Baruch's Blog

Traveling with my dog and cat friends again! They are so great. We are at a campground in Wisconsin about 100 miles east of the Mississippi River. There is no one else camping, so Chloe and Lasky are free to do as they please. They roam a little, snooze a lot. Last night Lasky did her job, sleeping by me, keeping watch. She never needed to be told to do that, she just does it. When we are in a building she sleeps by the door. Chloe was in the car with her food and her litter box but she chose to come out and sleep in my sleeping bag...nice bit of extra heat too! I slept well, had breakfast, taking our time, we are heading out, planning on Badlands National Park tonight.

Yesterday we started in central Pennsylvania. I figure I drove 800 or so miles in about 15 hours. I was pretty tired, had only slept a few hours the night before, but it was a nice drive, beautiful weather, relatively peaceful. Some folks really do like to tailgate, but no other really whacky driving.

Today we cross the Mississippi River which always marks, for me, being "in the west." It's also so beautiful and clean up north, and I am aware of what happens to this living river as it travels through the southern part of North America, where it is used for shipping but also as a toilet for industrial and other human waste disposal. By the time it reaches the Gulf of Mexico at New Orleans it's so polluted you could probably die from drinking a cupful. Sad. And yet it is still a living river at it's mouth to the sea.

OK, onward!

P.S. New episodes of my "Stories from the Road" are available on the WBKM archive page.