In Madisonville, KY

News item: "Sears and K-Mart merge to form the 3rd largest retailer in the United States, after Wal-Mart and Target."

Driving from Portland, Oregon to Kansas City, Missouri I counted about 130 Wal-Mart trucks passing on the westbound side of the highway. They easily outnumbered all the other branded trucks (FedEx, Rite-Aid, UPS, USPS, Yellow, Covenant, USA Truck, etc.) combined. I did not see a single truck that was recognizably a Sears, Target or K-Mart unit, so I guess they ship their goods in either unmarked (unlikely?) or unbranded owner-operated trucks.

The Wal-Mart rigs were so think that it was common to see two or three in convoy. This was especially true west of Kansas City...far less so east of there.

JB

20140302

Nov 12 - at Portland

Today I crossed the US-Canadian border at the Pacific Crossing - the truck route a few miles east of the Peace Arch crossing. The US Border Patrol officer who inspected me was a tough-looking Black man -- looked like my DI. He looked over my passport (and knew from his database that I'd crossed northbound 2 months ago), walked back to look over the Harley a minute, then asked me, "Are you glad to be home? ... and too bad about the Yankees."

Portland is where I-5 meets I-84, on the Columbia River. The Hampton Inn here is inexpensive, small, and tonight is practically empty. I got underway at 5:00 AM PST today, so I pulled off the road at 5:00 PM - t o check email and go top bed early.

The drive east from here should be particularly beautiful, and I didn't want to drive it in the dark. So as long as I am driving INTO the sun tomorrow, I'll be headed in the right direction, toward the farther ocean.

Talk radio is more active out here...in the course of about 5 hours, I listened to Rush Limbaugh (mostly about Arafat's Swiss bank accounts, the usual Red-Blue stuff), Savage Nation (interviewing R. Bork), Tony Snow (interviewing A. Specter), Sean Hannity (feuding with Moyers & interviewing G. Will, J. McCain). Whew! Lots of stuff about today's Peterson verdict, judicial nominations, Dems fretting and Blues seceding from the Union (which we could handle just like the last secession attempt).

JB

20140302

Worthy Reading Recently

Bernstein; The Birth of Plenty – How the Prosperity of the Modern World Was Created.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=mHu1TRylOS&isbn=0071421920&itm=1
About 1820, after a few thousand years of relative economic stagnation, something happened to change everything. In the author’s words: “…my task…is to uncover the cultural and historic factors that came together during the early nineteenth century and ignited the great economic takeoff of the modern world…” Bernstein tells the story well.

Huntley; Eight Days in Provence.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=mHu1TRylOS&isbn=097118691X&itm=1
“And in the darkness there was the uncomplicated comfort found only in the arms of a stranger…” A love story.
Gordon; An Empire of Wealth – The Epic History of American Economic Power.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=mHu1TRylOS&isbn=0060093625&itm=1
“…For while the United States has only 6 percent of the land and people, it has close to 30 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, more than three times that of any other country…” Gordon tells why. Lots of surprises and interesting characters in this story. For the best sweep, read Gordon’s Empire then Bernstein’s “Birth.”
Applebaum; Gulag: A History.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=mHu1TRylOS&isbn=1400034094&itm=1
The author noticed that Western tourists in Prague bought lots of Soviet military paraphernalia, but would not have worn Nazi badges and pins. She adds: “…the lesson could not have been clearer: while the symbol of one mass murder fills us with horror, the symbol of another mass murder makes us laugh.” Applebaum explains why. Read only when in a good mood.
Tufte; Envisioning Information.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=mHu1TRylOS&isbn=0961392118&itm=1
A revolutionary bible of how to better present and evaluate data of all kinds. Elegantly produced volume.

Mealtime at Harmony

Norm & Lou call their Canadian home "Harmony." They are very careful about what they eat at Harmony and elsewhere, preferring a low-fat style for which they grow their own salad materials, season their organic natural earth-tone foods with unknown liquids and granulated solids, etc. It is a matter of faith as well as nutrition. None of the names sound familiar to a man who was raised in the industrialized post-war West.

To an American carnivore -- one who likes to eat chili at Hard Times Cafe with Mike in Old Town, enjoy an occasional burger at Steak n Shake or Five Guys -- table time discussion at Norn & Lou's place sounds like this:

Lou: Norm, how do you like the way I boiled the galumph?

Norm: Just fine but the rath juice tastes a little like the snozzlewart we had last week.

Lou: Oh! Well, next time I will add some vorpalad to the jaxo.

Norm: Okay, but be sure not to oversteam the dudlesak.

Lou: Right. Tomorrow I’ll go to the store and get some snarts, too.

Norm: Yea, if they are in season. If not, maybe some varse roots.

Lou: John, if you want something to add some flavor to the snoddle, there is some vatsnaper in the bottle by the sillabub.

I am on the way out to The FBI for a burger.

JB

March 2, 2014: That was November 2004, over 9 years ago. Today Norm and Lou live in a third-floor condo in Qualicum Beach, about 14 miles south of Bowser, which was their home. As I write this, Norm’s activities are limited by heart disease and joint pain. He sleeps most of the time, according to Lou. I visited there July 10-18, 2013 to see their new place (and most of the U.S. between NY and BC).

The FBI

I am writing from Vancouver Island's east coast, about 100 miles north of Victoria.

There are more motorcyclists here, proportionally, than anywhere else that I have even been.

Law enforcement people here are worried about the large Hells Angels "chapter" that operates in these parts. It is based at a bar 10 miles north of here...called the Fanny Bay Inn (known by locals as "The FBI").

It is a rough place, small and smoky, where the waitresses wear leather...black leather shirts and nothing under their black leather vests.

I am on the way there now...More later. JB