I arrived home at 11:45 last night. The trip took ten hours, rather than the seven I’d hoped. Traffic south of DC was, as expected, stop and go all the way to Stafford county. I spent the majority of the trip loudly singing along with my Barenaked Ladies MP3s.

I took a pit stop at Fredericksburg, where Chris joined me for dinner (or more correctly, talked as I ate dinner). It was good putting a face with a name, though I was sorry the driving forbid me from enjoying a tasty malt beverage during my visit.

I’m thinking I’ll skip the driving to Annapolis for this upcoming week. Or dust off my flight training books and get serious about becoming a pilot. The driving wasn’t so hard on the driver as it was for the driver’s car.

I was also invited to visit the Naylors at the lakehouse, but it was 11 by the time I drove by. The whole family will head over there tomorrow and enjoy the day. We don’t plan to put the boat in the water, though, as the next few weeks will be very busy for us and the interwoven weekends are too valuable to spend them packing, unpacking, rigging and unrigging.

I’m headed back to NC sometime this morning. It’s been interesting being here. Almost like going to another country.

I wish I’d had some more time here to look around, because the countryside is beautiful. There are lots of cornfields on either side of the highway, and the corn is tall. Coming back from the customer site yesterday Chet and I passed by our first (and only) horse and buggy. Later, we walked into Applebee’s behind a gaggle of Mennonite girls, all dressed in pastel-colored full-length dresses. I don’t see that everyday.

I hope to swing by the Harley Davidson plant on the way home and perhaps get a tour. Then its a seven hour drive back to NC (if traffic behaves). I do the whole thing over again Monday for another three days in Annapolis. It will be good to be home today, even if its a short while.

I’m in Annapolis tonight and tomorrow, by the way, on the front end of a week on the road. Wednesday through Friday I’ll be in Brownstown, Pennsylvania outside of Lancaster in the heart (or so I assume) of Pennsylvania Dutch country. If the install there goes well, I could be headed home on Thursday, but I’ve got Friday scheduled just in case.

Next week I return to Annapolis to attend a training session and then to do another installation. Two travel weeks back-to-back is unusual, but I’ll make the best of it. Working directly with customers is one of my favorite parts of my job.

We got back Saturday afternoon from our visit with Kelly’s parents. Once again, driving down U.S. 15 seemed much easier than the interstates. Kelly followed me on the way down, with Travis joining me for an hour or so after lunch.

It was good having company as I drove, but I felt bad that I couldn’t understand what Travis was telling me. He’s tough sometimes to hear even in the best of circumstances. Add in road noise and all I could do was smile and nod my head.

Kelly’s parents were as always great to us. Even though I had to work while I was there, it felt like a little vacation.

I showed up at the train station at 5:30 this morning only to be told the train would be over three hours late! There I was: wide awake at 5:30, with a full tank of gas and an empty road ahead of me. I hopped in my car and drove up instead. By the time my train left Raleigh at 9:02 AM I was already north of Richmond.

I don’ t understand how a train could already be three hours behind at 5:30 AM on a holiday, when the freight trains aren’t running. Sometimes I think the government mismanages Amtrak just so they can use them as a bad example.

I’m headed north tomorrow courtesy of Amtrak, to rejoin my family at Kelly’s parents’ house. The last time I rode the train was December 2001, if I recall correctly. The ride should make for good blogging material.

Y’all have a happy Fourth of July!

Who would’ve guessed it? Those mice under the house are still dead.

The Beeb is reporting that the Chinese government suppressed a World Bank report’s findings that smog causes hundreds of thousands of premature deaths:

The move followed pressure from Beijing, which believes the material is too sensitive and could lead to social unrest, said the UK’s Financial Times.

The Financial Times said the Bank report, entitled ‘Cost of Pollution in China’, found up to 760,000 people die prematurely each year in China because of air and water pollution.

High levels of air pollution in China’s cities leads to 350,000-400,000 premature deaths, it said. Another 300,000 die because of poor-quality air indoors

Chinese officials feared this news would cause social unrest, and rightly so. Why, the Chinese people would take to the streets if it wasn’t so dangerous to breathe outside.