Well, it was easy to find the 'write in journal' link. Or is that from my slashbox? I dunno. I don't care. Second, it works better for me on IE 8.0 than it does on FF 3.6.

No FF compatibility, less readability than 2.0, inability to save preferences? Lame.

No wonder the number of comments to articles is down. Substantially by my seat of the pants estimation. Eighteen comments on a Android vs. Symbian troll article after 35 minutes? Anti-Apple troll article has 67 comments after three hours?!

They either wanted to drive down page views, will roll this back, or Netcraft will soon confirm it.

Gripes:
- Some municipalities set arbitrary trick-or-treating times that differ from dusk-and-later-evening of the 31st of October. That's stupid.
- Some kids don't even say "trick or treat!"

Plans (as candy giver, short of a full-fledged haunted attraction):
- Sound effects
- Kids should be (mildly) scared in exchange for the dispensing of candy
- The stench of sulfur (or at least smokebombs)
- Candy should be a surprise -- in a black fabric bag or something, maybe something that feels gross (but quite hygenic, etc)
- Strobe lights
- rocking chair with no one in it
- hissing air
- bubbling cauldron
- maniacal laughter in the background

One day I'd like to find my detailed notes from many years ago on this topic ...

Dreamed I was in law school again, but it was more like business school (and not necessarily Temple, or Philadelphia), in that for one of my classes, there was a giant project made in cooperation with 3 or 4 others. One of them was Ryan L., a high-school classmate. In my dream, which took place near the end of a semester, but before the start of finals, I got an anxious call from Ryan, who had just put some finishing touches on our group's project. He was unsure whether it was truly ready, but the time to submit was upon us. I assured him that it was fine -- he and I had done most of the work on it, and his work in particular was very good.

Then, I went to class; I arrived later than I usually do, and so took a seat at the back. I hadn't brought my computer, but did have blank paper on which to take notes. The professor (who I think was just made up for the dream) announced that he wanted to use the class that day as a debate exercise, on the topic of so-called "smart guns." I remember thinking something like: "This is like having a detailed discussion about the number of angels on the head of a pin -- skipping over the more important question of whether there's any such thing to start with."

I immediately started writing down a few thoughts on my note paper, a list that read like:
- Doesn't exist
- Doesn't work
- Laws bind the law abiding
- hundreds of millions of plain old guns already
- 2d amdt

I noticed that in the back of the classroom (basically, right next to me), there was a giant plastic beachball, some sort of advertising tchotscke; I noticed that it was printed with the name of a local Volvo dealership, in particular. It was blue and white patterned, and 4 or 5 feet in diameter. I wanted to have a sharpie, in order to write down some arguments, and then just start tossing the ball forward.

Yo, Tom Hudson, I'm real happy for you and I'ma let you finish, but Breitbart is the greatest troll of all TIME!

20100709-crazy-dreams

1) Dreamed that I posted an innocuous message of good cheer / hello to the facebook profile of A. Promptly received cease and desist / stay-away order from her lawyers, which arrived in the form of two email messages. Boggled me.

2) Seemingly separate dream, with that one above as backstory:

a) Broke out, "V for Vendetta" style, from an alleged mental hospital that was actually a prison for political prisoners, in which the prisoners (me among them) were kept sedate through drugs and intimidation. An elaborate plan of distraction, revenge, and escape gained me my freedom.

b) I was lying low in or near NYC, and by chance met up w/ A, and actually had a pleasant and nice conversation over coffee, did some up-catching for a while, was pleased to hear of her life's successes. I hoped to be on her good list, or at least off the bad list, definitely a higher priority (at least for that time) than my ongoing evasion of the human authority figures.

15-minute nap (no pillow, low carpet, hot)

1) Real-life anime style terrorist attacks in my dream; the sides were neatly uniformed in their colorful future clothing, and everyone knew who were the bad guys, who were the good guys. My view of the action was cinematic, changing in perspective and composition every few seconds. Commandos in (red? or purple) overwhelmed the terrorists (in red? or purple) who were just seconds from launching their attack. A short shooting battle; after seconds, a few bodies on the ground on both sides, the others involved either disappeared on in pursuit.

