Kitty Cargo Cult

Every so often when I wander into my kitchen, I find Booger and Shy sitting on the floor staring up at the counter beside the stove. This has happened a number of times and I have pondered why they do this. It seems completely random. I never feed them from the counter and except for a very few times, they have never had anything other than their dry food and always from their bowls. Whenever I am making something interesting, they congregate and mill around my feet hoping, I think, that some morsel will fall on the floor (which I don't think it ever has). So what's the cargo cult part of this? Like the natives of Vanuata, in cat magical thinking, perhaps they believe in a causal relationship between them waiting for something to fall and me coming in and preparing something that interests them. In other words, they believe that sitting and staring at the counter will make me and food appear. Good luck you guys. It hasn't happened yet.

Day Sixteen - Park City, Utah

Alas, all good things must come to an end and it was time for me to come home. Having been on the road for two-and-a-half weeks I missed my own place, my cats and my city. Alan, Josee and I went skiing for a couple of hours mainly to look at the new houses being built slope-side in Deer Valley. A soak in the hot tub, a steam shower and a fresh set of clothes later I was ready for a late afternoon departure to begin the long drive back to Seattle but not before stopping at Robin's office to say goodbye and thank you to her, Kelly and Jim.

My goal was to make it to Boise before stopping for the night. However, fatigue overtook me near Twin Falls and I checked into a hotel where I slept instantly and deeply for nine hours before the alarm woke me.

The following day, Thursday was an uneventful if long drive up through Oregon and Washington to reach Seattle at about 6pm. Along the way I picked up a lovely home-baked apple pie that I shared with Helena and Vanya whom I stopped to visit in Issaquah on the way home. Finally arriving at my own house at 7:30, I grabbed a quick bite and hit the sack. The long, adventurous, satisfying roadtrip was done!

It was a lovely time with just the right amount of solitude, action, adventure, skiing and meet new people. I am very pleased I went. It was 16 days well spent!

Day Fifteen - Park City, Utah

Another day of no skiing and Josee was kind enough to take me to Sundance for lunch and to see her studio. It is beautiful up there and Robert Redford has done a great job of keeping it pristine and undeveloped. Josee's art is beautiful and I will post some images and descriptions of the pieces here when I get the chance.

Dinner that night was fondue, something I volunteered to prepare. Finding the cheese was less difficult than I thought it would be but the Kirschwasser, bread and wine were a different matter. It is hard enough to find authentic baguette in Seattle, let along Park City. The problem is that the crust is always a little too soft and the bread itself too doughy. How I long for a Parisian baguette! Also, Utah has some of the weirdest alcohol laws ever. First of all, wine and liquor are only sold in state liquor stores and second the selection is terrible. Alan, Philippe (Josee's 15-year old son) went into the store to procure the right ingredients and at the register I was asked if Philippe was my son. I said no and was told that state law prohibited me from buying alcohol for 24 hours since there is some presumption that I was buying it for Philippe. Very weird. We went to another store and picked up what we needed but that was a real shocker. What passed for Kirschwasser in Utah is not what I usually use so while the fondue was good, it was not great. Memo to self - bring own kirschwasser next time I want to prepare fondue in Utah...and bread?

Day Fourteen - Park City, Utah

No skiing for me. The knee was still sore and after four days straight I needed a break. Spent most of the day hanging at Mike's place, browsing the Internet and generally goofing off. Was fun though.

Day Thirteen - Park City, Utah

Once again, we convened at Mike's house (the perfect ski-in/ski-out rendezvous in Deer Valley, I must say) and had breakfast and lounged a bit before hitting the slopes. Bettina was on skis as she had been the day before and was kicking all our butts on the slopes. Today it was just she and I and we took the advantage of some new snow and the opportunity to ski some more aggressive terrain - such as there is in Deer Valley. The best part was the black diamond under the Empire Express lift. Steep, open and with some nice powdery moguls. The first time we skied the slightly shallower side of the bowl and it was a lot of fun. In fact it was so much fun we decided to do it again and went for the more challenging steep under the chair. This where I fell and lost a ski in the process. Kind of a mini yard-sale. I tweaked my knee (old medial collateral ligament sprain) and lost my confidence which pretty much ended my day though we did do some easier stuff on the way back to the house. A soak and a shower soon helped me feel better though the knee was and still is a little sore.

