Day Thirteen : Prologue
A miscellaneous, catch-all type of post before I leave for the gather.
One more time, I prove I can’t read a calendar. Yesterday’s post should have read “day twelve” not “day eleven.” Time does funny things when you’re on the road. I don’t normally read a daily newspaper – but I still have to think about what day it is. And don’t always guess right. 
It’s bright and hot in Caldwell. I’ve had coffee and am packed – waiting for the call from Bloomberg Radio. Expect to leave for The Gather by 10 am. I’ll take 20/26 (again) across Oregon to Bend – then south to Crescent Lake. Expect to arrive by 6 pm, assuming the 10 am departure – it’s about 400 miles. Looking forward to another “relaxing” day. Of course, I’ll probably *roast* as this is more desert.
I’ve been thinking about the past two weeks — I wouldn’t call it a “life-changing” experience, but it certainly has been a “life event”. I’m still processing the effect that people’s stories about breast cancer had on me – and the awe I’ve felt seeing what mother nature has created in the west. I am grateful (and honored) that folks contributed mightily to my campaign and thus provided me with the incentive to take the two weeks to do this ride. Thank you all, again.
Here’s a 64-dollar question. On Route2 through Nebraska – the road runs along RR tracks for most of the way west of Grand Island. I regularly met trains loaded with open freight cars – looked like some type of black ore. The trains were at least *a mile* long (I clocked one that was parked on a siding). They run “east” full of ore – they run “west” empty. What was this and where did it originate?
And I still can’t get the photos “out” of Phil’s camera. My powerbook says “can’t find camera” whether I use Photoshop or the Sony software. My guess is that something screwy is going on with the modem port – it must *think* it’s engaged in something else. I’m still shooting pix with it though! I’ll take T up on his offer to do a diagnostic on the PB when we get back to Seattle – it’s doing a couple of other odd things – so it may need a service.
Happy to see my modem connecting at 44K – 46K bps. So I now know that those SLOW connect times on the road must have been a reflection of phone lines and switchboards. (once, I was connected at 2600 baud – and had a HUGE pdf file that I needed to download!)
Kathy on digest