Reno, NV, in a motel which seems to be in perpetual brownout, so that my modem cannot talk to the ISP. My modem says "pleeeeeeeeazzzze leeeeeeet meeeeee connnnnnnnect" by which time the ISP has said "whatever that is, I don't want to shake hands with it!" Oh, well, I'll be able to upload on Sunday night.

We started at just before 10 this morning. Our first stop was, once more, to the Roseville Travel Bug Hotel. We were nearly eaten by mosquitoes there while I logged in two bugs, took 3, and noted down 4 others.

Onward to the next one. We got sidetracked just at our offramp and came to again right past it, so we had a bit of a detour on the next exit. This is another travel bug place. While we were there, we saw a deer. I logged IN the three I had just picked up (two on a race to Norway, one in the Cannonball Run race, which started two weeks ago in Sacramento) and the one we got recently that wants people to send postcards along the route. It's been out awhile, but I sent the first postcard. I took another Norwegian one and two Cannonball Run racers, and also a special one about Unsung Heros. I'll pick GoE's father for that. We also noted the other two, also Cannonball racers.

Then, as I said in my cache log, the fun began.

Mr. Codger had dropped his glasses so Mrs. C., sitting on the ground, took them so he wouldn't step on them. When she'd finished logging, she handed him her glasses. He put them on. Then she handed him his glasses. Then she started to look for her glasses. ''I have them,'' he said, ''here'' and handed over his glasses. ''THESE aren't mine, these are YOURS!'' and then ''You're WEARing mine!'' [clown-face icon] We take absent-mindedness to new heights!

To Play-it-Again Sports where Rich sold 100 more softballs. If it weren't for the 14 he picked up this morning, he'd have almost none. Then we were caching and idly looking for lunch. There's a cache called "Where's the Salt Shaker?" and when we saw the Peppermill Casino, we knew where it had to be. It's one in a lamppost base, but what really cracked me up is the salt shakers people have been leaving with it! Then on into the Peppermill for a great lunch (Southern Fried Chicken salad.) I can also recommend their bathrooms! I played a few nickels and when I won a $10 prize I cashed out, $3 ahead.

Next we drove around a little looking for one called "foul ball." Nice hide, a test tube fastened to a post, the only thing you remove is the cork and the log. This is where, tomorrow, there's an event I may go to while Rich is bowling. If I knew the size of the bag-o-trash they require, we could have done that part today.

I had typed in the wrong coordinates for the next part, but they led us to Virginia Lake Park. We saw a couple of Canada goslings (Canuck snack food?) being chivvied around the lake by their parents. On an island, the black cormorants and white gulls make it look like a Go game.

Next was one with a golf theme, near a golf course. The hider left very nice instructions on where to park and how to approach, which helped a lot.

Then we went to check in. In the casinos, local phone calls are not free. I thought we were set, but that was before I tried to log in. Argh.

We didn't know that when we went off to see GoE's father. We had a nice chat with him. He's fine, though he's had some troubles with the house, and also tore his rotator cuff so he and I could discuss Shoulders with the best of them.

From there, we went to the Reno Travel Bug Hotel, where I left the three racers I'd picked up, and looked at one bug which is heading to Virginia, and took Mothra, whose goal I don't know. Maybe I can log these guys tomorrow at Dad's house, because there are so many and they do need to be logged before someone else picks them up and gets the log all confused.

We tried for another cache, but either the coordinates were off (likely) or it's gone now.

We came back to the motel to ensure a parking place. Then is when I discovered I couldn't get the phone connection to work. (If you physically dial the number, there's a modem whistle.) I really do think it's the lack-o-power. Oh, well.

Off gambling. I was down quite a lot, but ended up only -$8. Dinner was at Molly's in Fitzgerald's.

I see on the TV that the Japanese hostages are shamed. They bowed in apology off the plane. It's sure a different culture!
*************

A 9-11 Republican.

Kerry as Catholic.

A Solemn Unifier for the Democrats

Given the rigorous informality and artless effervescence required by the ceremonies of modern politics, John Kerry's rise to prominence is difficult to explain. His is a solemn New England sensibility. I have never seen him experience a moment of spontaneous wit; his nonspontaneous attempts at humor are ghastly. He is not a very compelling speaker. Indeed, when attempting to answer the most basic of questions--his position on the war in Iraq, for example--he tends to entwine himself in endless codicils and subclauses. And yet the Senator from Massachusetts breezed through the Democratic presidential primaries this year and became his party's presumptive nominee in what seemed a matter of days, not weeks. How on earth did that happen?

Democrats said they thought Kerry was their most "electable" candidate. That was the result, apparently, of a process of elimination; Kerry was everyone's second choice. That was a stunning achievement; Democrats never agree on anything, not even second choices--and so the Kerry anointment was an unprecedented act of pragmatism. The Senator's strongest suit was his demeanor. He seemed very serious. So did the primary electorate. But now comes an open question: Will the rest of the nation be as smitten with solemnity as the primary voters were? The issues on the table are nothing less than war and national solvency. The contrast between complex-sentence Kerry and simple-sentence Bush could not be clearer. Kerry's burden is double: he will have to prove not only that his policies are better than the incumbent's, but also that he will be a tolerable guest in the dens and kitchens of the nation for the next four years. -By Joe Klein

Derrick Z. Jackson, Kerry's ABB Trap.

Bush's mistake.

Peggy Noonan:

They look at him, listen to him, and watch him every day. They can tell that George W. Bush is looking out for America. They can tell he means it. They can see his sincerity. They can tell he is doing his best. They understand his thinking because he tells them his thinking. They think he may be right. They're not sure, but at least they understand his thinking.
...
If you want to fire the incumbent, you have to have someone to hire in his place. The guy who opposes the incumbent has to seem like a credible president. He has to be a real alternative, a possible president. So far, roughly four months into his national fame, John Kerry has not made the sale. There are people who have Bush-fatigue, but they do not have Kerry-hunger.

So far he doesn't seem like a possible president. He seems somewhat shifty, somewhat cold, an operator. He has a good voice but he seems to use it most to slither out of this former statement or that erstwhile position. It's OK that he looks like a sad tree, but you can't look like a sad, hollow tree. And it looks a little hollow in there. As if Iraq is an issue Kerry feels he has to handle deftly, and not a brutal question we have to solve, together. As if homeland security is an issue, or civil defense, or preparedness. They're not issues. They're life and death. Mr. Kerry doesn't seem to know.

Howard Fineman, Nine Reasons Why Bush Will Win.

Kerry's UN Fetish, Jeff Jacoby.

Hugh Hewitt, Kerry International Man of Apology.

Environmentalist Kerry.

Heh. Look at the spelling.