It was Sunday evening and unfortunately Bettina had to head back to Seattle so I saw her off at SLC and went back to Deer Valley for a quiet evening meal at Mike's. Dinner was prepared by Alan and Josee that night and it was fun to visit with them, Seanie, her daughter Hailey and Seanie's mom.

Day Twelve - Park City, Utah

Waking up was a little rough. I am not much of a partier. Really! Two days in a row was taking its toll. Nonetheless, we rallied and headed over to Mike's place in Deer Valley for breakfast and some skiing. Josee was kind enough to rustle up some eggs and toast and that along with some juice and coffee fortified us for the skiing day ahead. Paul and Anthony had left for Seoul and Shanghai respectively that morning (poor guys didn't get much sleep) so it was Don, Deb, Nancy, Don, Richard, Alan, Josee, Bettina and I; a respectable gang for a day of fun. There was not much new snow so we opted for a few hours of social skiing and a nice lunch at the Empire Lodge. A soak in the hot tub, a nice shower and a glass of wine later it was time for dinner, but not before seeing off the rest of the Hong Kong crew who had a late afternoon flight out of SLC.

That evening we had dinner with Robin, Seanie, Jim and a few others at the Blind Dog Grill in Park City. It was Jim's 49th birthday. Good meal and great company. Another evening of excess but what are vacations for anyway?

Day Eleven - Park City, Utah

Woke up early this morning which was easy yet painful on account of the sake I had consumed the evening before with Robin, Coni and her date, and headed down to Salt Lake City to pick up Bettina at the airport. The wonderful thing about skiing in Utah is that you can literally get off a plane and in less than an hour be on the slopes and that is exactly what we did, taking advantage of being on the west side of the mountains to ski at Snowbird. The Hong Kong crew were headed to Alta but since Bettina is a snowboarder and Alta is skier-only, we decided to visit the mountain next door.

It was snowing most of the way up there and we quickly donned our gear, got our tickets and hit the slopes. It was beautiful. There was almost a foot of new powder and lots of largely untouched terrain. I have to say this was one of the best ski days of my life. I was in good form and skiing well and the conditions were lovely. Bettina of course led the way and had me skiing a number of challenging blacks which is exactly what I needed to improve. We skied for about four hours before calling it quits; her because of having had such an early morning to make the flight to SLC; me because of having had such a late night. Nonetheless an unforgettable experience.

Afterwards, we repaired to our hotel, a lovely Swiss-alp style resort called Zermatt in Midway, located not too far from Park City. The staff were all dressed in clothing reminiscent of the stereo-typical Bavarian ledderhosen and bloused shirts, and the decor was very faux Swiss ski chalet. Charming non-the-less.

Dinner that evening was at '350' located in historic downtown Park City. Why is it called 350? At a time where coming up with a catchy name for a restaurant is a challenge, how about just using the street address as the name? I am actually thinking of naming my house '1000' for the same reason, as in "let's meet at 1000 this evening" or "what's happening over at 1000 today?" We were a big party with the Hong Kong crew, Coni, her date, Seanie, Robin, Bettina, Huang and I. Lovely meal which we celebrated in the name of someone's birthday (the wine was flowing so liberally that I am ashamed to say that I can't remember whose. Maybe Don or Paul?) Afterwards we went across the street to a no-name club/bar where the women got in free and we had to pay a cover charge. I tried to argue that we were bringing more women but that didn't wash. Oh well. My, what a meat market! Bettina and Huang (an attractive 30-something Park City Realtor who had attached herself to our party some time the day before) were cornered by a couple of twenty-somethings when they strayed too far from our herd and had to extract themselves from a pickup-artist-like scene. Having never actually picked up anyone in a bar and seeing how transparent the scene is I have to admit that it must work sometimes otherwise no-one would do it. But that is the subject of another post.

So around midnight or maybe 1am we decide we have had enough and head back to Zermatt for the night but not before being asked in the elevator on the way down from the club by some twenty-something guys cut from the same cloth as the aforementioned whether Bettina and I had met that night or had arrived together. I replied, "Does it matter?" and left it at that.

