Volumizing

I'm no longer comfortable feeding in public.

   Between the boisterosity of fellow troughers, 

shrieking infants, 

       eight-year-olds closing deals on their cellphones while awaiting their appetizers, and, most recently, 

over-priced pretension ala Nello's Place, Redding, CA. Recommended by a motel clerk, it left a definitively negative stamp. I'm now committed to takeout.


I'm at a loss to convey the beauty of the redwoods. The weather was perfect.

If you're in Weaverville, CA you might stop at Bryce's Curiosity Shop. On the roof is printed COOL CHEAP STUFF -- you can't miss it. Nearly everything is 3 for $5.00 or some such. The opposite of Nello's, he has a Master's in psychology with an M.S. in Cognitive Science and hopes to get a PhD out of the jewelry with a dissertation on feminist influences of the yoni in jewelry design.

Bryce has been into jewelry since age 9. He recently expanded into art and had several East Indian story bracelets (like this one) worth asking to see. There was also a painted abalone shell depicting semi-clad couples cavorting on the green...a steal at $400.00.

But it was his displays that caught our attention. Please admire the pipe from a gas stove.

His surprise at how well mouse traps sell rings seemed as great as ours.

In Alamo, Nevada they forgot to move our reservation over one day and we got bumped. It was a blessing in disguise as the entire town had been taken over by a family reunion. It appeared to be the progeny of five couples who'd had ten children each and they, in turn, had done likewise; the grandchildren were now teenagers awaiting the dark. 

We lucked into an eighty-year-old, long-line motel (a single strip of rooms paralleling the highway) that had been lovingly cared for. 

At 10:00 pm the maintenance guy was still on duty. He demonstrated how the doorknob doesn't turn...the door yields to a well-applied shoulder. 

Our room, spacious with a huge armoire-kum-TV-stand and spotlessly clean, was elegantly appointed in pink tones with Elizabethian notes worthy of a brothel. We'd been assured -- as if they were waiting in the bushes -- we'd find no dancing girls at our door. (He made a point of looking at Michelle while delivering this as he KNEW I'd be disappointed.)

Of the twenty or so rooms, only two others were tenanted. Spread out as we were, it was, we surmised, MUCH quieter than Alamo.

In the morning after a short run to St George we holed up in the 100 degree heat until sunset. I then picked up three new 5-gallon water jugs for $6.88 each, cheapest in the nation. (Mormons aren't as greedy when it comes to preparedness essentials, you see.)

Joy of Marketing!! (From the motel)

Volumizing: A term popularized by penis-enlargement ads.

Tomorrow it's on to Zion Nat'l Park and Kanab.