How to Plan a Free Trip to the Rally to Restore Sanity

Hi there folks! If you're like me, John Stewart's request for all reasonable, civilized-discussion loving, non holy book burning, generally moderate citizens of this country to get up and show the fringe and radical parts of the country that, even though we're busy with day jobs, kids and college, we can still take a bit of time out a weekend to show the country that the vast majority of citizens are adamantly opposed to polarization of our country's public discourse, seemed... well let's just say that it seemed really reasonable.

So, now your hooked and you want to go see the John Stewart and friends give some heart-warming speeches, mixed with 2 cups of comedy, and one part inspiration... but it's an awful long distance to drive and gas is pretty expensive. That's where this instructable comes in.

Using the Rally Rideshare website, ride2sanity.com, I will show you step by step; how to plan your trip, prepare your vehicle and fill it with riders who will cover your gas costs.

Required materials:
-Desire to attend the Rally to Restore Sanity (and/or Fear)
-A vehicle that can handle the trip (If you don't have a vehicle or are too young to drive, you should make a sister instructable - Find a Ride to the Rally to Restore Sanity that details using the website to find a ride).
-Materials for decorating your vehicle
-A computer with internet access

Step 1: Calculate Cost Per Rider

Okay, our first step is to determine how much money each passenger will need to donate in order to cover the cost of gas for your journey. We will use the Trip Cost Calculator at gasbuddy.com for this.

So, what you want to do is head over to the calculator
In the "Start" text box, enter your departing address.
In the "End" text box, enter "Washington DC"
Select "Return Trip"
Choose your vehicle's year make and model.
Click "Fuel My Trip"

Now print or save the resulting information.

The key part here is the "Total Trip Cost" listed in green. We want to take that number and divide it by the number of open seats you have in your car.

Example: I'm driving alone. So, I have 4 open seats. My Total Trip Cost is $174.
174/4=43.50

So, each passenger that rides with me will need to donate $43.50 towards the gas fund. Great. Now we need to find passengers.

Step 2: Find Rideshare Passengers

This is really the key step. We are going to use the ride2sanity.com service in order to post our ride and communicate with potential passengers. This is a rideshare coordinating site aimed specifically at people going to the Rally to Restore Sanity (an/or Fear).

Navigate to www.ride2sanity.comhttp://www.ride2sanity.com

Click "Post Ride"

Enter an email address and password to create an account. Check the "I am a new user" box.

In the next screen, enter all of the details about your ride. Make sure to include that all passengers must donate $X amount of money for gas (using the divided number from step 1). You can also list any other cities in which you would be willing to stop "en route". You can also select whether or not passengers must hold a valid driver's license, in case you plan on sharing the actual job of driving.

Click "Submit". Your ride should now be listed and searchable. When a potential passengers finds your ride, they will send you a message and you will receive a "new message" notification in your email.

Step 3: Promote Your Ride

If you're serious about finding passengers, try posting your ride on Craigslist with a link to ride2sanity.com or using the Share links on the top of ride2sanity.com to share the ride on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Another good way to attract passengers is to visit the ride2sanity.com Street Team page. There, you can download rideshare posters, press releases and radio public service announcements for your campus or community. Go crazy!

Step 4: Prepare Your Ride

Now that your ride is posted and you've promoted it, don't just sit around Facebooking.. Start preparing your vehicle!

Basic checkup:
-Check your oil
-Check tire pressure
-Check coolant level
-Or just take the car in for a checkup;)

Then start decorating:
-You can pick up car decorating markers at lots of party shops or fabric/craft stores
-Decals anyone?
-Paint your car like a pumpkin...?
-Yet again, go crazy!