The day-by-day play-by-play

Day 1 - Block Party
Day 2 - Kennewick, Man
Day 3 - Loafing
Day 4 - Watering the Dogs
Day 5 - In Flight
Day 6 - Epcot
Day 7 - Get in Line
Day 8 - MGM Disney
Day 9 - At Rest
Day 10 - Not George, Anheuser
Day 11 - In Flight (reprise)
Day 12 - In Sanity
Day 12.5 - In Sickness
Day 15 - On the Road
Day 16 - Oregon Caves
Day 17 - Sam Clam's Disco
Day 18 - Dead Man Walking
Day 19 - Will He Hurl?
Day 20 - Traveling
Day 21 - Six Flags, Long Lines
Day 22 - Tied Up in Knott's
Day 23 - Something Goofy
Day 24 - Sacra-Mentos
Day 25 - Ashland
Day 26 - 10,000 Smiles
Day 27 - At the Movies
Day 28 - Dream Homes

Sabbatical 1998 - Day 25

Master Thespian!

Mt. Shasta (la vista)I'm in Ashland, Oregon today.  Ashland:  Home of Shakespearean theater (in Oregon anyway).  Very near Medford.  A couple of tokes north of Weed (no, I didn't inhale.) 

I bid farewell to our neighbor state to the south. I'm going to miss being able to pump my own gas.  In fact, I've changed my opinion on the subject.  Self-serve might not be such a bad thing.  (I still don't buy the argument that it makes the gas prices lower.)  And this whole pre-pay thing has me somewhat, well, a-gast.  But for those of us paying with plastic, getting fuel is like buying a candy bar at a vending machine.  (I hate it when the last bit of Techroline gets stuck and you have to shake the pump.)

Saw me some very pretty scenery today as I worked my way through the Shasta National Forest.  When the underbrush got too thick, I moved back onto the highway.  Waved at the friendly CHiPs guys in their difficult-to-detect cruisers.   Played "You Can't Smash My Face Plate" with flying debris dropping off of log trucks.

By now I've spent many solitary hours trapped with just me inside a white (pearl, actually) motorcycle helmet. I have a lot to think about such as "is that stupid yuppie-piloted Volvo going to try to kill me again?"  (It's always a dirty Volvo, usually adorned with peacenik slogans and carrying a baby seat... why?)  But most times I'm just lost in thought.  This little story came to me as I rode along near Mt. Shasta.  Be gentle now.  It's still in the larva stage.  A pupa, if you will.

A famous cave explorer, Jacques Soufflé, had just returned from an expedition around the Shasta Caves. He was annoyed that his laptop computer continually gave him a "divide overflow exception." He thought that it was caused by the damp conditions inside the caves, but he really needed his equipment in good operating condition so that he could take accurate readings. In addition, he had developed a nasty rash on his hands, making climbing and working with tools difficult.  Being absurdly analytical, he couldn't decide which bothered him more -- but he knew that he had to understand it. So he turned to a someone who wasn't analytical at all -- a classical musician.

The musician gave the situation a lot of consideration and finally said, "You're singing the wrong tune, dude.  It's not the DIV OR, Jacques.  It's the Shasta Cove Itch!"

HAHAHAHAHAHA!  ...(don't think of it as a terrible joke, consider it a cry for help.)  Almost home now.  I miss my doggies and my wife.  (Not necessarily in that order).

Day 26 >>