O! What a Surprise
Sat Jun 7, 2008 11:14 pm by McGehee [Asides] [Elections]	Most election years, people watch for an “October Surprise.” I suspect that if Barack Obama is elected, people should watch out for a December Surprise. After which, the election outcomes in 2010 and 2012 should be no surprise at all.

Winding Down
Sat Jun 7, 2008 7:38 pm by McGehee [Asides]	I’m very much ready now to be someplace where I know I won’t have to pack up everything and hit the road again anytime soon. Tomorrow we get to Chattanooga, where we’ll stay a couple of nights with Chris’ mom, and get re-acquainted with our dog and three cats. Then we load them and us and our stuff and go home. I think I’m probably caught up on traveling for at least a week or so.

Don’t Know Why There’s No Sun Up in the Sky

Wed Jun 4, 2008 8:30 pm by McGehee 1 comment [Nature]

Today while driving through Nebraska we saw some scattered storm damage. Our hotel in Lexington had been spared serious storminess last night as the line moving through the area parted almost exactly where we were. We saw lightning and had some rain, but I never heard thunder. Tonight as we sit in our hotel room in Marshalltown, resting up from the longest day of driving yet on this trip (if it isn’t, it feels like it), Chris has a Des Moines TV station on, with non-stop coverage of storm activity in the southwestern quarter of the Hawkeye State. Almost all during the drive the sky has been overcast, and the air beneath the clouds has been too hazy at times to see more than a mile or two—in a part of the country where the horizon should be dozens of miles distant. It made the worst city smog I’ve ever seen look downright sparkly. Twice on this trip we paid as little as $3.699 a gallon for regular—first at a tribe-owned truck stop south of Riverton, Wyoming, then at an Albertsons gas station in Laramie where we benefited from a no-card three-cent discount from the advertised price. Once we got to Nebraska, regular was firmly over $4 a gallon, but mid-grade was in the $3.70 neighborhood because of ethanol content. Corn-belt states like Nebraska and Iowa apparently exempt ethanolized gasoline from gas taxes. What’s more, west of Des Moines I could have filled the tank with E85 for less than $3 a gallon—if only a 1998 Taurus were flex-fuel capable. (If somebody tells me now that it is, I’m going to cry.) Tomorrow is a family day. Of my late dad’s three surviving siblings, two live here and my Uncle John will be 90 next month (which is a big part of why we included Marshalltown on this tour). We expect to be home Tuesday. I wonder what it’ll be like not to live out of a suitcase?

…apropos of nothing

Wed Jun 4, 2008 8:26 pm by McGehee [Asides]

Earlier today I had the thought that I hope I never have to fly anywhere again. I had this thought a week and a half into a driving vacation. Go figure. Anyway, I subsequently decided it isn’t really flying I hate. It’s airports. If I could do it without having to deal with the whole commercial-airline airport experience, I’d be okay with flying. I think this can be done. I just need about $85 million to start with. Donations of any size accepted.

StickWithStokely.com
Tue Jun 3, 2008 10:16 am by McGehee [Coweta County] [Elections]	Last month I sized up the candidates for Coweta County’s state-court solicitor position, and decided to support the incumbent, Robert Stokely. Stokely liked the title of that post and has adopted it as his re-election slogan. Best of luck, Robert.

Here’s Hoping

Mon Jun 2, 2008 2:36 am by McGehee [Our Times]

I know I wouldn’t mind seeing the price of a tank of gas go down over the next week or so. Finally, there is some good news about gas prices. Last week, the price of crude oil futures actually went down, and there were signs that the dollar was strengthening. Additionally, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced that it is six months into an investigation of possible price manipulation in the oil futures market. » ‘Encouraging’ signs in gas price outlook I never thought I’d look forward to the prospect of seeing a “2” at the front of a gas price, but…

FrontierWorld

Mon Jun 2, 2008 1:51 am by McGehee [Out West]

Today (which, here in Wyoming, is still Sunday) we drove instead of hiking: to South Pass City. Of course, we had to walk around a little once we got there, but it weren’t no mile-and-a-half, and it didn’t involve a climb of 800 feet in elevation. Considering it started at 7,825 feet above sea level, that’s just fine—it’s higher than we got on yesterday’s hike. Among the sights is a little museum on the site of the house where Esther Hobart Morris—who presided in South Pass City as the first woman justice of the peace in history, starting in 1869—lived. In that same year, Wyoming’s territorial legislature passed the first full women’s suffrage law anywhere in the world, hence the Cowboy State’s alternate nickname as “the Equality State.” From there we drove to nearby Atlantic City for a swim in the—oops, wrong Atlantic City. We ate lunch at the Atlantic City Mercantile, which was originally the Giessler Store and Post Office but which now operates as a restaurant and saloon. I had a burger, but after the way Chris raved about the homemade chili she ordered, I know what I’m having next time we get down there. A part of me wants to move to Atlantic City.

Camera Shy

Sun Jun 1, 2008 9:08 am by McGehee 2 comments [Out West]

We have been doing scenic things—and taking pictures—but now the battery in Chris’ camera is dead and she didn’t bring the cable she normally uses to recharge it. Yesterday we tried to hike to Popo Agie (po-PO-zha) Falls, on the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River, but the last quarter- half-mile of the 1.5-mile-long trail turned out to be a lot steeper and rougher than we were prepared for, so we turned back about where I took this pic (and this one) with my cell phone, which from Google Earth looks to be still a quarter-mile short of the end. We hadn’t planned on being on that trail for six hours; other people were passing us on the way up at nearly five o’clock. I think it’s us. Anyway, either we’ll try that trail again someday when we’re better prepared, or we’ll restrict our mountain climbing to those places we can drive right up to. The pictures Chris has taken so far will be uploaded eventually. I need to size the pics down to fit on people’s monitors.

…moo
Sat May 31, 2008 9:30 am by McGehee [Asides]

In One Important Way, It IS ‘the Economy, Stupid’

Fri May 30, 2008 8:38 am by McGehee 1 comment [Our Times] [Elections]

The economy will certainly have an impact on the 2008 election—in a way, it’s already begun. Millions of dollars behind in raising money and unlikely to meet a fast-approaching final deadline, the Denver committee hosting the Democratic National Convention is considering spending cuts. Committee sources say they are working with the Democratic National Convention Committee to consider lowering the $55 million in private cash and donated services that must be raised to bring the convention to town. The cuts would be made to the many parties the host committee is obligated to throw for the delegations and the news media, and other hospitality functions not tied to production aspects inside the convention hall. “There have been no specific decisions made,” host committee spokesman Chris Lopez said. “We’re always identifying costs and weighing them against our anticipated revenue.” Lopez said the committee is still working to satisfy its full obligation. » DNC host officials short on cash Even if economic issues never play a part in the upcoming fall campaign between Barack Obama and John McCain, their impact on campaign contributors will place one or the other at a distinct advantage. Just one more variable to watch.

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