2) Followed by: on a fairly fast train, daytime, going somewhere between Portland and Vancouver, BC, (or, I thought, This might be London) with a view out the large windows onto what I somehow knew to be the area west of the train, from which I could see only the buildings nearest to the train's path. Beyond that, and creeping between the buildings, was a thick grey-white fog. I was in a small compartment of my own, cognizant of how dream-like it was, but within the dream thinking how it would make a good setting for a science-fiction story, and yet mentally wishing into existence various buildings and other features, which resolved themselves as I imagined them into being. Complex buildings with swooping extensions of polished metal, others with elaborate lights. The buildings I saw I knew were mostly commercial or industrial, but they were well-kept and appeared to have been designed with aesthetics in mind.

(A multi-day omnibus)

3d July: Blake Family Reunion in New Market, TN. Guesstimate, 65 people in attendance, all descended from John Blake of South Carolina in some way, 6 or 7 generations back from me. Food, and the fun coincidence of discovering that a cousin of mine (Paul Blake) is a game designer who works for a company that licenses plush Monty Python toys. "Oh, ThinkGeek sells those," I said. Some fun boggling ;)

Plentiful food and delicious babies, or the other way around. A very different kind of atmosphere than the reunion I'll be at in August. At the Blake reunion, not that everyone actually knows their identifier offhand, everyone at the Blake reunion who is a blood-line descendant (rather than married in) has a numeric code associated which indicates their place in the tree. There's also a formal "business meeting" aspect to the gathering (for the announcement of births and deaths), a signing book, nametags, etc. Some very interesting folks there, but in truth I don't know many of them except by sight. Talking w/ Paul, his wife Diane, and Sharon Blake (widow of Cleland Blake) was excellent -- best choice in seating I could have made, with 10-month-old Emily Blake presiding from the head of the table, too.

However, no fireworks, after there were apparently some complaints from milquetoast complaining types from the church on whose grounds the reunion annually takes place. I suspect this means my dad did not clean up the mess after he brought them in my stead last time. (And today might have been bad for it, anyhow; at least as the reunion was getting started, there was a funeral underway elsewhere on the church grounds.)This is too bad, because kids should have a chance to learn that fireworks are a fun, reasonable, appropriate thing to use, but they need to be respected -- careful of fingers, eyes, other people, flammable surroundings, and with plenty of water on hand. Thorough cleanup afterward, too, esp. at a place like the old Caledonian Presbyterian church in New Market. I don't want every kid to grow up to be complacent about idiot laws restricting their use, just like I don't want them to grow up thinking that guns contain their own malice aforethought.

Did some yard work, which felt good.

Independence Day:

Fireworks in Knoxville -- quite a good show, esp. considering that some of the best views of the show (right by the bridge on which sits a city fire truck) are from completely uncrowded spots. Took some pictures -- I'm happy with how good some of them came out, even with my 4-year-old, AA-powered pocket cam. Show was only 19 minutes long; I wonder if it's because I just read (thanks to Ruthy Scotty pointing out the article) that fireworks shows are tending to be shorter, or because it's the case, that it seemed shorter than the two other times I've seen the city's display.

Afterward, we touched off just two fireworks: 1 was a plastic finned rocket (nice height, but the "burst" was pretty anemic), and the other was a "Color Me America" 20-shot square cake, perhaps 6 inches on a side, which was *excellent.*

5th July: Oak Ridge, TN. We visited the Museum of Energy at Oak Ridge -- well worth seeing. Replica of Little Boy, as well as (and this is the highlight) historical displays about the creation of Oak Ridge as a secret city ("Secret City" is a tag on all sorts of things around town). Many of the exhibits, as I remembered from the last time I was there more than 20 years ago, are oriented toward kids, but that's fine. I wish there was some higher-level content as well, and that some of the displays were better labeled, but I found no shortage of things to look at. Life inside the city during the war must have been very strange -- residents were pretty much there for the duration, and only after the war was its presence allowed on maps, etc. Interesting to see that even in this Federal microcosm, state segregation laws were in effect for housing and employment.

