Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

When I wrote my last post, which was documenting the beginning of our journey, Peeing Across America, I didn't have access to the notes that my daughter Autumn had been recording. Just to set the record straight, I wanted to go back over a few things that I had failed to mention previously. I suppose it goes without saying that prior to hopping into the rental car at the Boise airport, we all thoroughly drained our bladders. One would assume that we'd be good to go for at least an hour, however, that assumption would have been wrong. Our first pit stop on the trip was the Black Hills rest stop, twenty minutes outside of Boise. I had assumed that it was going to take us longer than the average family to cover the ground that we needed to cover, but this was ridiculous. At this rate, we wouldn't reach the Grand Canyon until Christmas.  I can't recall how far we went before nature called again, but it was before we made it to Mountain Home. We made a stop in Bliss Idaho to...

   Last week Jan and I and our three daughters who live in Alaska, Jen, Liz and Autumn, left for a journey to one of the great wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon. Before we left, I happened to mention to my good friend Renee Alexander that we would be lucky to make twenty five miles without having to take a bathroom break. She wrote me back a day or so later and said that she'd had an epiphany during the night; an idea for a book which might be a best seller. She suggested the title, "Peeing Across America: Memoirs of an Old Man and his Three Daughters With Weak Bladders." I loved the title, but figured it might be a little long for a book. I may have to tweak it, but I'm definitely going to use some variation of it in a future book. I mentioned Renee's suggestion to Autumn, who whole-heartedly endorsed it, and using her phone started to document our trip as we took a leak in a vast number of restrooms across this great land. We left on a Friday night to catch...

    Several weeks back, perhaps more like three weeks ago, Jan, Liz and Autumn went to one of the local farms to pick strawberries.  Actually, it wasn't all that local, the farm was located probably twenty or more miles away, outside of Palmer. It was one of those U-pick places, where you go in and pay to pick your own produce, I suppose with the understanding that either the food you harvest yourself will be healthier and hopefully it will cost less. In the case of the strawberries, I believe they paid the handsome price of about ten dollars a quart. Not exactly a bargain. Add to the cost the gas it took to get there and back, and the bending down to root through the berries that others have already picked over, traipsing through the mud and dealing with mosquitos and other hungry vermin, those are some pretty expensive strawberries. I guess its the adventure of the whole process that is supposed to be memorable. I can't really relate. As far as being healthy goes, that'...