Hank and John from the Road

2008-11-03 · letter vlog · John, Hank · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Projects, Personal life) · mode: Personal update · tags: on location, guest or collab, self promotion, fundraising ask, song or performance

From the minivan on the Tour de Nerdfighting, John reports the first gatherings, the release of Hank's album So Jokes, a Save the Children Bangladesh collection and a mongoose-eaten Looking for Alaska; Hank adds cow-spotting games and the tour's Twitter and BlogTV streams.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Tour de Nerdfighting begins; John drives Q's mom's minivan through Missouri; Hank films and edits

• ★★★ Hank: The Great American Tour de Nerdfighting 2008 begins, featuring Hank, John, Katherine and a minivan. — 00:00:00 · Tour de Nerdfighting, Katherine Green, United States
• ★★ John, driving through Missouri, says the minivan is the same one Q's mom owns in Paper Towns, one reason they picked it for the tour. — 00:00:00 · Paper Towns · also in: John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated
• ★ Hank films John's vlog while John drives, and jokes that he will edit it so John sounds like an idiot. (playful) — 00:00:00

00:00:42 — Heading to St. Louis; Plano and Oklahoma City gatherings; So Jokes release announced; album clips

• ★★ John says they are driving to a Nerdfighter gathering in St. Louis; the day before (2 November 2008), gatherings in Plano, Texas and Oklahoma City were both awesome. — 00:00:42
• ★★★ John says they announced the release of Hank's first studio album, So Jokes; having listened to all of it, he calls it amazing. — 00:00:42 · Hank Green · also in: John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated

00:01:11 — So Jokes only on the tour, $15, no credit cards; met Sean; collecting for Save the Children Bangladesh

• ★★ So Jokes is for sale only on the Tour de Nerdfighting: CDs cost $15 and credit cards are not accepted. — 00:01:11 · Tour de Nerdfighting
• ★★ In Plano they met Shawn, the man from Bangladesh who has been working with Save the Children to decrease worldsuck with Nerdfighters' money. — 00:01:11 · Save the Children, world suck · also in: John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated
• ★★★ John says they will collect money for Save the Children Bangladesh throughout the entire tour. — 00:01:11 · Save the Children, Tour de Nerdfighting

00:01:48 — Looking for Alaska half eaten by a Hawaiian mongoose; car time with Katherine and Hank

• ★★ In Oklahoma City a man showed John a copy of Looking for Alaska he said was half eaten by a Hawaiian mongoose; John says he believed him. (playful) — 00:01:48 · Looking for Alaska (novel) · also in: John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated
• ★ John says the tour has meant a lot of sitting in the car, but it has been fun: Katherine and Hank are excellent company in a minivan. — 00:01:48 · Katherine Green, Hank Green

00:02:18 — Missing the Yeti; next stops Greenwood, Louisville, Knoxville, Gadsden; singing, rumble strips

• ★★ They miss the Yeti but are coming home to her the next day for the Election Day Spectacular in Greenwood, Indiana. — 00:02:18 · Sarah Urist Green, United States presidential election
• ★★ After Greenwood the tour goes to Louisville, Kentucky, then Knoxville, Tennessee, then Gadsden, Alabama. — 00:02:18

00:02:53 — Cow-spotting competition; doing this full time

• ★★ Hank and Katherine have a friendly competition over who spots cows first, and Hank says she is far ahead; he keeps mistaking or missing cows. (playful) — 00:02:53 · Katherine Green

00:03:14 — Sign-off; P.S. tour Twitter stream and BlogTV broadcasts of gatherings; horses, not cows

• ★★ John says Nerdfighters make him believe in America again. — 00:03:14 · Nerdfighteria, United States
• ★★ Hank says a Tour de Nerdfighting Twitter stream will constantly broadcast updates from the road, using a device that gets him online in the minivan. — 00:03:14 · Twitter, Tour de Nerdfighting
• ★★ Hank says he and John will broadcast all the Nerdfighter gatherings on BlogTV, with links in the sidebar for Twitter and BlogTV. — 00:03:41 · link in the sidebar, Twitter · also in: John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated

Humor (significant)

• Hank, filming John's vlog, answers John's thanks. — 00:00:00

  “I'm gonna edit it too so you sound like an idiot.”

• A man says his copy of Looking for Alaska was half eaten by a Hawaiian mongoose. — 00:01:48

  “I totally believe him because he looked like the kind of guy who did professionally wrestle Hawaiian mongooses.”

• Someone proposes quitting writing and EcoGeek to drive around meeting Nerdfighters full time. — 00:02:53

  “Spew carbon?”

• Hank, losing the cow-spotting game, finally shouts that he has spotted some. — 00:03:41

  “Oh, horses! It was not cows! I thought I had it, but it was horses!”

Threads in this video

• launched · Tour de Nerdfighting 2008 edition — The Great American Tour de Nerdfighting 2008 begins, with Hank, John, Katherine and a minivan. (00:00:00)
• milestone · Tour de Nerdfighting 2008 edition — The first tour gatherings, in Plano and Oklahoma City, have taken place; the tour heads to St. Louis. (00:00:42)
• launched · Hank's album So Jokes: release (2008) — Hank's first studio album So Jokes is released at the first tour gatherings, sold only on the tour as a $15 CD. (00:00:42)
• reminder · John asks Nerdfighters to help fund Shawn Ahmed's work in Bangladesh (2008) — After meeting Sean in Plano, John says they will collect money for Save the Children Bangladesh throughout the tour. (00:01:11)
• told · A Nerdfighter shows John a Looking for Alaska half eaten by a Hawaiian mongoose (2008) — At the Oklahoma City gathering a man shows John a copy of Looking for Alaska he says was half eaten by a Hawaiian mongoose. (00:01:48)
• callback · John's wife Sarah as 'the Yeti' (2007) — They miss the Yeti but are coming home to her the next day for the Election Day Spectacular in Greenwood, Indiana. (00:02:18)
• milestone · Nerdfighter donations to the Uncultured Project for rural Bangladesh (2008) — In Plano they met Shawn, the man from Bangladesh who has been working with Save the Children to decrease worldsuck with Nerdfighters' money. (00:01:11)

Where the stories that moved here went next

• Tour de Nerdfighting 2008 edition — completed; last: looked back, 2026-07-14
• Nerdfighter donations to the Uncultured Project for rural Bangladesh (2008) — completed; last: looked back, 2012-12-17
• Hank's album So Jokes: release (2008) — completed; last: milestone, 2009-02-18

Mentioned

Central: So Jokes · Tour de Nerdfighting

Also: People: Katherine Green · Sarah Urist Green · Shawn Ahmed

Projects: EcoGeek

Works: Looking for Alaska (novel) · Paper Towns · Spiraling Shape

Organizations: BlogTV · Save the Children · Twitter

Terms: link in the sidebar · world suck

Places: Bangladesh · Gadsden, Alabama · Greenwood, Indiana · Knoxville, Tennessee · Louisville, Kentucky · Missouri · Oklahoma City · Plano, Texas · St. Louis · United States

Events: United States presidential election

Characters: Quentin Jacobsen

Also centred on So Jokes: DFTBA Records · Comment Haters and Christmas · Hank Green: Behind the Music

Later videos replying to this one

• 2008-11-04 · Election Night In Indianapolis! (Hank) — corrects (rule-change on Hank's album So Jokes: release (2008)) — Hank corrects John: the CD is only currently tour-only; after the tour they will set up shipping to sell it online, hopefully in early December. (00:01:15)