Day Ten - Park City, Utah

Woke up early and packed the car for the drive to Park City. After a few days of scritchy-scratchy in Jackson Hole I was ready for something different. It was snowing lightly on the drive down and got much heavier as I went on. Almost a blizzard! At one point a truck ahead of me almost fishtailed off the road. Nonetheless, the drive went quickly and I soon found myself in Park City where I went immediately to Robin's office. We moved my ski gear into her car and headed up to Deer Valley where we wanted to ski a couple of hours and meet with some friends for a late dinner. We were fortunate to be able to be able to use Mike's house as a home base. It is a lovely place offering terrific ski-in/ski-out and excellent apres facilities.

Robin, Alan and I did a few runs and met the Hong Kong crew at the Empire Lodge for a nice long apres before dinner. I ended up going to dinner with Robin, Coni and her date a pretty decent sushi place (given how far Park City is from any large fish-bearing body of water). This was the start of what would be six days of partying unlike anything I had done since college.

Deer Valley is a nice if not particularly challenging ski area. Most runs are green or blue with some moderate blacks. Suitable for 'social skiing' or perhaps tailored for those who have already had their ACL surgery.

Day Nine - Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Did not ski today. Was a beautiful day, sunny and warm and the slopes were not fun looking. Instead, after a late breakfast I headed into Jackson. The downtown is quite quaint with old frontier-style buildings and wooden plank sidewalks. However, the area is dominated by chain stores like Coldwater Creek and other outdoorsy-type retailers, and art galleries all featuring overpriced paintings and sculptures with wildlife and landscape themes. Whatever happened to quaint and unique shops where you can buy something authentic and local?

I headed north out of town and drove along the Grand Tetons, stopping occasionally to snap pictures from slightly different perspectives. In the sunlight with the snow still cloaking the mountains, it was truly a glorious sight to behold.

Day Eight - Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Skied only a couple of hours today. The weather is kind of overcast and the slopes are really scritchy-scratchy. It was on a double blue with no edge control whatsoever on account of how slick it was that I decided that skiing is for enjoyment and not for the masochistic satisfaction of being able to "tough it out" under any conditions. This is not to say that it was all bad, just that it didn't meet the threshold of enjoyment versus other things I could be doing such as reading, writing or just sitting down with a cup of coffee and thinking. Now I am sitting in a little cafe in the hotel and doing all four!

Day Seven - Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Not all ski areas are created equal. Jackson Hole is a cut above almost anywhere else I have skied in terms of terrain and variety. First of all, they are not content with the standard green, blue, black and double black designations. No, they have inserted a double blue in there. Secondly, the mountain is steep. What many resorts call a black, Jackson Hole labels a double blue. Their blacks are some other place's double blacks. The difference between double blue and black? From what I can tell it is mainly whether they are groomed or not. I talked to an instructor on the chair today and remarked at the steepness and compared the terrain to Big Sky. He shared that locally they refer to Big Sky as "Big Lie." I can see his point; this mountain pretty much blows Big Sky away by most measures.

As this was my first day, I did a survey of the mountain taking various chairs and runs to see what was what. They haven't had any new snow in several days which has made most of the snow pretty scritchy-scratchy (my term for runs that are not icy but kind of crusty). It was a glorious day here with the sun beating down from a cloudless sky and temperatures well into the upper thirties. This was good as by late morning it helped soften the snow and make it more easily skiable. I ended up skiing until 2pm with a quick sandwich break around noon. After a beer in the sun slope-side, I retired to my hotel where I took a sauna and a jacuzzi which definitely took any edge off. Tomorrow, I have a late afternoon massage scheduled.

I do hope for new snow in the next couple of days, but will settle for another sunny and warm day like today.

Day Six - Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Last night was the annual Dirt Bag Ball in Big Sky with a lot of the festivities held at Buck's T4 where I was staying. It was fun seeing everyone dressed in bizarre outfits and they looked like they were having a great time. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling so well so I spent the evening writing and watching movies.

This morning it was overcast and about freezing so I decided to skip slope-time and head down to Jackson Hole where I will be for the next several days. After breakfast, I packed up and hit the road. The drive south was beautiful through snow-covered meadows, mountains and the vast open plains of Idaho. Took a little more than three hours, faster than I thought, and I arrived at the Jackson Hole ski area at about 2pm.

I am staying at Terra, an "eco-hotel" in the main village. It is well-appointed and more importantly ski-in. The have an Italian osteria called, well, Osteria where I had a delicious lunch. The white bean soup was terrific and the bread was very authentic (unsalted and the same texture as that I had in Tuscany).

The slopes here look terrific and I can't wait to get out there tomorrow morning.

