The Rocky Protocol is a technique for use in a road trip. It is an exceedingly simple idea that can be remarkably useful, but is often overlooked in favor of far less elegant solutions. The Rocky can be employed when you need to do something, but can't get it done before you leave on a trip. Simply glance at a map, pick a city along your route, and look up a location in that city where you can take care of your errand.

Simple, no?

The Rocky Protocol was first developed during a roadtrip called Out Of The Way. Dan Meismer and I left from Cleveland, picked up Tom Smith in Mansfield and drove him, with all his belongings, to Columbia, South Carolina. We wanted to meet Rocky when we passed through Maryland, but he lived a hundred or so miles off our route - such a detour would've put us irrevocably behind schedule. So I looked at the map, picked a city we'd be passing through that was closest to Rocky, and decided we'd see him at the first Chinese food place to show up in a Google search. And that's what we did.

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By Dylan Flipse, dylan@flipse.com