My goal for this trip in the winter of 2008 is to drive from California to a conference in Florida and back, attend AA meetings in seven states and see how they differ — and how they don’t. I have two fears: that a low-budget camping trip is dangerous for a lone woman and that I’ll end up hating the AA I find outside my local group. Without the one place I’ve felt most at home the last 28 years, where would I be?

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