Week 18 Ends

End of Week 18. ( 12:30 PM, EST - 08/12/07)

I took a pleasant drive through NC on the blue highways. Wikipedia has the following definition for "Blue Highways" with my own notations in red:

Blue Highways is an autobiographical book by William Least Heat-Moon, born William Trogdon.
In 1978, after a divorce and losing his job (no divorce, I quit my job), Heat-Moon, 38 at the time (38 when I started, 39 now), decides to take an extended road trip around the United States, sticking to only the "Blue Highways," (unless driving through Iowa, then you need to get out as fast as possible) a term he coins to refer to small, forgotten, out of the way roads connecting rural America (which were drawn in blue on the old style Rand McNally road atlas) (I have the 2007 Rand McNally road atlas and it is reversed now...interstates are blue and the smaller highways are red). He outfits a white van (a red Prius) with a bunk (a tent), a camping stove (a bag of what bCollins calls salty snacks), a portable toilet (an as yet unuesd roll of Scott's TP) and a copy of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (The Stearn's "Road Food) and John Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks (National Geographic's "Scenic Highways and Byways). Referring to the Native American resurrection ritual (the cars model), he christens the van (car) "Ghost Dancing," ("Pre,") and embarks on a 3 (5)-month soul-searching tour of the United States, wandering from small town to small town, often just because they have interesting names (like Murfreesboro, Intercourse, Climax - oh, I could go on!). The book chronicles the 13,000 (so far 21,000) mile journey and the people he meets along the way, as he steers clear of cities and interstates, avoiding fast food and exploring local American culture. (yep, that's right.)