I got my first taste of Iowan weather this week. This weekend and Monday I was working outside in a t-shirt under clear skies. Tuesday night it rained like two inches in several hours and drove hundreds of big earthworms onto my driveway.

Wednesday I was back to a t-shirt. Wednesday night it started raining as the temperature dropped well below zero. I did not realize how foul the weather had turned until I ordered a pizza for carry out and then went out to my car to pick it up. I almost slid from my front door to the car in one single glide, and then spent the next 30 minutes skating back and forth from my car to the bathroom, filling up a pitcher of hot water just so I could open the car door. My car was encased in a sheet of ice over a quarter inch thick in places. I still have not been able to open the passenger door.

I watched my niece’s 7th grade basketball team play in Hamilton Illinois the other night. After being down by around 10 points for 3 quarters, her team came back in the 4th quarter and traded baskets with the other team in the final 2 minutes. They ended up winning with a basket in the final seconds (to put them up 1 point). It was the most exciting basketball game I’ve watched in years.

I hardly know my niece, but just seeing her and her teammates deal with (and conquer) the pressure of a championship game with their families and friends all basically courtside . . . well it just created this level of energy that I’ve never felt in the stands at Key Arena for sure. I even found myself yelling at the ref for a bad call at one point. This drew a scolding look from the prinicipal hosting the game, but I continued booing at the ref until I was satisfied the next call was going to be against the other team.

Having taken their Region, this Wednesday they play for their Section.

Farifield in the news again.  In the Washington Post Travel section no less.  I have yet to drive be the meditation domes pictured in the article.

Since arriving in Fairfield I’ve been without easy access to the Internet.  Thanks to the Thanksgiving weekend, I couldn’t get the cable guy to come out and hook me up until this coming Wednesday.  It’s funny; I had easier (and free) access to the Internet during my entire drive across the country.  In Iowa all the Interstate rest stops have wireless. However now that I am in my home I have not Internet.

Once the decision was made to move to Iowa, I spent many hours trying to figure out the best way to move me, my wife, my 3 yr old daughter, 3 cats, 2 cars and a house full of stuff. There are a number of ways I could have organized the move, but in the end my decision was much like voting in a Presidential election - the choice is not which is the better solution, but which is the less painful one.

1. Sunday (12th): Dawn and Penelope fly out to Iowa to stay with her mom.
2. Monday and Tuesday: Allied Moving packs up the house.
3. Tuesday evening: Allied Moving loads the truck and spends the night parked in front of the house. I drive the GTI over to Seattle to have it loaded on a car carrier. I then come back home and load up the TDI station wagon with 3 cats and everything I will need to surf the Internet and take care of said 3 cats over the next 2000 miles.
4. Wednesday 1am: I take the last ferry off the Island.
5. Wednesday 8am: moving truck leaves.

My biggest fear with this plan was having to take care of 3 cats out of a car for several days. This in fact was the easy part - the difficulty was driving 2000 miles all by myself.

Despite packing the car so that space was allocated for the litter box, including a 6″ splash zone on all sides, none of the cats ever used the litter box in the car! Only when I brought it into the hotel at night did they line up and relieve themselves. Anyone who has lived in a house with a litter box can appreciate my luck in this area. Most of my fear of travelling with 3 cats revolved around driving down the highway while they tossed sand up over the back of my seat while smelling up the car.

For most of the journey the cats slept in their car carriers. As each day passed they got a littler more adventurous, but this simply met coming out of the cat carrier and finding some other enclosed spot to sleep in.

Finding hotels that take cats wasn’t a problem, but finding hotels that don’t lump smoking and pet rooms into the same category took a little more searching in some towns.

Iowa greeted me with my biggest pet peeve on the highway - drivers not using the passing lane to PASS.  I do not recall a single instance in the past three days of driving through Washington, Idaho, Montana and South Dakota, where a driver was hanging out in the left lane blocking traffic.  Then, I cross into Iowa at Sioux City, and in an instant, I find myself in the left lane following a car doing 76 mph, with a semi-truck on his right doing 75 mph. This is not passing.  This is being either a complete moron or a jackass intent on controlling the speed of other drivers.

