Pausing in a McDonald’s just outside Beaumont, TX on Sunday the 15th; driving progresses well, & I should be safely in Gainesville, FL at the appropriate time. I have discovered the perfect use for NPR’s Lake Wobegon (& other programs), which I do not ordinarily listen to: making the time pass with at least mild…
Went through Winslow, AZ. Alas, no flatbed Fords, let alone girls, my lord… slowing down to take a look at me. Then again, I’d really rather a cute young cowboy was doing the slowing down. Of course, knowing me, I’d assume he was checking out Dark Star, not me. :) Traveling through southwest Texas, I…
Writing this just after finishing the cavern tour in Sonora. Carlsbad’s caverns are much larger, of course, and the rock formations are more… clustered by type, I think, over that span. For example, the deepest the Sonora cave goes is about 150′, where Carlsbad’s underground visitor center (which is not actually the deepest point) gave…
Friday the 13th has always been a lucky day for me, oddly enough. I got my first horse on Friday the 13th, and 13 was my number when I had my biggest win with him while showing. This Friday the 13th was no exception to that rule for me, since that was when I stumbled…
Woohooo! I have not only scored a drop-in campsite at the Grand Canyon, but I have also showered and laundered! No worries, I shall modestly acclaim your gasps of astonishment and awe. Showers and clean clothes are awesome! Truly the kami who watch over Dark Star and I are mighty! :) Also, some culinary firsts!…
I am become a connoisseur of mountains. ;) Most California mountains are sneaky. They slide under the roads and hillsides, laughing foggy breaths in the dusk and dawn at how well their shaggy disguises of grasses and trees work. You drive along innocently enough, occasionally noticing the clusters of rocky spines along their backs, but…
Writing this on the night of the 8th, from a wonderful little hole-in-the-wall pizza & brews place called Hot Mama’s! I’m muddy, exhausted, starving, and triumphant — I walked the lava tubes! So cool! So muddy! So in need of a washing machine at my next stop too. The township is called Duck Creek, and…
I ended up not being able to get my original room for a second night, so I had to go across the road to the Plaza for a slightly more expensive, but also much nicer room. The Plaza is a far more… upscale hotel than the Las Vegas Club, though they’re both owned by the…
I’m sitting in a restaurant in Las Vegas as I type this, reminding myself that having a touch of heat stroke does not put oneself into the best frame of mind for analyzing one’s locale. It is smotheringly hot! I’ve lived in Texas, Florida, California, and Oklahoma, so you’d think I know how to handle…
We are an extraordinarily noisy species. Lying in my cozy bed this morning around 7:30am, I know I am about 20 miles into wilderness… yet even here I can hear the distant rush and roar of traffic passing by. I luxuriate in the comfort, and realize this isn’t really wilderness, per se. I am in…