By the end of the two-week period, I had lost about 8 pounds. That was about half of my intended goal, but that’s okay. I definitely found that my cravings for bread and other carbs diminished, with the exception of pasta. One recent evening I boiled up a pot of rotini with some salt and olive oil and after Sammy had her share, I found myself hovering over the colander stuffing handfuls of pasta into my mouth.

Still, I can see a path forward for continued weight loss and improved diet. No more snack foods. Only the rare soda. Ice cream just once a week or so. More salad.

It’s nothing revolutionary, but it does require commitment. We’ll see how it goes.

Share/Save

So far, I’ve been pretty pleased with myself, the diet and its effects. I can even say that my pants fit a little better — that is, I don’t have to suck it in as much each morning. Yet, I fear where my cholesterol might be these days.

Nonetheless, I’ve been better about eating salads and other veggies, and avoiding cookies and other high-carb snacks. The goal now (or, starting in a couple of days) is to cut more of the meat out and return whole-grain foods back in. Hopefully that will keep me on the glide path to sub 200 and half that in cholesterol.

Share/Save

Anyway, yesterday was day 7. The morning started out well, if cholesterolic. I made Cynthia and myself a giant omelette with mushrooms, tomatoes, habanero cheese and smoked salmon. It was quite good, if I say so myself.

Then it was time to work in the yard. Getting out in the sun, sweating, cleaning things up felt good. So, after showering, I quaffed some club soda and took a nap.

For the evening, we had friends over for dinner, so we threw together some chicken and steak kabobs, replete with mushrooms, green peppers and cherry tomatoes, and made some brown rice. (The brown rice was for the guests, but it wasn’t ready in time.) While that was cooking, we plated some salmon and crackers. The crackers beckoned and I caved. What can I say?

Post dinner, we broke out the ice cream. Only the guests and Sammy enjoyed the Häagen Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s. Cyn and I stuck with sugar-free, fat-free fudgisicles and ice cream bars.

Add in a few handfuls of peanuts and it was a decent diet day. By this morning, I was down 7 pounds from my start. I’m at 208 and falling.

Share/Save

But, in between I did well. For lunch, we went to Elevation Burger. For those who’ve never been (or never heard of it), it’s an excellent organic hamburger shop. The best thing is, they allow you to replace the buns with a big ol’ lettuce leaf.

Now, you might be thinking, “ugh.” But, I’m hear to tell you, even if I wasn’t on a diet, I might go with the lettuce wrap again. It was awesome. I actually splurged for the double patty, but before you castigate me for being dieting in name only, the second patty was a veggie patty, and it, too, was excellent. Though, I do have to wonder if I was following my diet, since the patty had carrots in it.

Anyway, we didn’t order any fries and I drank water. (Though later, I did have several glasses of lemonade, which, I’m sure, was verboten.

Later in the night, I played (and lost at) poker. There were the obligatory cheese puffs and Doritos. I was good, caving in only at the end, but even then still limiting myself.

When it was time for bed, I tested the scales and found I weighed in at 212 pounds. Sigh.

Share/Save

Not long ago I was getting ready in the morning and I caught a glimpse of myself in the full-length mirror in my bathroom. “Who the Hell is that?” I wondered, seeing my pale gut sticking out far beyond where I’d ever seen it extend it before.

My daughter, who was brushing her teeth, said, “I don’t like your stomach.” Neither did I. It was time to do something. It was past time to do something.

String bean teen

When I graduated high school, I was 6’6″ (ish) and 165 pounds. When I played basketball (badly) I was easily pushed out of the box. I was simply too light for my height. Over the years, I slowly added weight, but even by the early 21st century, I was still only 185 pounds or so.

In the last couple years, though, the weight has come and come fast. I’ve packed on nearly 30 pounds. On the one hand, I like being bigger. On the other hand, I’d prefer it wasn’t in my gut and my second chin.

It’s not that I was all that overweight, really, but let me put it this way: When I played Wii Fit Plus, my nice lean avatar got a little paunch after I went through the fitness test. Just like me. D’oh!

Taking charge

It’s one thing to have a preference, it’s another thing to do something about. So, when my neighbor said she lost 16 pounds on the South Beach diet, I thought, “well, Hell, maybe I should give it a shot and jump start an improved lifestyle.”

So, that’s just what I’ve been doing for the last few days. Basically, the South Beach diet is a three-phase low-carb, low-sugar, low-fat diet. The first phase, which lasts two weeks, essentially bans dairy, pasta, rice, bread, fruit, juice and lots of other stuff I like. The second phase brings back a smattering of those things, and phase three, which is meant to be indefinite, brings back a few more in moderation.

