacation?”

I finally had to admit that there's not much about me or my travel plans that would justify an expectation that people will choose to visit the Wandering Dave site off and on for a whole year.

Maybe if I committed a series of bank robberies and tried for a "Bonnie and Clyde" kind of following... NAH!

No, the compelling feature of my yearlong trip (if there really is such a feature) msut be the way I'll be reporting about the trip -- using multiple media channels.

This revelation about what the audience will find interesting leads me to believe I should focus some of the content on my role as ... now, get this moniker ... a "mobile media mogul."

All right, all right, I know that sounds more than a little egomaniacal. I'm just trying to make a point: Never in history has it been possible for average people (like me) to send messages to a worldwide (and potentially huge) audience.

Thanks to the Internet, I can now publish newspaper copy, broadcast radio clips, display images and even engage in a dialogue with a mass audience -- actually with several mass audiences by way of multiple media channels.

Move over, Joe Pulitzer, David Sarnoff and Ted Turner. Here comes Wandering Dave -- the mobile media mogul who is out to capture your audience!

If being on the road makes me feel THIS good about myself, I can't wait to start my trip.

Just seven weeks before the "go" date: Valentine's Day 2007.