I swear everyone in this state uses their cruise control, set right at whatever speed they think is the fastest anyone should be going, and they keep the cruise control on to pass, no matter how many cars are stacked behind them.  This was what the traffic was like all the way along I-80 too (3 hours of driving). In the defense of all these morons and jackasses, I did not see any signs in Iowa reading “slower traffic keep right”, as I did often in the previous states.

Still, courtesy applies here I would think.

Having used nearly 1000 miles of driving time to recall various items of WW2 history and spaceship designs that I have collected over the years; I decided to take a break from all that thinking and worship Satan. His fortress was conveniently located a short distance from my main route of travel along I-90 and well advertised. The ominous tower is a nice contrast to the surrounding beauty of the high plains and not the neighborhood I would expect to find Satan.

I learn at least one thing everyday, and today I learned that Prairie Dogs are Satan’s minions. I discerned this from the fact that his tower is surrounded - guarded if you will - by tens of thousands of Prairie Dogs. The dogs were tightly concentrated in a ring of tiny foxholes and underground bunkers; blocking all approaches to the tower. I stopped the car and walked into the defenses cautiously and was greeted with loud eruption of warning squeals from the nearby Prairie Dogs. Only when I knelt down and threw up the horns in worship did the guardians cease their alarm and accept me as one of their own.

Some people think Devil’s Tower is a landing pad for aliens, but that doesn’t explain all the Prairie Dogs - does it now?

Unless of course you find yourself in Sheridan Wyoming. I found myself there last night for no other reason than it happened to be the next town I came across right after deciding I was too tired to drive much further. I checked into the “Budget Host” motel, who’s hotel clerk is from Tacoma and felt comfortable enough to tell me that what he misses most about the Puget Sound area is “Gay Pride”. He then suggested I try Kim’s Diner across the street and and order the Korean BBQ.

Kim’s Diner is a bit of a dump and despite having a non-smoking and smoking section; I really could not tell the difference. Kim’s is run by what appears to be a Korean family, but the menu is 90% regular diner fare; with a tiny portion of the menu devoted to Korean dishes. I placed my order to go, and then waited patiently outside (cough cough).

Back at my hotel room I knew I was in for a treat the minute I opened the styrofoam containers: the chicken was pounded flat and grilled with a rust red dry rub. The side dishes were vegetable tempura with a french fry ‘batter’ and a dirty fried rice with little bits of herbs and vegetables. It was the most delicious Asian style BBQ I have ever had. I kid you not, it was amazing. Sadly I will never have it again.

Before I left my home on Bainbridge Island I checked the mail box one last time and found a single letter:

Dear Mr. Merydith,

On behalf of President Bush, thank you for your correspondence about the current situation in the Middle East.

President Bush’s vision for the Middle East is guided by the clear principle that all people in the region deserve to live safe from terrorism and under a democratic and honest government. He also believes that people who live in freedom are more likely to reject terrorism. The President has pledged that America will be an active partner of every party that seeks true peace.

For more information on this developing situation, please visit the White House website at whitehouse.gov/infocus/mideast. Thank you again for witting, and best wishes.

Sincerely,

Darren K. Hipp

Special Assistant to the President and Director of Presidential Correspondence.

I’m shocked that the White House is still trying to polish the turd that is the “vision for the Middle East”. Ugh, I cannot wait for this Presidency to end.

After making the Puget Sound my home for fifteen years, tomorrow I am leaving it for the small town of Fairfield, Iowa. While the plans to move have been made in a short amount of time, the decisions feels right and I am excited for the change. Fairfield (in theory) is the puzzle piece I’ve been seeking out for several years now. It contains the parts to complete my career, family and personal space goals:

1. Be my own boss – be productive.
2. Spend more time with my family – life is short.
3. Build a comfortable home – less is more.

I’ll explain the plan in further detail over the next several weeks . . .

I just caught the last ferry off the island tonight – the 12:55am. Dawn and Penelope flew out to Iowa Sunday. I’ve got nearly 2,000 miles to drive by myself with three cats and two full CD cases to keep me company. I get pretty tired after about eight hours of driving so I am guessing I won’t be in Fairfield till Saturday.