This is the He-Dog Run.

Best I can tell, some folks are just born with purpose. They know what they were put here for, and if they’re lucky, how to do it. I even knew a fair bunch of these folks at Yale Law — people whose life mission never seemed much in doubt. Plenty of people seem to have this. Navy SEALs are, from what I gather, similarly driven by a deep conviction, something to keep them going through hours of treading frigid water in the dark during Hell Week. It doesn’t much matter what this underlying belief or mission or value system is, but conviction can spawn an overarching life goal that energizes, illuminates — a beacon and a destination for a life with purpose. This goal can be something as challenging as starting a successful business, becoming a SEAL or becoming President, or as simple as getting married or buying a house or raising some kids. Anyway, the point is, these people exist. People with convictions, purpose, and consequently, real goals.

I’m not among them.

But I do, now, have a life goal. One lone life goal. It crystallized recently, swirling from the mists of various passions and interests and experiences. And like most pure and valid truths, it cannot be unseen.

I will drive a Cobra in a spirited fashion from New York to Los Angeles, to my helicopter, which I will then fly around the world. This is the He-Dog Run.

Do I have a Cobra? I do not. Do I have a helicopter? I do not. Have I driven a Cobra? I have. (A Superformance. It was pretty rad. I need the tall man conversion with the dropped footwell and lowered seat, though.) Have I flown a helicopter? I have. (To the extent that a few hours of instruction in an R22 in Alaska counts. It was too expensive while I was clerking, so I stopped. I’ve meant to resume since.) Have I driven across America? I have, three times. Have I been around the world? I have not, though I did live abroad for several years with my family. Analyze as you will. The past is everything and it is nothing. The HDR is now my goal.

Call it arbitrary — it is. Call it self-serving and wanton and vainglorious, and it probably is. But to me it is glamorous and smacks of olden-days pipe-puffing adventuring and it involves driving fast and flying low and seeing things, and more than that, it’s precisely the sort of dilettantish grand tour dibble-dabble to which only we unburdened with a true life’s purpose can aspire. Take that, SEALs.

This site is the spot where I’ll post various info and updates on the HDR. (Don’t hold your breath: Current timeline stipulates that I do the HDR within 13 years. But the clock’s running.) Welcome.