Well, OK now, back to bidness. Been away from this wonderful little corner of blogdom for over a week now. I was travelling deep into fly-over country, searching for the lost continent of America. But suddenly, there it was: Sonic drive-ins, the Ozarks, the Flinthills in Kansas, a horizon that was not hidden behind a jungle of architorture and trees, longs trains of maybe 125 coal cars, cattle, guitars and fiddles and men that could play them, woodsmoke in the air, gravel roads, good dogs and some cats that know their place, no subways, lots of cars with only one occupant cruising down county black tops, cornbread, Aunt Martha's Pancake House, strip mines and empty old towns, radio stock reports at noon, Paul Harvey, drivers that wave when they pass by in the other lane...

I am not as much of a fan of air travel as I once was...especially on southwest airlines where all the employees have suddenly become comedians...had my suitcase searched by the gubment travel cops; do I fit a "profile"? El cheapo travel snacks are apparently the trend of the day in air travel. I was given one bag that contained 7.3 honey roasted peanuts...the bag was so small I had to open it with watch repair tools and one of those magnifying glasses that you put over one eye...almost saw a fight in the KC airport while waiting to board the plane...one guy accused another of cutting in line (he wasn't), and the accused cutter called the accusee a "little punk" and said that he had to travel "38 weeks of the year" and that he didn't want to "hear one more word" from the accusee....Things on the trip did not go as well as I had planned, but then again, do they ever?

more tomorrow after I decompress a little.
be good.