In this CNN Financial News segment, host A interviews Courtney Pulitzer, a Silicon Alley gossip columnist who participated in the "Alley to the Valley Rally," a cross‑country road trip that took ten tech‑savvy travelers from New York’s Silicon Alley to San Francisco’s Silicon Valley. The rally, organized into four teams, followed a route that included Nashville, St. Louis, Denver, the Burning Man festival in Nevada, and finally San Francisco. The trip was designed to demonstrate how emerging wireless technologies—cell phones, modems, and early internet services—could keep travelers connected and engage local communities. Participants maintained online journal sites (built by Team GCDI) featuring photos and updates, and they held six live chat sessions with AOL’s Hub Heaven and a St. Louis Post‑Dispatch newsletter. The interview reveals that, contrary to expectations, many small‑town residents were enthusiastic about the internet, already owned personal websites, and were eager to learn more, though the team faced technical frustrations on the road. Financially, each participant spent roughly $2,000‑plus out of pocket, offset by sponsorships from Stur Associates, @NewYork, AOL, AT&T, CDNow, and others, which provided goods and some cash. Looking ahead, the organizers consider making the rally a biennial or even annual event, and Pulitzer confirms she will likely join future trips. The overall experience is described as dramatically intense, mixing high‑tech thrills with logistical challenges.
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10 intrepid, technologically adept travelers started a journey from New York's Silicon Alley to San Francisco's Silicon Valley. Kind of like a digital road rally, if you will, this trip was intended to show how wireless technologies such as cell phones and modems can link together people in different parts of the country. My guest is Courtney Pulitzer, one of the travelers on the Alley to the Valley Rally, as the trip was called, and welcome to the program. Thank you. It really does seem like this high-tech search for the American American spirit would sum up what you did. Do you agree?
Yes, I think foremost one of the things that we really were excited about was this was the great American road trip, getting to drive across the country, see all the different little small towns along the way, and also with the focus of the technology that's out there testing it and, and what the cyber scene is in all these different little towns.
Before we get to all those scenes, tell us a little bit more about it. This was— it began 2 years ago, and where did you travel from? New York to San San Francisco, my home is out there. So talk about all the things in between, what you saw and the experiences that you had.
Well, there were 4 teams and for the most part we traveled together. Most of the main points were Nashville, St. Louis, Denver, Burning Man Festival in Nevada, and then San Francisco. And I think most of our experiences were the thrill of meeting people in cafes and different road stops along the way, talking to them about our websites. And finding out that a lot of people out there actually do have sites of their own.
As you were talking, we do have your website available, and Terry Spataro, who is with Stur Associates, one of your sponsors, will be driving that website for us. Here we have it here. Talk a little bit about this, and then let's get to what your findings were, which I imagine was that there is a tremendous awareness of technology.
Yes, there really is. Right now, this is one of the journal entries for Team GCDI, which designed the website for the entire rally. And what they did is they have a contact sheet of their images that they took with their digital camera. And you can click on each image, whichever one you want, and get a larger image of that. Each team has their own journal entry site where they maintain their journals and pictures.
And also, 3 times a week you had an opportunity for people to chat online.
Yes, actually we did 6 chats chats Monday, Wednesday, Friday for 2 weeks with AOL on the Hub Heaven. And I did a chat with the @NewYork newsletter from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch headquarters in St. Louis.
With your findings, did it confirm what you all felt you knew, or were there some surprises?
Um, there were surprises.
Such as?
I was amazed at how people were not skeptical. I thought they might think, you know, the internet and not really understand it or care. And a lot of people were really enthusiastic and really wanted to know more and actually had websites of their own. Some of the frustrating parts were the actual using the technology on the roads, but for the most part, the people we met were genuinely interested and really excited about the different technology we were using.
Let's talk the money of this. How much did the trip cost on average, and what about sponsors?
I'd say individually, we all probably spent at least $2,000, maybe more, out of pocket, personal. So it was a bit of an expensive trip for some of us, but certainly well worth it. We did have sponsorship from Sture Associates, from @NewYork, from AOL, AT&T, Team GCDI, CDNow. So we did have a lot of sponsors who mostly donated goods, some money, and definitely That's the spirit of this trip.
And what about future plans? Plans to do this again?
Definitely. Probably, I think right now it's every 2 years, although there's been so much interest it may go into a yearly event.
And at the conclusion of it all, I mean, if you had to sum up what the various teams— I'm sure you all had kind of a postmortem, got together and talked about this— what would you say overall was the experience and how you would categorize the experience?
The experience was Intensely dramatic in terms of seeing the country, frustrations with the technology, and also thrills with the technology. So it was, it was definitely an intense experience with both highs and lows.
Are you going to sign up for the next trip when it comes around?
Most definitely.
And start saving your money. Maybe a little pricier next time too. Right. Thank you very much, Courtney Pulitzer, for joining us today. Silicon Alley gossip columnist. We appreciate it.
