EVO Roadtrip: Crossing the Land of the Free in Search of Good Fights and Good Food

It has been a long week. At the time of this writing, I sit in a nicely air conditioned hotel room in Las Vegas, NV. Eight days ago, I was pulling out of the driveway of a beautiful house in the suburb of South Salem, NY, my parents already looking tiny in my rearview mirror as they waved goodbye to me from the bottom of the hill. They do not know when they are going to see me again, and neither do I.

I am moving, you see. The Lake Merced area of San Francisco, CA is going to be where I lay my head. But as a rabid fighting game fan since the days of Yie Ar Kung Fu, this nearly 3,000 mile sojourn holds a promise of something equally exciting to me, if not more so, than a fresh start at life on a different coast: the opportunity to attend my very first EVO World Championship. Spectating and playing in the grand daddy of all fighting game tournaments, against the highest echelon of players from across the country, and the globe, has long been a dream of mine and in just 3 more days, that dream will become a reality.

The road has been very long, but equally fruitful. In the last 8 days I have stopped in 12 different cities in almost as many states in search of arcades, independant game stores, gamer meet-ups and great local eateries. I can honestly say that I found at least one reason to come back to each and every city I visited. Our country, I have discovered, is full of beauty and is not lacking for good people, good food or good gaming scenes. I ate well, laughed often, bodied some people, got bodied by even more people and even managed to make some new friends along the way. Now I am going to share all of it with you fine folks, day by glorious day.

It HAS been a long week. But it's been a righteously kick ass one too. I hope you all will enjoy reading about it as much as I enjoyed living it! Check back daily for more!

Next up: Day 1 - Philadelphia and Pittsburgh