WE'RE BACK AND DAMN GLAD ABOUT IT

Sleep said I. Sleep said Wild Thing. Sleep said the cats. We slept. And went potty and slept some more. And then we napped.

It's good to be home.

I had a recurring nightmare, but. (Hi, Aussie Journalist.) In my horrifying dream the cost of filling the gas tank went up and up and up. But we got the old fashioned service: you know, a guy pumped the gas, cleaned the windshield, checked the oil. Only he always gave us a bill for these formerly free services. And kept constantly mumbling something that sounded like "Mission Accomplished, Mission Accomplished", "No nucular weapons." And he looked very familiar.

Long trip, but fun with the grandkids. The best part may have been returning them to their parents. Revenge can be very enjoyable.

We found an absolutely wonderful motel keeper lady. Racksha Patel by name. She runs a Days Inn place in Houston. We had very large accommodations (even a sitting room) for a fair price. But the gem was Raksha. She went out of her way to make sure our slightest needs were taken care of in a "right now" mode. (Clicking on the header takes you to their web site.)

If you ever need to stay over in Houston, we recommend this motel. It's been a long time since a hotelier displayed such pleasure and willingness to please us in motel setting.

On the uglier side of our trip, we suffered from the stifling humidity of Houston. Combined with the overpowering stench of the vehicles emissions, it was not the free and easy breathing we enjoy here in Albuquerque.

We even managed to go into Louisiana for an overnight gambling lark (with Wild Thing's best friend, who lives in Houston).

I had some fun there, in a second rate gambling establishment, although Wild Thing didn't enjoy it too much. (Translation: I won, she lost.)

Dang it. We've had a few short lived electrical storms in the past few days and XP has not been fried. Wow. I'm impressed. I can remember when one hit caused me to have to reload Win98.