Back to reality with a bump. After luxury in St Louis last night, it's indifferent in Indiana tonight. But a pillow is a pillow, wherever it is and however much it costs...
My plan is to be in Columbus, Ohio tomorrow, then Pittsburgh, then Washington DC by Tuesday.
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Last night I stayed in a $30 motel where, due to a quirk of the plumbing, the contents of my upstairs neighbour's toilet bubbled up through the plughole of my washbasin. I had been warned that Salina was the bad food capital of America, and dinner at the Ponderosa Steakhouse was accordingly dire.
Tonight I am staying at the luxurious Chase Park Plaza Hotel, in a corner suite, high floor, park view - courtesy of Bob and Jamie Craft, who are also allowing me to gatecrash Jamie's 60th birthday celebrations at the exclusive Niche restaurant where their son is the head chef.
I love it when these juxtapositions occur in my life. I didn't mind the humbleness of my bed and board last night - I was tired after another long day driving and grateful for anywhere to lay my head. But I am also grateful and appreciative of my much nicer circumstances tonight - and all the more so because of the contrast. If I enjoyed this kind of luxury all the time, I'm sure the delicious pampered feeling would soon wear off.
And I'm REALLY excited about getting to use the fab facilities in the hotel gym tomorrow morning - a bit different from my early morning trot across the flats of Kansas followed by a dumbells session in my room that constituted my workout this morning.
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Today I left late from Gary and Amy's ranch - by the time we'd fed the horses in the crisp, bright morning, and I'd dropped Amy off in Colorado Springs it was already 1pm.
I ploughed on eastwards - and was rapidly immersed in the flattest, most featureless landscape I have ever seen. Welcome to Kansas.
To pass the time I listened to a CD I'd got from the library - a couple of lectures by Eckhart Tolle, author of 'The Power of Now'. The lectures were called 'Entering the Now'. Appropriately, given the nothingness of the landscape, the philosophical lesson on the CD was all about embracing the nothingness, and how to find serenity and peace in the absence of busy-ness and goal-driven thought.
I'm listening to these recordings in the hope that they will help me cope with the tedium of spending day after day on a tiny rowboat on the Pacific Ocean. I found this a constant challenge on the Atlantic - sometimes the lack of mental stimulation nearly drove me crazy.
I now think I've found the land-based equivalent of the Atlantic... and it's name is Kansas.
[Photo: Kansas]
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A few pics from Gary and Amy's Bear Basin Ranch in beautiful Colorado....
Hats in the ranch house
Feeding the horses
A palomino gets nosey
And the local equivalent of neighbourhood watch.
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