Carol is trying to get herself a little fitter. I declined when she asked me if I wanted to go for a walk this morning. I am not nearly as desperate to be fit. On the walk she met some people from Vancouver, other tennis players. Carol arranged for me to play tomorrow morning. But I only have the red shoes that I wore last spring. I did not play enough to wear them out over the summer. I had planned to start with new shoes and work the old red ones in occasionally to ensure that they get sufficient miles before hitting the bin. They are a bit of an affront to the old tennis folk.

Today I had to run out and purchase new shoes, and get a racquet strung, and buy balls, and some socks that would go with black shoes, and put up with a lady trying to sell me a condominium nearby. She actually asked me to take the tour of the complex (gaining a coupon for a free night in the condominium complex) so that "she could make some money". Yikes. Hope I play well tomorrow.

What kind of person leaves a dozen Corona in the fridge when they leave a place in April, knowing that they will not return for 6 months? A very shrewd person. One who is accustomed to planning and thinking ahead. A resourceful person that you would like to have along to make the ride smoother. Someone that you could call your best mate. Me.

All is good. The weather has been perfect - 30 degrees through Missouri, 25 degree through Texas, and 20 degrees through New Mexico. I have taken a shining to Big Flats Lager - a six pack for $3.49 - it is the Walgreens brand. I thought that I should scan the internet to see how this beer is being reviewed by my fellow beer critics. I found this lonely review that kinda sums it up: "Even for cheap beer, you can do better. If Big Flats were available as the cheapest option in a bar (which it isn’t), I would buy it. But I would probably get in a fight that night too. This is not the brew to pull out to impress your guests, though it does get the job done in a pinch. For my real drinking on the cheap, I’ll stick with Simpler Times lager from Trader Joe’s. It costs the same, and packs a bigger punch, with a flavour that I’ve either already gotten used to, or is possibly even somewhat enjoyable."

All the way to Amarillo with our bikes still intact and without any sleet or snow. It has been a wonderful trip. Gasoline started at $3.09 per gallon and has fallen to $2.69 at our last purchase.

Here are some recent additions to my travel equipment. You would think that with this equipment I would be able to make a pretty good cup of coffee each morning. unfortunately that pretty little .5 litre kettle quit on the 3rd day. A quick shout at the manufacturer and they have agreed to ship another one to Palm Desert. That does not help here in Amarillo tomorrow at 6AM.

I see that Collingwood (unlike Toronto) has decided to go with the incumbent mayor. My first thought is that it is too bad, but my second thought is that the number 2 and 3 candidates for mayor were not that strong, and in spite of my dislike for her, she was about the only choice. I wonder where the OPP investigation goes now? Can the mayor really keep OPP costs in line while they continue to investigate her?

The new Deputy Mayor will be strong and all of the terrible incumbent councillors are gone. Good riddance to Ian Chadwick. Madigan is the only "what were the voters thinking?" councillor elected.

This group could be useful.

We are off and running - to California. Thursday night we stayed near the intersection of Finch Avenue and the 400 so that I would be able to get to my tests at Toronto East General early Friday morning. That evening Bronwen and Glenn came out to the hotel to meet us for dinner and a last chance visit. Handed off the 2nd car to Bronwen for her use over the winter.

Tests on Friday morning probably went OK. None of the technicians burst into tears while their equipment was peering through me. I made arrangements with Dr Singal to email me the results as soon as he sees them and if necessary we will turn and return for consultation - like that is going to happen! Normally he sees me right after tests, but Friday he was wisked away by an emergency surgery. I walked to Katies afterward to meet Carol, visit with Billie and have dinner with Katie and Jason. We had a very nice surprise - Dave (Carol's brother-in-law) dropped in for dinner. He was visiting his family in Tillsonburg and Port Dover and drove the 2 hours just for dinner. It was our first visit since Sue's funeral.

Our first real night on the road was spent in Woodstock. Sometimes this first stop is just a symbolic gesture on my part to get out of Dodge. The 2 hour drive does not get us closer to California but it gets us on the road. Saturday is a real drive ending in Fort Wayne Indiana. The important part of the first day of driving was finding new jeans and t-shirts and abandoning old ones along the way. Today I am looking to replace my socks somewhere beteen Fort Wayne and Springfield Missouri.

Well - ISIS is not happy with Canada. They think that a good way to express their displeasure with Canada is to kill Canadians. Hmm. Probably not a good train of thought for the leadership of ISIS. Canadians do not really respond well to intimidation. Dieppe (just a test), and Beaumont-Hamel (the real thing) did not intimidate Canadians or cause us to question our beliefs of the difference between right and wrong.

I am pretty much incapable of feeling music other than in my head. With some people, music occupies the entire body. They cannot help but sway and start to dance. I love music but I only listen to it. Wonderful things happen inside my head, but my feet remain locked, immobile, encased in cement. There is no body response.

I like all kinds of music. I force Carol to listen to folk, roots, blues, funk, classical, new wave, progressive rock, country, the Eagles, Ed Sheeran, Agnes Obel, Bob Dylan, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, and Typhoon; but not the Beatles, Jack Johnson or Elvis. I love prowling on YouTube. YouTube has an amazing library of performances that you will never see other than on that site. There is a lot if stuff recorded on cell phones that is difficult to watch because of the video and audio quality. I start playing these videos and if the quality sucks, I move on immediately. There are gems to be found, and you cannot waste your time on poor quality. The YouTube interface is not the best, so switch to Toobify immediately. You are in control and can jump quickly to the next song.

Back to the notion of the Perfect Song. My vote is for Midnight in Harlem by the Tedeschi Trucks Band. It has just the right amount of all of the important influences - blues, funk, jazz, gospel and it is played by exceptional musicians. The lineup is: Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks and some terrific backup singers (the Hammond and the vocals make my skin crawl). It is pretty obvious who Susan is in the photo, she is leaning on Derek Trucks. Derek is the son of one of the Allman brothers though it has never been stated which of the brothers. Derek was actually raised by a third brother who toured with the band as crew. He is married to Susan and they have two children who tour with them. If you stalk them a little further in YouTube you will find a few videos of them performing at the White House. Very nice.

Glenn is the drummer in a band - passionate and intense.