One of my favorite things: part of the museum (reached by descending an outside staircase from the 2d floor) is a reconstructed "Flat Top" (type B-1) house, one of the pre-fab housing types that filled up the city as it boomed to 75,000 residents. It's small, but seems to be a livable little unit. Says the sign outside, it's actually based on a plan from the TVA (gub'mint run amok), which had built similar ones for workers during dam construction in N. Carolina.

Later that day, we stopped for Korean food at a place I'll give a happy 2.5 stars, called Kaya.

On the way back, we stopped at the Fireworks Supermarket on exit 407 for a few sundries, incl. another "Color Me America," because that (it turns out -- oh happy day) is the "free gift" that a promotional sticker gets.

6th July:
Brief stop at Bush Beans's new visitor center; the "country store" pretensions aside (plastic, sterile, overpriced), the small walk-through museum attached is free and well-done; historical exhibits about the company, but also about the modern history of canning, showing how certain labor-intensive jobs have been made easier, etc.

But the real destination was the Tennessee Museum of Aviation in Sevierville. If I had more of an aviation background, I'd like this place even better, but even in my state of ignorance I find the planes and other artifacts worth several hours of fascination. Migs (17 and 21), a few helicopters (incl. a Bell 222, which I would like to have for myself, thanks), jet cockpits which you can sit in, a Mustang (no Spitfires at the moment), a replica Wright Brothers glider ... worth the $12-13 (less for older, younger folks). No comparison to the StratComm museum near Omaha, or the Smithsonian's Air & Space museum, but that's OK. As a regional museum goes, this is a real winner.

7th July:
Today is a work in progress. Working on Slashdot; later, will do some yard work. Talked w/ B&N rep. about the Nook I've got to play with, finally figured out where something I downloaded to the device disappeared to. I'm slow to the whole e-Book world, but am fairly impressed with the thing.

Dandridge, TN - this entry to be supplemented w/ some mile-marker notes not presently to hand.

Arrived TN Wednesday, shortly before noon, after a stop at Pappy's Smokehouse in St. Louis and another at the a Fireworks Supermarket in Missouri (and several rest stops). While the sales tax was only a hair lower than in TN, I decided to stock up for the 4th there -- sucker's game, but worth the playing.

Now in a small town east of Knoxville, from which I will later in the month depart for the Mid-Atlantic. Playing a bit today w/ the review-unit Nook I've got on hand; a neat device. Displays are tough: the e-ink of the Nook (and Kindle, and similar) really is impressive, in most circumstances, for reading text (as they're meant for). But I wish they were (optionally?) transmissive as well, so they could be used for reading without much environmental light. Yes, you could use a headlamp or a clip-on lamp, but that's awkward, and I'm dreaming the impossible dream. Excited about the now-available Pixel Qi screens; they're not as power efficient as the current e-ink, but I'm sure they're working on that aggressively, and a tablet-sized, general purpose computer with a daylight screen mode that's at least *pretty* efficient would be great. I'd be very happy to find something the size and weight of the iPad, but with something more like a Pixel Qi screen and a free / open source operating system.

Upcoming events:
- Oak Ridge's Energy Museum, and a museum about Appalachian life in Clinton, TN.
- Family reunion (my descent designator is 0534312)
- Fireworks on the 4th
- A visit to Knoxville's best bookstore, McKay's
- The Warbirds Museum in Sevierville, TN
- Some BBQ
- Perhaps an Orange Julius-style drink from Nan Denton's.

What else should I do in E. Tennessee?

Big Trip 2010: No. 6

20100628 Monday:

Been a fantastic couple of days in Bellevue, NE. Relaxing, inspiring to see how well and happy are my relatives here -- a model family. Saturday, ate delicious enchiladas at local restaurant La Mesa, saw the "Bodies" exhibit in Omaha (Bellevue is essentially a suburb of Omaha, despite its separate identify), and had afterward with custard with blueberry and peaches. Yesterday, country-road exploring, and a too-short visit to a small local museum with artifacts and well-made displays about this area's history and culture.

