Road Report

I always seem to make better first day mileage on the way back than on the outgoing leg...probably because all the mind-numbingly bleak desert/prairie scenery wears me out from the start. The lush greenery of PA-through-TN was invigorating; I got worn down by nighttime thunderstorms in AR and had to take my first roadnap short of Little Rock...that's okay, since anything past Memphis (the 1,000 mile point) was gravy. I still made it past D/FW post-morning-rush...on the nose! I approached the HOV lanes at exactly 9 am CDT; it's almost like I had an officer navigating for me!

Had another driving challenge, a toad-choker/ gully-washer in the hills east of El Paso, but once I braved the rush hour at EP, it was sunny and windy from there on. Fortunately, I had on my super-dark I-10 Westbound Sunglasses!







My Golden Shovel Award goes to the folks in Memphis TN who, after my three roadtrips in two years, still maintain the 25 mph goatpath called I-40 through their fair city. I wonder if these are just homeless guys they pay to walk around in orange vests? It keeps them from sleeping on the sidewalks in front of Graceland, I guess.


The Conspiracy Theory Award goes to the Big Oil Barons of West Texas and the Pay-Us-Extra-For-Having-to-Live-in-a-Sh*thole -like-Deming-NM Cabal, for selling gas at 2.99999 while everywhere east of Abilene TX was selling it for up to 40 cents a gallon cheaper.

A shout-out to better friends than a mortal man deserves:

Chief, who hosted our Red, Hot, & Blue chowdown. Here he is enjoying some of the Scotch I plied him with. I also introduced him to Steel Panthers: MBT, which I suspect will hook him as thoroughly as it did Jon and I.

Lisa the Biker Chick, who rode herd over Lenny and Squiggy in my absence and kept an eye on the hacienda. She was probably innerly disgusted at the mess my house was in, but the idea was to make burglars think they weren't the first to hit the place and leave before they waste their time.