Sadly, I can't give you any more details as to what exactly was so miraculous about the Loretto Chapel's miraculous stairway. Maybe it trips up people who want to push past as I'm trying to walk up it. Maybe it feels like it's going up when really it's going down. Maybe it's just a flat … Continue reading On Miracles and Staircases
Day 1 You’re up early to wave your wife off. You’ve carried her suitcase to the waiting Lyft, now back for a coffee and check of the work email. Modern tech means that you’re never really apart. At least not for very long. You can share the ride to the airport, the breakfast, and then … Continue reading So Your Wife is Out of Town for a Week
We're in Denny’s, because Roadtrip Rules are still in force, and because there's one just across the parking lot from our delightfully clean and anonymous hotel. At the table next to ours, two African American bikers sit down. They’re older guys, with some impressive looking patches on their biker vests. I imagine they’re business professionals … Continue reading #Illinois2018 – Fairs and Parades
Litchfield, IL is...hell, I don’t know. One thing that road trips have taught me is that it’s impossible to really know a place just by being a tourist for a few days. Sure, Hot Springs is awesome and we definitely should retire there, even though we spent only one night there…but that doesn’t mean I’m … Continue reading #Illinois2018 – Thoughts on Litchfield and Springfield
First, let me say that websites that mock the customers of Walmart always seem mean-spirited to me, and they give lie to the idea that there’s no such thing as a class system in America. Laughing at the "Walmart weirdos" is just middle-class people mocking the working-class and the poor. That being said, anywhere a … Continue reading #Illinois2018 – On Small-Town Madness
I’ve never worked in customer service – and, more specifically, would definitely avoid ever being a waiter. This is a job that requires excellent social skills, having rapport with strangers, and possessing a more-than-decent memory. And none of these things applies to me. So, here’s a question: do wait staff ever have competitions to pass … Continue reading #Illinois2018 – On Customer Service
Every time I travel, it’s like I’m catching up on what the outside world already knows. On our trip to San Francisco earlier this year, the number of people Lyft-ing and Uber-ing on the curbside outside hotels and restaurants was remarkable – to me. Maybe this is just how the world works for the modern … Continue reading #Illinois2018 – Do You Waze?
Hot Springs, AK, is a little town that is, apparently, famous for hot springs. And as maybe the birthplace of Bill Clinton. Its advertising is a little uninspiring. But we spent a night there on the way to our final destination. And, like all cool little towns we stop by for only a short time, … Continue reading A Short Review of Hot Springs, Arkansas
Americans see distances in a very different way to normal people… They just have so much more to work with. I know this is hardly a startling observation (Hey, have you noticed how big the US is?) but the truth of the cliché hit me hard as we traveled, my delightfully American wife and I, … Continue reading #Illinois2018 – On Road Trips
We’re heading up to Hillsboro, IL, for the Old Settlers Festival, which I imagine beforehand will be seven old people and a one-eyed boy pushing a dog in a buggy around the streets while a man holding a kitten waves an American flag behind a barricade. OK, the kitten is also waving a flag. To … Continue reading On Preparing for a Road Trip: #Hillsboro2018
Small Change on Strangers 