Spent a few hours last night around the chiminea getting eaten by bugs, enjoying the fire, listening to fireworks all around the neighborhood (and it's not even July yet!). Tomorrow morning, heading out for TN by way of St. Louis, where I intend to stop at Pappy's Smokehouse for some takeaway BBQ. If I pass some other place first that looks as good or better than my (rather arbitrary) choice of Pappy's, that's fine -- I can stop there, instead. Or also. But St. Louis is famous for BBQ, and I intend to avail myself of it.

Today walked w/ Barry and Kay at the Riverfront Park, near the Con-Agra campus in downtown Omaha (where there was a great mini-display about the history of local restaurants), and then the three of us walked into Iowa over a pedestrian bridge. After this, a long time (never long enough) wandering through Bass Pro, looking at boats, tents, guns, bows, clothing, etc. Later, custard with (in my bowl) blackberries and peaches. Back home, for kimchi and rice, and just a handful of fireworks w/ Tanya and Sheena. Lesson: the big red stick labeled "BOOM STICK" is actually not silent. I thought it was labeled "Giant Smoke Stick" or "The Smoke Stack" or something similar, because my brain talked myself into that belief. However, after it turned out to be an alternative packaging for some quite-loud firecrackers, I (re)-read the tattered remains. "'Boom Stick.' Huh." The girls thought this was amusing, esp. after I had assured them of its silence, in keeping with the late hour.

Intent is to reach Eastern TN late Thursday or early Friday, depending on traffic, weather, energy, and whim. Driving at night this time of year is great, just for the fireworks that are going off near the highway. Plan: from Omaha area, south via 29 to I-70, and then east to St. Louis. From St. Louis, 64 east to Lexington, KY, where I will veer south onto 75; this will take me toward Knoxville, and I'll get onto 40 East.

20100625, Friday

m1493: Left Gabriel's place in Boulder after a fantastic few days of rest and good conversation, 7:15 a.m.

m1531: 8:15 a.m.: Still in Boulder, lost, inexplicably. I might, or might not, want to see the actual path I travel when this happens. I don't remember any gap in time, but somehow even traveling on what on a map look like straight lines on straight roads I get turned around, and sideways. Every which way but correct. In the end, I gave up on the shorter path I'd worked out on Google Maps (so simple, it needed no printing, just a few street names and right-angle turns jotted down), and followed the dumber-seeming, longer, rush-hour-style path that my GPS advised. It was dumb, long, and rush-hour jammed. On the other hand, I'm no longer circling Boulder punching holes into the roof of my car from the inside and exhausting my lifetime supply of profanity.

m1601 - Stopped for gas; had enough for probably 50 more miles, but my fuel light had come on (as it does at 1/8 of a tank). Had a Mad-Max / third-world / near-future experience when the first three gas stations I stopped at were bereft of gasoline. At the third of them, pinching myself and convinced this was reality rather than nightmare, I asked the clerk of the attached convenience store what was going on. Apparently the same fellow owns the ones I saw with no gas, and he had financial problems, so ... no more gas. The clerk directed me just a few more blocks to a Western station (doing gangbuster business), where I bought a tank of gas, and two 32oz bottles of PowerAde for $1 each.

m1628: Thought for a bumpersticker (is this already out there in the wild?): "The peasants are revolting!"

m1710: I-76 ends; I-80 begins.

m1757: Enter Central Time Zone

m 1791 - Wal-mart,N. Platte, NE: shrimp, rolls, shaving oil, shampoo, lemonade, ice, string cheese. Considered rotisserie chicken, gave up as too messy.

m1829: Gothenburg, NE: "YOUNG, SKINNY, WIRY FELLOWS. NOT OVER 18. MUST BE EXPERT RIDERS. ORPHANS PREFERRED." Hey -- an original stop on the Pony Express! A tiny thing (wooden cabin, moved from its original location for preservation in a park here); difficult to imagine what a job this must have been for the riders. Interesting to see how quickly the price of delivery on the Pony Express dropped; within the short (18 months) it was in service, mail went from $5 an ounce (and this was when U.S. money was worth something) to only $1.(The telegraph arrived in force.) Also, though I might have guessed that this was a private enterprise, I wasn't fully aware: the Pony Express was the endeavor of three men: Maddel, Russell, and Majors.

