Home again

Miss D. and I got back late this afternoon from our eight-day road trip. We covered almost 2,000 miles, traveling from central Louisiana to Oklahoma City; from OKC to southern Colorado; from there to northern Texas; and, today, from there back to Louisiana.

It was great to meet new faces and old friends alike. We had a good visit with Urso and OkieRhio in Oklahoma, meeting these IRC acquaintances from the Gunblogger Conspiracy for the first time. We'd had contact with Farmgirl and her parents, both online and by telephone, but this was our first opportunity to meet them in person. They're lovely people, and we look forward to seeing them at the next Blogorado get-together in August. Lawdog and Phlegmmy are old friends of mine, but Miss D. hadn't met them yet. I think everyone enjoyed our time together. Miss D. got roped into helping Lawdog strip ceilings out of an old house, and described with some consternation the 'thermonuclear dust cloud' released when the Dawg ripped loose a particularly odious patch. This evening, when she washed the clothes she'd worn for the occasion, I daresay the resulting sludge coming out of the washing machine might have made good material for filling window-boxes . . . the dirt content was fairly spectacular!

The contrast in climate between our home turf and our various and sundry destinations was very noticeable. Living in a relatively warm, humid climate as we do, the higher altitudes and much dryer air of Oklahoma and southern Colorado sucked the moisture right out of our skin, necessitating the use of moisturizers if we didn't want to break out in flakes of dried skin all over our faces. Coming back to Louisiana this evening, both of us feel the humidity as almost oppressive, even though it's still winter and the overwhelming heat and humidity of summer are still a couple of months away. Our bodies had already begun to acclimatize to dryer conditions, and will now have to readjust to what's normal for us - but not for long. We have a week or so to relax, then it's on the road again for another week to ten days (heading North and East this time). We're hoping for no late winter blizzards or snowstorms!

As an aside, it's noteworthy how shooting sports enthusiasts tend to be generous people. I set out with 315 rounds of ammunition, in four calibers and gauges, to give to friends whose stocks were running low. I ended up receiving well over 600 rounds freely offered in exchange, disbursing a further 250 or so (over and above the original 315), and arrived home today with 450 rounds - 300 of which are in a caliber (9mm. Makarov) for which I don't own a gun! I'll have to find them a good home with someone who can use them - or buy a gun in that caliber, so I can use them myself. (What was that quip of Oscar Wilde's? "The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it." Hmm . . . )



Peter