up2in2

Anyway, the hero also known as Yours Truly has been stuck behind the Orange Curtain in San Diego for the last week. Prior to that I was in Reno, NV, Grass Valley, St. Helena, The Bay Area, Fresburg, and Oakhurst. I've been a travelling fool, and I have been remiss on my blogging. I'm sure all y'all have been hungry for news of your hero.

Not much of substance to report... the travels have been relaxing. I've seen all of my family members (all eight of them - including spouses) more than once and I've spent time with many of my good friends. You could say that I'm on the 'friends and family' tour. I'm currently in Fresno at my Aunt Cinda's place; tomorrow I'm headed to my father's place near Grass Valley; then, on Monday, I'm headed to Gaston, Oregon and the residence of Brian Marcy and Clare Carver. After a couple two tree days there, I'm headed to Choteau, Montana and the cozy home of Mike Johnson and Jennifer Swanson. Plan is to back from MT around the 20th of January.

Lately your hero has been contemplating his navel (a bit more than usual), and is preoccupied with the question of 'what to do now?'. As in, "Underdog, now that you've cheated death one more time, had 50% of your feet amputated, and successfully extracted yourself from Mission District Racetrack Hell, what are your plans?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked... at this point I'm going to continue my travels and try to keep an open mind about where to settle. I'm looking to not set up housekeeping for another six months or so, but that doesn't preclude me from spending time in one location. I've bought a throw-away Toyota van and outfitted it with sleeping accomodations. After Montana, I'll be taking a break from the road and spending some time at my Aunt Tamara's place in Reno. While I'm there, I may shoot a man just to watch him die.

One friend of mine suggested that the van (which has Tweety-Bird seatcovers) was similar to the type of vehicle favored by terrorists in the Middle East. He himself is a Canadian national and I have my suspicions that he may, in fact, be part of the big Q (mum's the word, eh?); after all, how would he know what a terrorist van looks like? Which adds credence to this inescapable feeling I have that he is planning to set off a snowball bomb here in our precious Homeland to combat global warming.

By the way, the guy in the picture with the van isn't Shawn or me; it's a computer generated image of how I'll look in twenty-two years.

I've been catching up on my blogging here (the Orange Curtain blocked my web access - damn Republicans). This includes reading the last few posts at Johnny Sprocket's Blog. He correctly points out that I have some stories that should be told while we still have freedom of speech in this country.

Here's a preview of topics to come:

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How I wasn't busted for interstate transport of narcotics.

Old Milwaukee; broke my neck.

Deaf-Mute with Torrets Syndrome.

Most high-maintenance road-biker award.

How I almost killed my would-be assasin during an episode of The Streets of Sacramento.

The June Swoon, and August and September are great back-packing months also.

I too, slipped off the Fish.

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Always, live early, live often, don't drive too fast, and leave an oldwornoutcouldn'tpossiblytakeanotherstepyetgo0dlooking corpse,

Ugly (Neighborhood) 5-Man.