I got a fantastic (but of need too short) tour of the Gothenburg Historical Museum, too -- saw only one floor (the main one), and too quickly, but it was nonetheless worth the trip. This tiny museum is just across the way from the Pony Express station, and at least today has more volunteer staffers than visitors. Gothenburg: Swedish founder; he tried to get lots of Swedes to move there (and was successful), but Germans owned much of the nearby land, dominated politics early. A very early town for electrification, esp. considering its distance from the metropolises of the east; it was electrified just one year after the White House switched from gas to electric lighting.

Nice touch: on the way out of town, I saw a custom license plate: PONY XP.

Here things get a bit worse for specifics, because I was suddenly driving instead of noting: My KOA spot in Gothenberg was flooded. RVs are still fine, but no tent spots now. Wish I'd known that an hour earlier, so I could have immediately checked in instead at the Holiday Park in North Platte, quite a ways west. As it is, I ended up taking the next exit, reversing, and zipping again in the wrong directions (theme of the trip, it seems) to check in at ... the Holiday Park in North Platte, quite a ways west. Theoretically, this park has internet. In reality, it doesn't work, and I'm on the MiFi. Except for that thankfully-sidestepped failing, it's not bad: just under $25 for a spot (meant for trailers, but I needed the electricity), after 10pct discount for AAA and a further 5pct discount for paying cash.

m1894: Where things stand. A mere 400 miles in the day, not fantastic, esp. because that doesn't represent 400 miles of net forward progress, but only about 300. Ah, well. Tomorrow will see my excellent step-brother-in-law-or-whatever (it doesn't matter) Barry, which I'm looking forward to.

Weather: Hot. 89 degrees at the airport, says wunderground.com. Even in Fahrenheit, that's a wee bit warm. Hopefully there will be some breeze as the evening goes on, by which I mean a wind strong enough to all but blow away my tent with me inside would be welcome.

Dinner will be shrimp cocktail and lemonade; first course (already in progress) is mozarella-and-carrot sandwiches on pumpernickel rolls with mustard and Old Bay. Some red onion, cucumber, mushroom or spinach would be nice, but bought none of these. Dessert: Boston cream donut. Fruit and nuts to follow.

Tonight: must write a postcard to my best-ever niece, and perhaps some to others as well. Plan to sleep deeply.

20100622 Tuesday

Mile 1367 of my trip; I'm in Cheyenne, Wyoming, less than 100 miles from Boulder. Travel with the new tires has been fine -- no problems noted, gas mileage seems as expected (or at least so close that I can't necessarily say there's anything wrong -- I am at 5000 feet after all, and climbing). Montana and Wyoming, both distractingly beautiful. Passed a Wall Drug bumpersticker, mildly regret not making it out that direction -- would definitely stop there if I was. In a few hours, I should have dinner with my cousin in Boulder, enjoying that city.

A few earlier notes-by-mile-marker:

m613:
Snow on craggy peaks south of I-90, make-believe clouds above. Hills just to the north, a golf course for giants. Blue sky to define blue.

m680: the Continental Divide!

m810: The CRAZY mountains

m927: Slept for several hours at the Christenson rest area, Montaina. Left after that nap, at dawn, 4:38 local time, beautiful sunset.

m963: Crossed the Little Bighorn River just as a train approached on the tracks to the south. A deer skittered across the road in front of me the same mile (slight brake, slight swerve, all was well).

m973: trotting coyote crosses the road ahead of me, 5:26 AM

m1006: Enter Wyoming!

