It all started with May. The woman, not the month. An academic librarian at Mt. Hood Community College in Portland, Oregon, she came across the ultimate extra credit opportunity for one of her favorite classes, CuS 205 (Studies of Scandanavian Mythology and Culture), while skimming the internet one evening. A traditional Scandanavian Yuletide Festival, held once a year in the little coastal town of Astoria, just south of the Washington boarder.
When the school board approached James regarding the "Astoria Trip", he agreed to ride along with one student group as a designated chaparone. A man of his colorful history and disposition was much more at home out in the world than crammed into a Student Advisor's office. Besides, anything had to be better than another week of reviewing admittance papers, right?
If you ask Carl McGillicutty, there are just two kinds of people in this world. Those that appreciate details, and those that don't. A man fascinated by the little intricacies, he also had a natural affinity for machines. It was this affinity that made it so easy for him to attain a commercial driver's license, and it was this license that prompted the Dean of MHCC to suggest that Carl pilot one of the passenger vans being used on the Astoria Trip. Breaks from routine such as this weren't exactly common in a custodian's daily duties, and noone was ever killed by change, right?
And then of course, there are the students. Each van contains five students from the previous year's Scandanavian Mythology and Culture classes, and being students from a community college, they run the spectrum of humanity. Every color of the mortal rainbow, preparing to converge on the ancient oceanside settlement of Astoria for seven days of horizon broadening enjoyment.