(written en route to)
Green River, UT

Finally, friends, the glorious interstate highway signs read,

"EAST"

We are on the way to Utah, heading southeast out of Idaho. We were in Twin Falls ID last night; home of a beautiful, vast canyon, where the Snake River runs through. It's impossible to think of the strength and power and volume of water must have once run through there, to create such a canyon. I didn't get to see Soshone Falls, which was about 5 miles away; but some of the guys went to see it last night, and said it was phenomenal.

The mountains here are beautiful, wetting the appetite for the Rockies. It'll be fun to see Paul desperately trying to take photos at every turn, thinking he's going to "miss it"... when, inevitably, every turn you make in the Rockies reveals another stunning vista, more majestic and awe-inspiring than the last.

Hopefully, too, if everyone agrees, we may be taking a small detour into Arches National Park, near Moab, UT. I'm dying for just an hour or two of hiking...

Lunch at Sizzler yesterday left something to be desired... but we did learn a valuable lesson: DON'T EAT AT SIZZLER. Even if your only other options are Wendy's and Taco Bell... it's just not something ya do. That place ain't right. Rivaled in awfulness only by this joint Warren and I wandered into in Denver, once, thinking we might find old-fashioned home-cooking... and instead they literally served canned "green" beans (brown, really, thank you very much) along side luke-warm instant mashed potatoes and something I don't want think about that I believe they touted as "meatloaf".

Now, I must draw your attention inward, dear reader... to the inside of this passenger van we've been driving around in for three months. Slowly, and selectively, we have amassed a collection of ...what-nots. Knick-knacks. Brick-a-brack. Flotsam, if you will. It's quite an impressive little collection that we shall be donating to the Smithsonian once the tour is over. So far, we have:

> Three miniature Curious George figurines (one is playing hula hoop; one is swinging from a tree-branch; and a third is dressed in a space-man outfit).

> A little asian baby (or Native American? tough to tell) in a plastic pink hooded onesie. With the help of a little knob on top of her hood, you can turn her face around from "sad" to "happy" to "angry"... it's brilliant.

> A green monkey --not George, but some cheap knock-off-- hanging upside down from the rear-view mirror.

> Martis Gras beads, naturally, also on the rear-view mirror.

> A miniature orange road-work cone; a warning, written on the side, reads: "CAUTION: CHAOS ZONE". I should take it for when I have kids...

> A miniature dream-catcher with what looks to be Bill Clinton in the center. Actually, it looks like... Tim says it's a cheap knock-off of a Jedi Knight (his light saber has been busted off, thus my confusion). Greg says that if Bill Clinton and Luke Skywalker had love child, that's what it would look like. But I digress...

> A Shakespeare finger-puppet, who's expression looks as if to say, "I'm not impressed, at all, with what you do..." --he's actually from my aunt, and he's going home with me at the end of the tour. And everything he says is in iambic pentameter.

> A grey, stuffed Armadillo (named Salvadore) that Laura got in Texas as a gift for someone, but decided to keep for herself.

Keep in mind, this is just what's on the dashboard. There are also stickers we've collected from elementary schools (of the "hello, my name is" variety), head-shops, and various roadside attractions. (Laura's favorite is "My other car is a piece of shit, too"). Laura also purchased mini-pillows for the bench-seats; they're not very servicable, but they do have embroidered sayings on them, like "Princess" and "High Maintenance". Also scattered about: a virtual sea of empty water bottles, gooey Drumstick wrappers, and a box of bandaids that exploded back in, oh, Waterville, Maine.

Basically, this van is a-rockin'. From the outside, it looks like an old, grey nothing, a Dodge prison van with enough miles on it to make a Volvo go "Damn!"... but inside... it's our little slice of heaven, our home away from home.

Aw, who am I kidding...?
NO SLEEP TILL BROOKLYN!!