You can trust me, I'm an itinerant anthropologist

The hardest part of this journey will have nothing to do with the journey. The car could break down in the middle of the Sonora and that would be tough. I could get mugged by a couple of laid-off auto workers in Detroit and that would be tough. My funds could run out in Bangor and I could find myself sleeping in the car for a week on my way back to Florida and that would be tough. But none of these things would be as tough as something that is absolutely certain to happen -- maybe several times a day -- for as long as this journey lasts.

I'm going to have to go up to people and ask them for their love stories.

See, it's a little weird with me and people. Sometimes I roll a natural 20 -- that's like being dealt a straight flush, if you don't know what I'm talking about -- and I am the most charming, engaging person on the planet. The rest of the time, though, I'm awkward, nervous, reluctant to make the first move. Once I'm sitting down one-on-one with a person I can hold up my end of the conversation, as long as my end involves more listening than talking, but getting to that point scares the hell out of me.

So what the heck am I going to say to people I want to interview? I've been thinking about various lines and none of them sound quite right. "Hi there, do you have a minute? My name's Brian. I'm driving across the country collecting stories and writing a book about love. Do you have time to tell me a story?" I mean, okay, not bad, not too aggressive, casts it as a favor you can do for me, establishes me as an author (the rare demographic people still trust), and gets the point across, but makes me sound scruffy and doesn't encourage real emotional engagement. Or maybe it does because love stories are by definition about emotional engagement. That's the best line I've got so far.

And what the heck are they going to say to me? What percentage of my potential interviewees are going to be creeped out, or figure I'm selling something, or get offended about being approached by a stranger about something so private, or freeze up when put on the spot? Or just be too busy? People are busy a lot. I guess that's the advantage of talking to people in laundromats and diners and such -- places where people have nothing else to do. It might also help to approach couples or groups, which might make things less intimidating for the interviewees (and have the added benefit that I get stories out of more than one person).

So there are difficulties on both ends. I have to be willing to put myself out there, and I have to be willing to understand when other people won't. The first I can control; the second I can't. What would you say if someone came up to you in a bar and asked for a love story?