Here’s how it’s gone:

Day 1:
Boy, all day I really wanted to drink a glass of milk. And a cookie. Or a sandwich. But, what was I going to do, bail on day 1? Of course not. So, I stuck to my guns. For breakfast, I had a couple hard-boiled eggs.

For lunch, I enjoyed a piece of salmon and a salad. It was filling. For a while. In the early afternoon, when I would have gone cookie, I grabbed a bag of pistachios instead. Yay me!

Dinner consisted of pork chops and salad.

Honestly, I was hungry pretty much all day. despite the fact the diet says you shouldn’t be. That’s because it allows you to have snacks, like a small number of nuts, or a bit of low-fat cheese. I had forgotten that bit and despite really wanting a cookie all day, I stayed away. (Ok, I did have a bite of illicit brie.)

Day 2:
In the morning, I ordered up an omelette with mushrooms, cheese and tomato, which kept me full for most of the morning.

For lunch, I filled a salad with chick peas, red beans, tuna and other veggies. That lasted a while, too.

Dinner was fairly lame. I had a can of tuna fish and some scrambled eggs with spinach and mushrooms.

In all honesty, I was already feeling pleased with my healthier eating (cholesterol notwithstanding).

Day 3:
Wednesday began with a repeat of Tuesday’s omelette order. Lunch, again, was a salad stacked with beans and tuna.

For dinner, Cyn and I had a nice big plate of grilled salmon.

Sammy left behind a small bit of chocolate milk, so I quaffed that and immediately regretted it. Not only did I feel guilty, but I even felt a touch ill. It was rich.

Nonetheless, when I weighed myself, I was a couple pounds lighter. Maybe the diet’s working?

Day 4:
Nothing to say. I ate better, but I was still hungry.

Day 5:
Here’s the thing: I was doing great until dinner. Cyn (who is doing the diet with me) and I decided we need to eat something different. We were thinking Indian, since we could still meet our diet needs while eating something other than grilled fish, chick peas and eggs.

Sadly, the Indian restaurant we intended to visit was closed, so we went a Lebanese Taverna instead. What did we find when we sat down? A bowl of bread. Crap.

We tried to avoid it, but couldn’t. After one bit, we switched to whole wheat, about which we felt better. And we tried to order food that stayed within the rules. But, I’m sure we strayed more than we should have.

Oh well. Tomorrow’s another day.

Share/Save

But, what am I going to do? Let down you, my loyal audience? All four of you are dying, I know, to hear about my adventures so far. Luckily for you, I’m awake enough — and stupid enough — to have both the energy and the adventures for this post.

An interesting start

I decided to forgo driving myself to the airport Saturday, and instead hired Washington Flyer to drive me there. My driver, who’s name I failed to get, was Malaysian, and told me that he had just come from a family party to take me to the airport. He was friendly and in good spirits, so I asked him what the party was for. “My brother in law died,” he answered.

Not sure if that was indeed an even worth celebrating, I asked the driver where he was from and other such niceties. That turned into a 45-minute monolog about his arranged marriage, including the four women he turned voted off the island because they weren’t pretty enough. His parents, nearly exasperated, demanded he find a bride before returning to the United States. Apparently he succeeded, because he now has two boys. He said he won’t be picking out their brides for them, but he added that they’d better only marry once. “No divorces!” he shouted, as we pulled up to the United terminal.

Snorers everywhere

The flight from Dulles to L.A. was uneventful, which I think is always a plus when defying the laws of gravity. That’s not to say the 18-hour flight from L.A. to Bangkok was full of surprises. Indeed, it, too, was mostly uneventful. I was, however, startled several times by the gentleman a few seats over with a severe case of sleep apnea and what appeared to be pneumonia. Given his condition, and the copious snoring he emitted, I was surprised to see he was chewing gum — I would think that would be choking concern. Actually, my observation’s not quite correct. The gum was resting precariously on his lower lip, as if trying to decide whether or not to leap for freedom. I did not notice whether or not the gum’s escape was successful.

Real estate deal

The third leg of the trip, from Bangkok to Jakarta, was a 3-hour joy ride compared to the 22 hours I had thus far spent in a giant aluminum tube. I played some Orbital, read some New Yorker, and flipped through the in-flight magazine. It was there I noticed an ad for spacious beach-front property. It looked amazing. And priced at 3 million baht, it had better be, I thought. Then I grabbed my iPhone and did the exchange rate. What? $120,000 for a beach? Holy crap! Honey, sell the house. We’re moving to Thailand.

