The bone-chilling cold has arrived, so I really needed something to fill me with warm thoughts. Even though it’s more than 7 weeks away, what about the official announcement that there’s soon going to be another National School Choice Week Whistle-Stop Tour?

Planned by National School Choice Week, the tour will span 3,800 miles and feature special events in 14 cities. Modeled after pioneering whistle-stop tours in American history, the events will call attention to the benefits of – and need for – greater educational opportunity for children and families.

The tour will launch from Newark, New Jersey on Wednesday, January 22, 2014 and end in San Francisco on Saturday, February 1, 2014.

I probably said it before, but what better way to celebrate giving students and parents the freedom to choose from a wide array of educational options than to ride the rails? Well, maybe if there was a big rocket ship space trip that included VIP passes for young edublogger prodigies, I might change my mind about that. But in any case, more School Choice for Kids means opening the door to break down boundaries, travel, and explore.

During its last run, the School Choice Train made a stop in southeastern Colorado as part of its 3,300-mile coast-to-coast trek. This time the train is traveling farther south, and taking a longer journey.

For the 2014 run Colorado may have been left out in the cold, but I’m holding out high hopes for 2015. In the meantime, I’m already hearing that there are going to be some great National School Choice Week events in the Denver metro area and along the Front Range.

Stay tuned to find out more. Now it’s time to go back to conjuring up some warm thoughts.