To get this idea you have to know about two different organizations. First there is Road Trip Nation which is a reality TV show that lets young people drive around the nation and ask some smart people “what should I do when I grow up?” The students video the trip and the interviews and the producers make the results into a show about growing up. It is extremely successful. It runs on PBS and has big sponsors like New Zealand Tourism and State Farm Insurance.

The other organization is Matt.org. They are a fairly new organization working to “improve US/Mexican relationships.”  They are building ties between universities, assembling a very impressive board and testing some advertising that hopefully will effect peoples attitudes about each other.

In the last month I have had a chance to meet people from both of these organizations. I was very impressed by the quality of the people in both and by each organizations potential.  The potential synergy between them struck me on the way home from San Antonio last week.  By combining their missions they could greatly magnify their influence.

The combined entity would use the Road Trip Nation Model on an bi-national basis.  Students from the US and Mexico would driving around in each others countries to learn about each others nations.  The ideal sponsor would be McDonalds but it might be State Farm again. The student/road trippers could explore culture, customs and regional issues in each others countries. They would be like latter day Alexis de Tocqueville’s exploring and recording their impressions of each others countries on film.

This is one of my better ideas and I hope that one of the two organizations runs (motors?) with it. I’m going to send the link to both of them and pitch it on Radical Immigration .  All I ask is that when it is wildly successful that I be one of the interviews of the RoadTripAmigos.

One other thing that recommends Road Trip Nation is that they give out free postcards as part of their promotional package.