Hello, my people! Wow a bit of a gnarly ride today on the fourth and longest ride across this country of ours. First off, let’s talk about jumpsuits, shall we? (Let’s not so much talk about how small my fingers/hands are. A fact of which I’m reminded every time I look at this and yesterday’s photo.)

Today’s blue denim number worked the best so far. And I’ll tell you why: snaps! Yes, for a day like today where multiple rest stops were stopped at during our eight-plus hour drive, buttons would have been a nightmare. And the zippered number isn’t coming out for another day or so (maybe tomorrow). Rest stops. Let’s talk about those now. It’s a wonderland out there. Baseball caps declaring things were really front and center at all of them.

New York, Texas, camouflage land, but no Oklahoma, the actual state we were in. Everyone wanting to be somewhere else maybe? At the next stop, just outside Okemah, Oklahoma, another selection. Still no Oklahoma represented. There was a Trump 2020 on offer and it took all I had to not pick up the John Deere lighter and set it on fire. But I didn’t. Obviously. This rest stop did have something unexpected and wonderful though. In place of where the Hardee’s or Sonic Burger was a mom&pop place called Tandoori with a great spread of Indian food and a whole swathe of humanity eating there. That was cool. And if you want to order a hat that does good: here.

Then we entered the land of weather. Gnarly bit of business. lightning lit up the sky and thunder shook the truck. Dennis explained to me that our metal machine would not get hit because we were rolling on rubber wheels (conductivity and all that). It snaps you to attention though and reminds me how these very precise strikes are a little how I’ve been experiencing memories throughout this trip. We pass a billboard for a Mexican place called El Sombrero, I think of the restaurant of the same name on the Lower East Side when I first moved to NYC. I see some cows. I think of Pearl Jam in England on a farm the first time I interviewed them. there were cows. And sheep. this is how my mind is working. Peeling back the layers.

We also had some wicked, hard rain. And that reminded me of trust. Dennis doing what was necessary to keep us moving forward. I appreciate that a lot. The sense that I couldn’t do anything in particular in the moment but just be there.

I’m happy to be in this LaQuinta and now we’re venturing out to blow around in the wind (because that’s happening now) and find some food at the Italian place across the street. Who knows, maybe Elk City, OK, will have some mighty fine Italian cuisine!? And also it might snow. So there’s that.