CMTO is a huge part of my year and I look forward to it all summer. On one hand sometimes I think that no part of this philosophy is that revolutionary - and then I get away from ad-bloated hedonic treadmill running consumer culture for a whole 72 hours and feel much more at home mentally.
I find myself starting conversations and getting along really well with people that have facially nothing in common with me - different ages, stages of life, countries to call home, fields of study and work.... And I find myself really refreshed to just talk to people who
get it - to not have to explain "this is why I packed lunch" or "I don't want to keep climbing the ladder for bigger and bigger paychecks until the day I die at my desk". It's exposed me to new ideas for diet, hobbies, and finances, stopped any judgment of people with higher spending levels than me, and made me think hard about caring for a disabled child and aging parents someday. It's been unbelievably valuable for me and I would be sad to see it die.
On top of that, it's just good cheap road-trip fun. I met
@Early-And-Often in the airport rental car terminal, then drove across New York (damn that state is big) and got him his first Choco Taco, then proceeded to immediately blow out the tire on the rental car, wait at the buffalo airport for another, then badly lie at the border to get across. I tried the OG Anchor buffalo wings in Buffalo with
@oneday. Then I learned that you're not allowed to pump your own gas in New Jersey minutes before we returned the rental car at the weekend's end... and that was just the madness getting to and from