m1034: Sheridan, WY; a big crennelated dome S. of the highway, with a set of bleachers next door. A school? Want to know more about this building -- I wonder if it's from the Monolithic Dome Institute.

m1087: Sign: "Middle Fork / Crazy Woman."

m113: Rest stop, napped for close to 2 hours. Remaining, 335 miles to Denver

m1149: My car's warranty expires (hit 36,000 miles)

m1254, road marker 117: trees i nhuge body of water -- a dam-formed lake? W
would like to go swimming in this right now.

m1295 - stop in Wheatland, Wy for groceries: grapes, yogurt, corn chips, tea, water ... had a coupon for shaving cream, but they didn't stock that variety.

m1287: Cross the Laramie River

20100621 (Monday): Trip notes continue! These notes are of course sketchy and telegraphic, not meant to be all-compassing.

m375 (approx) Super 8 Motel, Coeur d'Lane, ID, where I spent the night for about $50 (with AAA discount). A hotel night I'd rather have avoided, but not so bad as things go. It may simply be luck in this location, but was far nicer than previous Super 8 motels I've stayed in before -- clean, pleasant, nicely appointed for my purposes, even had a fridge and microwave, and a nice selection of breakfast foods.

m380:
Left from CostCo in Coeur d'Lane, ID, with:
- 4 New tires (total damage, about $585 for the tires / labor / fiddly bits)
- 1 new wheel ($100 at local Les Schwab), the look of which I think is actually better than my factory tires, but I realize to many people the mismatch would be jarring. I don't care $300 worth at the moment to have a matching set.
- new GPS ($80 for a Magellan RoadMate; seems at least adequate for my purposes)
- 1 lb shrimp (I don't need the lettuce or lemon wedges, but Hey)
- 13 lb oranges
- fresh gas; CostCo was only a few cents cheaper than the local competition, but a few cents is better than nothing

Note: I'll have to revise this estimate if my tires fall off, but for now, I will say the tire crew at the CostCo were fantastic. I had to call them a few times (starting from my place stranded off I-90), was happy they had a set of compatible tires in stock, and they were courteous and helpful when I got there, helped me out of my predicament. (I got 3 of my new tires yesterday -- Sunday -- and the fourth this morning, after finding a compatible wheel on wihch to mount it; the fellows at CostCo put on my donut spare yesterday so I could get to a hotel, to Les Schwab, etc.)

m441: passed the place where I spent far too much of yesterday morning and afternoon with my disabled car, trying to be vigilant for more debris. Don't want to repeat that experience.

m444: Montana welcomes me! Reminded me of how close I'd been to the state line when I had to be hauled back nearly to Washington.

m562: A waddling duck and her two tiny ducklings (each of which I think could have fit into a yogurt container) just barely survived their trip south across the road. No one else in sight, so I swerved slightly, which I think made the difference.

m589: Rest stop in Montana, time for some oranges, an egg, a yogurt, a sm. chocolate bar, some prunes, and to fiddle with the new GPS, which I eventually got to admit is in Mountain time. Never owned a Magellan before; so far, I'm pretty pleased with it; I like the system of creating custom searches which can be saved for easy re-use. (So far, I've made ones for Starbucks, and Camping.) One thing I noticed -- and I wonder if this is tied to the wheel / tire replacement -- is that my speed as shown on the car's speedometer is slightly higher than that shown by the GPS. With my previous GPS (which I believe was stolen, several months back), the car's speed tracked the GPS's display pretty well.

Should be in Denver in plenty of time for dinner tomorrow; only a few days later than the estimate I had this time last week. At least one of the friends I'd hoped to see in Colorado will be traveling while I'm there, and my friend Don recently succeeded in selling his house in Colorado Springs and moving to California, so (though I regret being unable to see them) my Colorado time will be better spent than I'd feared.

20100620 trip update

Mile 374 - Idaho, with a flat tire.

Flat tire! In Idaho! On Sunday! If anyone would like to bring me some orange juice or just water, that would be great. Find me at the willow Creek pull-off, approx. mile marker 71 on Eastbound I-90.