Death by Technocrat

I have been thinking a lot recently about the evolution of companies from their founding to their growth and success and ultimately to their becoming just like every other company and their eventual 'deaths.' There is a certain inevitability, it seems, to this pattern. I think about all the great companies I have seen start from nothing, come of age, evolve, blossom and grow. When they reach a certain stage or size, they lose something, the thing that made them great, and that loss leads to their mediocrity and presages their future decline. What is it? Why does this happen? I am sure that many more educated and experienced people have written a lot about this. There must be hundreds of business school case studies about this phenomenon.

Here's my theory based on my own observations. I called it 'death by technocrat.' When a company reaches a certain size, managing the business well becomes difficult and the ad hoc processes and systems created by the entrepreneurs who started the company no longer scale. At that point, "professionals" are brought in. Professional marketers, product management, technologists and the like. There is nothing wrong with these people. They have, through experience in larger businesses and their education, learned a set of patterns of 'best practices' that help overcome the obstacles and inefficiencies from which the new, fast-growing company is suffering. These technocrats help a lot and make it possible for the company to get to the next level. In fact, they can help the new company to achieve even greater levels of success. However, the seeds of the young company's death are sewn when this happens. New processes and procedures based on 'tried-and-true' ways of operating end up obliterating the entrepreneurial spirit and creativity that made the company what it was.

I am sure that there is more to discuss about this phenomenon and its cause. However, I am not really interested in the details of why it happens unless it can help me to understand what can be done to ameliorate the technocrat's impact on the soul of what made the new company great to begin with. What I want to figure out is how to build a permanently evolving, innovating and successful company that retains in its core the unconventional entrepreneurial characteristics I love so much about young, fast-growing companies.

This requires more thought. Much more thought.

Day Five - Big Sky, Montana

Feeling a bit better today so I saddled up after breakfast and headed to Moonlight Basin, a ski area on the northern side of Lone Mountain, over the ridge from Big Sky. It is a much more homey feeling resort than Big Sky and smaller. I was able to park within 20 yards of where I could put on my skies and head for the lifts. It was sunny this morning and quickly warmed up, getting into the 40s. After lunch I changed into much lighter spring skiing gear since I was a little warm in the morning. Moonlight Basin's main attraction are the Headwater chutes, a set of double black diamond runs high up on the mountain. I passed skiing Headwater this trip since I am not ready, yet. Next time. I also want to do these with a guide to be safer. I skied a lot of single blacks, both steeps and moguls which was fun. I also did a few gladed runs. I have never skied trees before and it was a new challenge for me, especially when there were bumps and trees - a veritable obstacle course. It was fun and I got more comfortable with the kind of control you need to ski this type of terrain. I am glad I had a helmet though.

Day Four - Big Sky, Montana

I started off the day with the intention of heading up the hill again but after breakfast my hacking cough and runny nose said otherwise. I have been taking sudafed and nyquil to mask the symptoms but am sick of feeling crummy. So, I decided to take a break today and get over the cold I have been fighting for the past five days. I think I am over the worst and just want it done so I can feel better for the rest of my trip. I have a two day pass for Moonlight Basin and will ski there until Sunday afternoon when I head down to Jackson Hole. Today gave me the chance to upload some photos, catch up on my correspondence and see a string of middling movies on the various HBO channels. It feels like a long time since I have goofed off for a whole day.

Poker and Politics in Montana

I was surprised to learn that any bar in Montana can also have a poker table. This came in especially handy tonight since I was feeling a little better and wanted to have some fun. Sat down at a table in a bar in the Big Sky resort. The game is run by Joe and his wife Joann. They play button-choice Tahoe high-low or Hold'em. When I arrived there were only a few people at the table but it quickly filled with as many as nine players at once. There was an interesting mix. A few local kids (really, they couldn't have been much older than 18, the legal age to play in Montana), some engineers from a conference being held at the hotel and a succession of middle-age, Orange County republicans who were apparently all vacationing together with their respective families. I clicked well with the locals and the engineers but could not with the OC repubs. This is no surprise, and one of them even mentioned that Obama's middle name is 'Hussein' to which I replied that McCain's middle name is 'Sidney' and whether that made him a girly man to which he replied that McCain is a war hero, after all. A quick Keating Five reference quieted him down some. I don't mind having an intelligent and informed political discussion but hate it when I have to rebut demagogic talking points.