Traveling with stupid

I’m not used to carrying around a lot of cash. That’s for two reasons. First, I don’t have any. Second, I too often rely on my cards for purchases. It’s a habit I need to break. Especially after today.

Upon arriving in Jakarta, we were steered to the on-arrival visa station. For starters, I didn’t even realize that’s what it was. I thought it was a money-changing station. OK, I thought. I’ll get some rupiah. So, I stand in line. Eventually, I realize I need to pay $10 for an Indonesian visa. No problem, I thought. Then I looked in my wallet.

What kind of moron travels 12,000 miles — to the other side of the planet!! — with $4 in cash? I mean, really? Could I be more of a dumb ass?

Hey, no worries, I think. The luggage carts around here all have MasterCard ads on them. I can just use my card.

So, I go to the  window and show my card. The man shakes his head. “Oh shit,” I thought. Either I need to hit up a fellow passenger for $6, or I’m about to get my ass shipped back stateside. Just as my stomach was about to hit the floor, the man pointed across the hallway. “Over there. Credit card.” I glanced over and saw an identical booth, but that one accepts plastic. Thank God.

Signage

As I waited to clear immigration — and waited, and waited — I began to find incredible amusement in the advertisements adorning the area. The first one that caught my attention was a sign offering billboard advertising space. The image was of an idyllic beach. The text? “We’ve got space.”

I really, really hope the intention was not to erect billboards on the Indonesian beaches.

The next sign I guffawed at was the one declaring “Welcome to Indonesia. DEATH PENALTY FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS!” In English, of course.

Oh, Indonesia, really know how to make a guest feel comfortable. Actually, the really funny part of the sign were the six guys pictured who had apparently been caught trafficking drugs and put to death. Ok, that’s not funny, but what is funny is that the sign blacked out their eyes.

There was one more sign that cracked me up. Well, not a sign, exactly, but a sticked. On the window of one of the airport security office was a large sticker proclaiming “Y2K Ready!” Yes, and just in time, too.

Traveling with stupid, part II

I was met outside customs by a nice fellow from the hotel. He escorted me to a taxi — a shiny black Mercedes — and off we went. I had taken off my long-sleeve shirt and was sitting there in my white t-shirt as we skimmed the surface roads along ramshackle huts of corrugated metal, wide canals, and your usual assortment of safe and unsafe vehicles. I felt incredibly Western and not in an especially appealing way.

I set my iPhone next to me and thought, “don’t forget it in the taxi.” (This is what’s known as foreshadowing.)

We scurried along the highway and into the city. From a high overpass, I got a view of the incredible, sprawling metropolis that is Jakarta. The air was hazy and the land was a mix of trash heaps, fragile huts and buildings in various stages of construction or decay.

Eventually we made it to the hotel where guards checked the vehicle and raised the entry gate. Oh, right, I thought. Danger lurks here, doesn’t it?

Then I hopped out, handed the driver some rupiah (I had stopped at an ATM at the airport after clearing customs), and marched into the hotel.

After checking in, I made my way to my room only to discover my keys hadn’t been properly programmed. So, I trudged back downstairs to have the problem fixed. As I stood there, my drive came rushing through the lobby. He had discovered my iPhone in the back seat and had brought it back to me. I was stunned. Not only by my stupidity, but by his kindness. I thanked him profusely and he quickly withdrew back to the hot, humid air.

More tomorrow.

Share/Save

I should clarify… my dream wasn’t of the unicorns and rainbows and angels sort. I didn’t dream about the joy of owning an Apple tablet. Rather, my brain seemed to be trying to figure out what Apple would do with a tablet. It’s my belief that Apple under Steve Jobs generally tries to solve computing/media problems through elegant design, instead of just coming up with cool (and sometimes lame) products. For example, Apple’s routers are all about making them super easy to set up. Sure, other routers work just fine (often with more features and a lower price), but Apple’s routers are pretty and easy to use. Same with Apple TV. Same with the iPhone, iTunes, iPhoto and more. (The Apple speakers are a glaring exception.)

In fact, Apple often doesn’t create the best products in their class, when comparing features and price. But, they create the best experience and they solve problems by making it easy to do what you want. And in that regard, their products are the best.

So, back to the purported tablet. The first question that one must ask is, what’s the point of a tablet? What can I not do now on my iPhone or MacBook or iMac that a tablet would solve?

