Finally, the explanation for how and why the US seems to have gone to shit in the last 20 years. McSweeney’s blows the whistle on the US Department of Suffering and Horror.

And here I thought it was the millenials. Go figure.

Greetings from Etown. I’ve been here a whole seven hours and now have the strong urge to watch this Cameron Crowe movie. Always liked that one.

First observations last night upon landing in Nashville:

1. Southwest tried pretty hard to screw us over with our Houston-Nashville connection, but a brisk run between gates and some heavy-handed arguments at the gate got us on board our scheduled flight with minutes to spare. There’s a longer story there, but Southwest’s legendary customer service took a hit.
2. Outside, it was really hot and humid. I’m mostly OK with hot and humid, but this was equatorial.
3. I got 2-3 days worth of exercise just walking from our gate to the rental cars at Nashville airport. It was better than catching a shuttle, but…damn.
4. Avis was good enough to give me a different car after I questioned the first one. It was a Jeep that sure looked like it had been in a wreck. Wheels and tires way too small; something just looked wrong about it. So we ended up with a nice Rav4 with a noisy, air-leaking windshield. Win some, lose some.
5. Truckers on I-65 are assholes. At least a few of them. Had at least one of them playing the block-and-box game with me for quite a few miles. Definitely decided he was going to control the road.

From here we drive northeast on the Bluegrass Parkway, a route I’ve never taken. Another first. We’ll get to Lexington too late for any hot Spauldings’ doughnuts, sadly. And then on to Ashland and Kings Daughters Medical Center to see Dad. His medical record indicates he’s still with us – he can’t really talk on the phone, too weak. It’s a little too early to declare victory (reaching Ashland while he’s still here/there), but odds are now decent.