Cause: Though I didn't see whatever it was, I heard the THUMP as (I suspect) I hit a piece of construction debris; I saw a lot of cones that had been hit as I was driving in the narrowed lanes of this construction area, I wonder if it was part of one of those. A few minutes later, my tire pressure indicator came on, just about the time my handling went downhill. (Not hugely -- good control the whole time. Took the next out off the highway, which is the historical-marker pull-off marking the lead-silver mines of Willow Creek Slide, if I have the nomenclature down right.

Effect: Now, the big(gest) problem with getting a flat tire on a Subaru is that if it turns out the tire must be replaced, you're supposed to replace the whole quartet. Even finding a place (an open place) within a hundred miles with the right size tires has been difficult, at least by the standards of 21st Century America. One shop (the tire center at a Wal-Mart in Smelterville), which AAA called to check and then reported to me had the right size tires (and to which I then arranged a tow), turned out *not* to have the right size; I'm glad I called to inquire about the price before I got towed there. So far I'm at 4 calls to AAA, 3 with the towing company, and at least five candidates for tire shop.

Les Schwab has some locations along 90, but all closed on Sunday. So, against my hopes of forward progress, I'm waiting for a tow truck (and it will be a wait yet) which will take me to CostCo in Coer d'Lane, which is a pretty good haul in the wrong direction, but which has a set of tires with my name on it. Best case scenario is that my tire is diagnosed as fixable, which I view as unlikely. Worst case scenario: I am hit by fragment of space debris, which nicks an artery, so I expire just before help can arrive. I suspect the outcome will be somewhere in the middle. Cheaper than death, but well over zero.

Other than that, the trip's been pleasant -- some rain, but mostly pleasant driving. Last night, lightning storm of high caliber at the rest stop where I stopped for a quick 7-hour nap. I've taken some notes which I'll try to transcribe later, about bits seen along the way. Took being stuck with a flat as a good oppty. to do some repacking, too -- though the car's as always fuller than ideal, at least now it's far more logically arranged: I can the stuff (all soft) behind the driver's seat now if I want to recline for a nap, for instance. Listened to a few episodes of EconTalk* and have been listening from the beginning -- despite some overlap in what I've heard -- to Ian rankin's "Fleshmarket Alley" (a D.I. Rebus mystery). Soon, some music, too -- I even have a 10,000 Maniacs disk in the player that I hadn't realized until last night.

*(Rivers on Polling was pretty good -- slightly dry delivery, but the content's interesting; as EconTalk goes, I'd give it a B-, but that's a decent grade. Russ Roberts on Equality I'd give the same grade; I'm glad he switches it up sometimes, but overall prefer the episodes with guests. Have 20 or so hours' worth to go on that disk, so all's well!)

About to set out from Seattle for ... Seattle, via a great many places.

Yes, I live in a basement. But that basement is being demolished for revamping, and I have some family events that I'm looking for over the next several months back East. So I'm taking a very low-altitude cruise (zero feet from the ground, that is) that direction, via CO and NE, and then looping back via FL and TX in October; I intend to give occasional updates about the trip as the days go on.

The state of thing: As always, leaving later than I originally intended, and then later than a few intermediate targets, but that's perfectly fine. Oil changed yesterday, odometer at 34,850 (or is it 34,580?), trip meters both set to Zero.

First stop planned: bagel shop, to cash in my "Sandwich Club" chits for a delicious Double Lox Deluxe sandwich. After that, gas. After that ... zoom on 90, not sure how far I'll make it before taking a good rest stop. I have food, blankets, a suit, a tent, artificial candles with LEDs -- what can go wrong?

Now, to shower, print out my trip manifest, and zip eastward.

Thus it begins!

Yes, that's you in , balding dark-haired driver with the silver Altima and serious look. Maybe you're serious because you are worried that you'll run over a pedestrian when you fail to stop at an all-way stop / pedestrian crossing, like the one at 15th and E. Aloha in Capitol Hill (Seattle), which you did about 3 minutes ago. (8:35 today, 15th June, 2010.)