Honestly, I can’t think of much. For the most part, I like how quickly the iPhone responds and it is sized appropriately for what are essentially personal functions — phone calls, listening to music, watching short pieces of video, playing casual games. But, I can’t multitask. And, the iPhone is a terrible text input device. The MacBook takes longer and is a bit less convenient for simple tasks, but I can work on my MacBook in ways that the iPhone is simply incapable of (writing long bits of text; editing audio/video, etc.). A bigger/faster iPhone could close that gap, I suppose. Perhaps that is what the tablet would be.

At 10 inches, a tablet could still serve as a personal device, but one that creates a bigger social barrier than the iPhone does. Watching videos on that screen might be nice, but it’s also far more antisocial than the iPhone. What, my wife and daughter and I are all going to watch different movies on our tablets on the couch? I don’t think so.

Playing games is somewhere in between. Sure, I like to play games on my iPhone, but I prefer playing games with other people.

Reading, though, is still a personal endeavor. So is working on a document. And both could benefit from the larger screen. So, a tablet could be useful for reading text, especially if it was as fast to respond as my iPhone is. I could totally pull a tablet out of my bag for reading the latest New Yorker while waiting at the dentist’s office. Is that enough? Perhaps only when you consider the larger ecosystem.

If Apple incorporates .me, iWork and iLife, and takes full advantage of the media ecosystem Apple has built, it could work. Furthermore, if that ecosystem were to be expanded to include more text, be that novels, graphic novels, comic books, textbooks, repair manuals, cookbooks and more, and could allow access to one’s content from anywhere (think the recent LaLa acquisition plus “Back to my Mac.”) I think that’s one of the possible killer features. Whereas the Kindle is really just about text (with some lousy graphics) from Amazon, Apple’s tablet could serve up any text-and-graphic-based material from any source. For example, I could see having complete access to one’s iPhoto library and then using the tablet to create slideshows on the fly. Or access to my home media library.

To accomplish this, the table would require:

• an incredible high-resolution display for video and text
• mobile internet connectivity
• a simple interface
• a long battery life
• unparalleled thinness and lightness
• a modicum of Flash-based storage

Several things it would not require:

• a removable battery (Apple has already shunned this concept)
• an input device
• optical media
• ports, other than mini-USB

The mini-USB port would take care of charging the device. Everything else would be wireless. Heck, even the charging could be wireless, if they employed conductive recharging technologies.

The interface is the most interesting aspect of such a device. Apple’s not likely to include a keyboard or any other input device. But what if they did something totally radical? What if they used eye tracking? This is already in wide use as an observation tool for studying usability. Could it be used here, too? Just wild speculation, but it could be pretty cool.

But, here’s the thing: my iPhone and laptop are both capable of doing those things now. And that gets me back to the core issue: what would the Apple tablet solve for me? I don’t know, but I’m excited to see what Apple can imagine that I can’t.

Share/Save

Here goes:

1. Sign up for a Blogger blog and a Dropbox account. (Here’s a link for the latter.)
2. Copy your multimedia files (.mp3, .swf, etc.) to the Dropbox public folder.
3. Go to the Dropbox Web interface and click into your Public folder.
4. Use the arrow to get the public URL for the file in question.
5. If you’re trying to embed audio, copy this text into your Blogger entry:
   <embed src= “http://www.odeo.com/flash/audio_player_standard_gray.swf” quality=”high” width=”300″ height=”52″ allowScriptAccess=”always” wmode=”transparent” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” flashvars= “valid_sample_rate=true&external_url=[MP3 URL HERE]” pluginspage=”http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer”> </embed>
6. Replace [MP3 URL HERE] with the URL  you copied from Dropbox.
7. Publish.
8. For SWFs, do the same as above, but use this embed code:
   <embed src=”[SWF URL HERE]” quality=”high” allowscriptaccess=”always” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” pluginspage=”http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer” align=”middle” height=”[###]” width=”[###]“></embed>
9. In this instance, replace [SWF URL HERE] with the Dropbox public URL and [###] with the appropriate SWF sizes.
10. Publish.

That’s it.

