Travel, as it was and as it is

When I was checking out of my hotel last Friday, I tried to use the automated system that you access through the television. After clicking through a half dozen menu selections, I get to this 404 page. A 404, in web parlance, is the error message means Page Not Found. The system could find the specific page that it was supposed to display and so puts up this default page instead.

The trip home was uneventful, except that it was another full flight. I had the middle seat in the very last row. There was cloud cover over central Massachusetts, so I couldn't see the camp or Mt. Wachusett as we followed Route 2 on our approach to Logan.

As I travel more, my sentiments toward my fellow travelers have soften. These are not intrinsically mean-spirited, self-centered, or feral people. They are, just like me, trying to get someplace and are working overly hard to make this alien world conform to something they can understand. So, after I left the airport and headed out on I-90, it was a nice Welcome Home touch to have someone cut me off at the toll booth.

I'm fortunate that I can drive or fly as I want or need to. For one job, working the graveyard shift, I would get off of work at 7AM, go home, sleep a bit, and then hitchhike to the restaurant so that I could borrow a car from someone working the evening shift, and then go back home until it was time for work. That way I didn't have to rely on hitchhiking at 10 at night. Hitchhiking is an unpredictable mode of transportation. A 10-mile trip could take anywhere from 15 minutes to however long it would take to walk 10 miles, not a good plan if you're trying to get to work on time.

My hitchhiker tales aren't terribly exciting. My longest trip was to Toronto and back (through) Montreal. We took a bus for part of the trip after spending all night standing at the entrance ramp to the New York Thruway. It was early January and the temperature was below zero for the whole night, warming up at dawn so that it could snow. Other trips were of the 50-200 mile variety. I never felt in great danger and never rode with anyone too much weirder than me. During the winter I could tuck my long hair under a knit cap so I would have a better chance of getting a ride. This writer provides some good tips for those few hitchhikers on the road these days. It's been a long time since I've traveled anyplace by thumb and almost as long since I picked up hitchhiker.

Haven't put enough into your IRA to retire comfortably? No problem. We now have learned that pet food is pretty good for you, better than most take-out offerings. Of course, no brand of cat or dog food has made it onto the list of the world's healthiest foods.

Why go to Easter Island when Dublin, Ohio is so close?