Anyway, back to the poker. Played for about three hours in a 1-2 blind game with max $10 bet and three raises and ended up $140. Not bad for a $60 buy in. In fact I only one two hands and played very few overall. With these lose games it is easy to get sucked in and play as crazily as some of the others at the table; a recipe for disaster. I may play again before I head to Jackson Hole on Sunday.

Day Three - Big Sky, Montana

I didn't get up to the slopes until 1pm today since I had to take care of some business (getting some documents notarized, UPS'ing them back, etc). It was much simpler than I thought. My hotel pointed me at the American Bank about two miles from where I am staying. I drove there and the manager, Ross, was happy to sit with me while I signed and he notarized the docs. I asked him how much I owed since in Seattle banks typically charge $10 or so if you're not a customer. He was taken aback and said he was happy to do it out of hospitality. In fact, all the locals I have met here have been warm and kind people. The bank even had a couple of dogs hanging out in the lobby who would greet each customer and the customers would also greet them by name. Very sweet.

It was much warmer today and got up to maybe 25 on the slopes. I shed the arctic gear I have worn for the past couple of days and donned my spring skiing gear. At times on the lift I was a little cold, especially when the wind picked up, but after I got moving again I was quite comfortable.

I had a nice day revisiting my favorite slopes from the past couple of days. This was the last day I am skiing Big Sky. Tomorrow and Saturday, I will be at Moonlight Basin, on the other side of the mountain from Big Sky. I am excited to try a new place and it has a terrific looking mix of blacks and blues offering plenty of opportunity to mix it up and continue to challenge myself.

Physically I am holding up well. I thought this much skiing would take more of a toll on my body but I have little soreness even after 5+ hours on the slopes each day. I am heartened that the aerobic and strength conditioning I have been doing has helped prepare me for the trip.

Day Two - Big Sky, Montana

This cold I have is really bringing me down. I dosed on NyQuil last night to get a good night's sleep and did until about 3am when I had a prolonged uncontrollable coughing fit. I was up until 5am and then fell asleep again until 7am. I didn't feel great this morning but not poorly enough not to ski. After breakfast I saddled up and drove up the mountain. It was cold; nine degrees by my truck's thermometer. Strangely, when I got to the mountain it had 'warmed up' to 15 degrees. It snowed most of today, at times heavily with some great sun breaks. I had intended to take it easy today but the day and my enthusiasm got the best of me and I skied from first to almost last chair with a couple of breaks along the way. The morning I spent skiing bumps and powder on mixed black and blue terrain since we got six or so fresh inches over night. In the afternoon, I worked on my form, speed and control on some moderately groomed blues.

This morning I realized that every time I put on my skis for the first time for a day that I feel awkward and hesitant for my first few runs. It takes a while to get my head back into the right space where it 'flows.' It is as if I am afraid I have forgotten everything that I know about skiing with each new day and I need to 'remember' it before I can go on. I have taken to warming up and stretching before I hit the slopes and I hope that this transient fear will go away with time.

Today I observed a strange and disturbing husband/wife interaction. I was taking a traverse to Mad Wolf which also goes on to the upper Elk Park Ridge and I heard a woman whining to her husband in an incredibly nasal voice, "Stanley, this goes to a black diamond and you know I can't do that. It's too hard." Stanley replied gruffly, "Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about." It went back and forth like this for a couple of rounds as we headed to Mad Wolf (the black diamond). I offered that they could continue to traverse on the cat track until they got to the blue slope they wanted. They didn't appear to hear me and continued to bicker. Stanley decided to try to traverse across the top of Mad Wolf while his wife stayed on the cat track. It was somewhat gratifying to see Stanley fall hugely on his ass in the steep and powdery moguls. Serves him right for being such a jerk to his wife.

Dancing On the Slopes

My past couple of times on the slopes I have had these moments I characterize as playing or dancing while I am skiing. In these moments, I am in the flow and feel free to move in whatever direction I want, turn however I want and skip down the slope. On Exterminator, a big moguled black diamond at Crystal, this past Saturday I felt exhilarated at being able to pick and choose which bumps to ski and how. It felt like skipping down a set of stones embedded in the hillside. Today I had a similar experience in the powder, floating and flowing down the hill, carving where I want, going faster and slower. I am starting to believe that these moments are what skiing is all about. I want more of them and this trip is about helping me find them.