Share/Save

But, I’d heard great things about the movie and decided I should see it. So, we went last night and I’ve not stopped thinking about it since. In fact, here are 10 things I think I think about the film:

1. Artistry: Let me say it up front, this is a beautiful movie. I mean that literally: it’s actually beautiful. That’s different from “good.” I don’t know that the film is all that good. I found the story rather predictable and character development utterly lacking (more on this later), but as a piece of visual art, it’s quite stunning. The colors, the richness, the use of 3D – it all comes together to form scene after scene of beauty. I also loved the thought that went into the various forms of technology. From the military aircraft to the computers, it had a Minority Report-like confidence in future technology different from what we do today. And this art appears in virtually every scene throughout the film. Quite spectacular. Even the fake Navi language is quite beautiful. But, beauty should still be believable, and I had a big problem with some of the science, including…
2. Tidal forces: Pandora, the celestial object where the movie takes place, appears to be a moon of a much larger planet. Sort of as if Earth orbited Jupiter. From all appearances, Pandora is close enough to the much larger planet that there should be extreme gravitational effects on Pandora. I mean, Pandora should be experiencing the sort of tidal forces that make Titan and Europa such interesting moons in our solar system. Yeah, geeky, I know. But still, it seemed such an obvious problem to me. Another obvious problem was the…
3. Stereotyping: I couldn’t help but find the oversimplification and stereotyping of characters obnoxiously annoying. From the military commander who is a blood-thirsty cowboy to the chain-smoking anti-social scientist who hates her own kind, to the naturalistic Navi. The Navi seemed to be modeled on American Indian/African people, from the hair, lips and noses, to the clothing, mysticism and clan-like tribes. This bothers me because it seemed so simplistic. It’s as if indigenous people are always the mystical and technologically simple (and fairly helpless) people, while the white Americans (with a modicum of minorities thrown in) are cruel, technologically and militarily superior, and careless. Meanwhile, the Navi were unable to do anything until the hero, who is actually a good-guy white American, saves them. That all leads to…
4. Lack of character development: This might be the biggest problem I have with Avatar. There was virtually no character development throughout this entire film. Now, one might argue that Jake Sully developed from a jarhead to a Navi, or that other Navi developed into a force that could fight back, but that’s being awfully generous. The truth is, none of the secondary characters developed at all, and that Jake was a complete blank slate at the beginning of the film. He didn’t move from one place to another, he just showed up. For example, he seems to have no problem suddenly turning on his fellow Marines and killing them. (I have a feeling this will be something that many people will have a problem with.) I would expect this to be a torturous issue for him. There’s also almost no character development for the main Navi characters. How they were at the end of the film wasn’t too different from how they were at the beginning of the film. Speaking of the Navi, I found them…
5. Insufficiently alien: Why did the Navi have to look so human? Not only the Navi, but all the other alien creatures look like monstrous versions of present or past Earth life. For a film that was so fantastical and animated, it seems to me Cameron missed a wonderful creative opportunity to imagine completely new forms of life. And not just imagining new forms of life, but new ways of making life, which leads me to…
6. Sex: Let’s face it, the main Navi girl is smoking hot. She’s got perky little breasts, a tight flat tummy, a small hard butt and skimpy clothes. You knew at some point she and Jake (who’s quite a catch himself, in both human and Navi form) were going to get it one, and they did. But what’s with the human form of copulation? Kissing? Woman on top? I was really hoping to see some funky alien lovemaking going on. Maybe their pony tails would link up, at least. Once again, this could have been an opportunity for more creativity, though perhaps with everything else, Cameron’s creative juices were exhausted. At least he didn’t use Navi sex as a cheap opportunity to employ more…
7. 3D: This is the first non-IMAX 3D movie I’ve seen and, well, wow. I thought 3D was just a gimmick, but I’m converted now. Avatar didn’t do anything flagrant with 3D, which I thought was appropriate. One of the trailers, though, was for Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland and that looked amazing. I’ve often found Tim Burton’s films to be beautiful in their artistry and terrible in their execution, and the same might be true for Alice. But, I’ll say this: based on the trailer, it looks like Burton uses 3D the way a cinematographer uses light and shadows. As for Avatar, the 3D added to the film in a very pleasant way. One funny moment for me, though, was that at one point I thought the person sitting in front of me had gotten up. I was about to ask him to sit down when I realized it was a character in the film. Freaky. Oddly, despite the incredible detail to the artistry of the scenes and the 3D, there were more than a few…
8. Odd oversights: Given how much time and money went in to making this film, I was surprised by what appeared to be numerous technical flaws in the film. On more than a few occasions, I was surprised by incredibly awkward camera movements (jerky zooms, etc.) that looked like mistakes. There was a time when the humans were in an open helicopter without masks. And when, at the end, Jake and his Navi babe are together, she was suddenly, and obviously, a human in makeup. The size difference evaporated and it just seemed weird. It shook me out of the moment. This reminds me of Alien when the monster at the end of the film was obviously a guy in a rubber suit. It just felt wrong. Another thing that felt wrong was the…
9. Lack of science: For a science fiction film, this movie was almost completely devoid of science. Why???? What’s so wrong with science. I already discussed my problem with the tidal forces, but what about the science of the avatars themselves? Or the floating mountains? It just seems like there were opportunities to explore more of the science of the moment, much like the latest Star Trek movie did so well. Science wasn’t the only thing lacking in Avatar. Another was a…
10. Lack of subtlety: I’m guessing that just as fuck and shit are bad words in most houses, subtle is a bad word in Cameron’s (and shit and fuck are not). There is nothing in Avatar that even remotely qualifies as subtle. The message of environmentalism, the disdain for militarism, the love story — it’s all so in your face. I probably mostly agree with the message of the movie, but it’s so flagrant, so over the top, that I can’t help but feel a bit repelled by it. It’s kind of like…
11. Cameron’s taste in music: So, this is a bonus entry because it’s not what I think I think, but rather what I know: James Cameron has terrible taste in music, at least as far as film scores go. During the credits was another Celine Dion-like screamer who made me flee from the theater. Who calls this shit music? It’s awful.

