(I started this blog post on August 21, did not finish it before I went on vacation, came back to it after vacation, and just ran out of steam. Here it is, warts and all--and it has plenty of warts):

I'm off for a five-day camping vacation in the Upper Peninsula, and will be on the road starting tomorrow morning. I've wanted to post in here for a while, so here goes. Better to do it now before I'm off the grid for almost a week.

I'm just going to let it fly and not worry too much about grammar, spelling, linear thought, paragraph construction, or the like. Just write like I did back when I was 21 and lamely and unsuccessfully ripping off Jack Kerouac. (Doesn't almost every American male go through a Kerouac phase? And if you don't go through a Kerouac phase, you go through a Jim Morrison phase at about the same time or maybe younger. In any case, it was a  rite of passage for every sensitive, English-major-ish guy back in the '80s, probably not so much anymore).

Anyway, we're trying to get stuff ready for the trip and I'm sure my wife, L., is doing a much better job than I am.  She's a hell of a lot better at the organizational stuff me--he said as he farted around posting in his blog. (I refer to her as L. because I can't remember if I have used her full name in here before and if I have not, I want her to be able to have at least some anonymity and plausible denial).

Well, I had all these wonderful topics I was gonna write about, but I seem to have forgotten all of them.  Let me see if I can jar my memory. Okay, I thought of one...

Everyday at work, I try and take at least two walks through downtown Lansing. Since my job requires me to sit for eight hours and stare at a computer screen, I have to get up and walk vigorously for both physical and mental exercise. The best aspect of walking through the city is that I ALWAYS see something interesting--either a demonstration or event at the State Capitol, an interesting or odd person, or even something as mundane as a cool car parked on the street. In this case, it was an interesting and odd person. Here's the story:

So I'm walking up South Washington and about half-a-block in front of me I see a young woman, maybe 20 years old, roller-blading towards me. Now ordinarily, someone on roller blades would be wearing athletic gear or at least shorts, but not this young woman. She is wearing a long, denim skirt that is only about an inch above her ankles, if that. Her hair appears to be tied back and she is wearing some sort of white shirt/blouse type thing. I couldn't tell if she was a Deadhead hippie girl, or Amish, or Mennonite. Anyway, as she is blading across the intersection of Washington and Washtenaw, she trips and very nearly falls in the street, but catches her balance at the last second and averts disaster. She is so close to getting a faceful of black asphalt, that I prepare myself to dial 911 on my cell phone just in case of a major accident.  I continue on my walk, which is a circuit from Washington, to Michigan Ave., to Capitol Avenue and back to work.  While I am walking on Capitol, I cross paths with the hippie/Amish girl again, wobbling along on her roller blades. I have no idea where she is going. Does she actually have a destination in mind? or is she just rollerblading in a circle? I have no idea where I'm going with this story, but it's just an example of the unusual sighting I have on my daily walks.