ON THAT NOTE

 I am happy to report that I have found the West in good condition after all. Yep, all things considered the West is doing pretty darned well, at least from Mount Vernon, Washington all the way to MetroparkCentralis. We attended a seminar inside the capture basin of the Skaggit Valley Food Coop and if you know, you know. It is a really awesome little place in a very nice little town that seems to come right out of the American dream. Once I figure out how to load some pictures again I will give you a sample or two.

From there we drove to Fairchild AFB and it was a lot like my first introduction to Huntsville, Alabama after leaving beautiful Newport, Rhode Island in the summer of 75. I found myself going from a truly wonderful environment to a place where the Blue Laws were still being religiously and civilly enforced and where everything was closed up as tight as a drum on Sunday. Fairchild is like that but it looks like everything is always sealed up tight and everything is closed. It is a very non-interesting place. 

We had dinner at the Indian Casino down the street because at 1600 everything on Fairchild was closed. We had breakfast at the other end of the valley because it had some really excellent recommendations and it met every expectation based on those. If you're in the vicinity, the Cottage Cafe is a really nice place.

From there we wended our way home in a Chrysler Pacifica through St. Regis (huckleberry shakes), Butte, Sheridan, The Devil's Tower, The Blue Earth and finally South Bend. 

I mentioned the car for a reason because I got a big one this time. I thought we'd probably find some way to fill it with loot we accumulated along the way but our efforts in that regard kind of petered out at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station where we spent our first night on the west coast. We accidentally found ourselves at their thrift store after checking out of the Lodge and bought a couple of chicken pillows and a cooler at the Exchange and other than art supplies and a blanket that was the sum total of our loot this time. We're obviously going to have to do better next time.

It was a rare delight to find myself on the backside of the moon when it comes to keeping up with what was going on out there in the larger world. I didn't care and I didn't look. We didn't look at a television or listen to the radio for over a week and of course there are no newspapers. (Have you noticed that they no longer put a rolled up newspaper by the door at your hotel room anymore?) I hadn't noticed but then there really is no national paper anymore now that the execrable USA Today has gone insane and been tossed out of reputable establishments.

It will be interesting to find out what has been happening in the world but the only thing I've seen so far is the explosion in the number of stories about female family annihilators and I just don't want to go there. One of the saddest things is that there really does not appear to be any way of fixing broken people and the systems we have in place do not permit any intervention until after the damage has been done at which point punishment is the only option and yet if the perpetrator knew what they had done that alone would be enough to punish them forever.