I’m sure there’s plenty more to say about Avatar, and given a few more minutes I’ll probably think of them. Maybe you will, too. Please pick apart my arguments, point out things I’ve missed, or add to what I’ve put here. I’d love to hear some different opinions.

Share/Save

Today we go home, but not before I try  and fail  to gain redemption in tennis against my brother. One day…

To add insult to injury, I mistook my mom’s salt container for a sugar container; I realized the mistake when I shoved a spoonful of “salted” cheerios into my mouth. The only thing worse would have been if the milk was sour. She’ll be getting a labelmaker for Christmas…

Throughout the trip we managed to avoid traffic jams, sitting on the highway, construction, accidents, and nearly every other kind of delay. Today we made up for that luck. What should have been a 6-hour drive ended up taking more than 8 hours. Not bad, really, but it’s doubly hard when it delays the final stop: home.

The long lines came at the toll plazas; at construction areas; where traffic was simply heavy; and at one point where there was an accident on the other side of the median. That’s the worst  when traffic slows to a snarl because of rubbernecking. And the accident wasn’t even that dramatic. Just a fender bender.

Aside from that, few things were remarkable today. At lunch, a woman who must have been suffering from emphysema was coughing up her left lung as I tried to eat my turkey sandwich. On the one hand, I felt really bad for her; on the other, it was pretty gross.

Speaking of lunch, Cynthia once again proved that the waitress always asks if everything is OK just when you’ve taken a bite of food. It’s true! Another note: about half of the dining booths had phones. I don’t know why. And in the parking lot was a woman who looked exactly like a Far Side character. I am not kidding.

Since traffic was so slow, I spent a little more time looking at other vehicles. Several semis had satellite dishes mounted to them, which I thought was pretty enterprising. One semi had a bunch of windows in the living space behind the driver, and we could see a couple of kids and a woman knitting. The family that long-hauls together, stays together…

Speaking of which, another semi I saw declared itself to be a Church on Wheels, not for hire. I really wanted to know what that meant. Did he pull into towns and hold revivals? Does he do anything to earn money, or is this just his thing? But, he was headed in the opposite direction and I never found out any more.

Another family was riding in a giant Dodge Ram duelly  you know, the trucks with the double-wide tires in the back that makes it look like it has big hips. Anyway, the entire family looked to be shaped like the truck, which stood about 4 feet off the ground, and the dad driving it sped around the turnpike like Mario Andretti. I thought for sure he was going to cause an accident. Actually, come to think of it, today was the biggest day for rude drivers. I guess we’re back on the East coast.

Finally, around 8, we pulled up to the house, found our cats alive and well, and started bringing in our stuff. It’s been a long, fun, memorable trip. We’re glad to be home, but I don’t think either of us would mind going for a hike in Yellowstone today.

Josh and Cyn – Total trip miles: 7,124.

(P.S. Interesting moment Monday morning… we’re fast asleep when we’re awoken at about 6 a.m. by the sound of our front door opening. “What is it?” “Is someone breaking in??” We hurry downstairs only to find the house empty of other people. Glancing outside, we see one of our catsitters (all of whom we greatly appreciate!) shyly heading back down the path, hoping she didn’t wake us up. I guess I should have told her we were home!)

Share/Save