Driving

I've stopped in Willcox, Arizona, at a motel with wireless internet. It's not as far as I wanted to get, but I had a late start this morning.

When I left home, I wore jeans and a long-sleeve T-shirt, because it was heavily overcast with the temperature in the high 60s or low 70s. When I stopped for gas in Gila Bend, Arizona, it was 110, and I was badly overdressed. But the car's air conditioning fixes that problem.

Shortly before I got to Willcox I finished listening to the latest of the books on tape I checked out from the library, Displaced Persons: Growing Up American After the Holocaust, by Joseph Berger. It gave me a view of life in America (which was also a view of life after the Holocaust) that I hadn't seen before. I recommend it.

A couple books ago, I listened to Seabiscuit: An American Legend, by Laura Hillenbrand, the book the movie was based on. They changed a lot for the movie. But having just listened to it, having vicariously lived through the setbacks and injuries of Seabiscuit's jockey and trainer and owner, today's news from Preakness, with Barbaro breaking his leg, is even more heartbreaking. They're asking for prayer.

The solitude of my drive has been good for me. I feel at peace with life (though I could use a wee bit more conversation than telling the cashier how much money on which gas pump, or ordering my dinner at Carl's Jr). It's nice not having the relentless pace at work or the too many chores at home demanding time I don't have. Today and tomorrow, the only demands I have are to keep the car at the speed limit (pointing in the right direction) and buy gas before I run out. I think I can handle that.