Day One - Big Sky, Montana

Having fallen asleep early, I woke up at 7am (6am PT) eagerly anticipating the day ahead. After a good hot breakfast and preparing my gear, I drove up the mountain arriving at a little before nine. It was cold and got colder as I ascended. 19 degrees at the base. It had also been snowing all night. Six inches at the base and a foot of new powder at the summit where it was a chilly 10 degrees. I had been planning for warmer weather and quickly switched to my arctic gear, not that I am not complaining.

Early in the day, I headed up to Lone Peak in search of some challenging runs and the most powder I could find. The snow was falling fast and furious and the light was super flat making for some of the most challenging skiing I have ever done. Lone Peak opens into a big bowl with the main run, a black diamond, called Never Sweat and a chance to drop into the bowl from Turkey Traverse. It was a lot of fun and I fell a couple times in the steeps with the low vis and flat light. Looking forward to skiing it again when it is clearer. You can also take a tram to the peak but the only outs are shoots that are all double black, something I am not ready for yet (again).

After a quick bite and a beer, I decided to take the afternoon a little easier. I am fighting a cold and had downed a Sudafed to keep the coughing and running nose at bay. This made the beer seem more like a six-pack and made for some not-quite-so-comfortable runs. I was always safe bit a little looped. It wore off in 30 minutes or so. Most of the afternoon I skied Andesite Mountain and discovered the area around the Thunder Wolf lift, especially Elk Park Ridge, a huge and beautiful ridge with lots of powder and interesting terrain. There'll be more new powder tomorrow and I plan to start there.

It was on my second run on Elk Park Ridge that I realized at that moment I was happier than any time I can remember recently. It is not that I have been unhappy; in fact things have been going very well both for and with me. It was more that my life has been marked by an absence of bliss. Indeed, much of my life has been blissless. What was special about that moment? The day was beautiful and the sun had peaked out. My body felt good and I was skiing well. However, I don't believe that this was the cause of my bliss. Instead, it felt like I was truly in the moment. Everything else disappeared and all that was left was the moment and me present in it. The simplicity of this was stunning. Now I want to see whether I can bring that same presence to moments that are more mundane and less pleasant. We will see.

T Plus/Minus Zero

Uneventful drive to Big Sky. Roughly 10 hours with a couple gas stops on the way. Wanted to gas up at Costco's along the way and succeeded at that in Coeur d'Alene but wasn't able to find one in Butte (there is one but mapping screwed me up). Listened to various David Sedaris audio books on the way which made the trip go quickly. I am glad that this, the longest leg of my overall trip, is over. Have a bit of a cold but between the natural and the unnatural remedies I brought with me, I won't let it get in the way of slope-time. Apparently they have just had a cold snap and some new snow here for which I am thankful. Forecast to get some more over the next few days for which I am grateful.

In planning this trip, it hit me that I have been thinking about a Winter dedicated to skiing for a few years now. It certainly has worked out. The lesson for me is that when you really want to do something, you just need to figure out how and make it happen. I have spent a lot of time wanting to do things and have let some perceived barrier be in the way of just making a plan and executing it. Inevitably, whenever I set my mind to doing something and I go and start doing it, I wonder what took me so long to get started. I hope that writing this down will help me remember this the next time.

T Minus One

I am finally ready to start my Winter adventure. Tomorrow morning I will start my almost-three-week ski trip by driving to Big Sky where I will stay for six nights to ski Big Sky and Moonlight Basin. I am excited. What will it be like? Who will I meet? Will the weather be good? Will I be happy? The prospect of spending a lot of time on the road is something I relish. Something about the space and the time for wool gathering really puts the zap on me. Inevitably, I reach some realizations that lead to big positive changes in my life. I don't know what those will be but I am both curious and anxious to find out.

Most of the trip I will be alone but will be visiting a friend in Park City about half-way through my time on the road. I don't mind being alone, generally finding that I don't get enough solo time unless I deliberately build it into my schedule. I also find that when I am by myself I meet the most interesting people, many of whom end up in my extended network of acquaintances with whom I check in every so often.

Never having been much into photo-taking (photography is far too grandiose a term for what I do with a camera), I plan to over-document this trip and share the pictures with whomever cares to view them. Stay tuned to this spot for commentary on the trip as well.

With the price of gasoline, I am planning to make this a Costco event and have charted out their various locations en route to fill up. Besides, you never know when you might need 96 rolls of toilet paper when you're traveling.