"The seller, who I'll call 'Bob' (because his real name is "Bob")..."

People have been reciting this to me everywhere I go.

"The seller, who I'll call 'Bob' (because his real name is 'Bob')..."

They're quoting from a four-part travel series I wrote for the Frederick News-Post, entitled "A Road Warrior's Last Hurrah."  I offered the series to several newspapers simultaneously, and four accepted.  In conversations with each, it became clear that most expected a straightforward travelogue; a faux Fodor's Guide, and nothing more.

That wasn't my intention at all.  The trip was my last chance to wander the country before I got down to the serious (and travel-restricting) business of raising a new baby.  The goal was to have some fun: Buy an old car in California, and coerce it through a dozen states, stopping to indulge any ol' whim.  I never intended to write a review of Spago.  I wanted cheeseburgers and tacky souvenirs.

The Frederick News-Post's travel editor, Linda Gregory, "got it."  Her first e-mail to me was funny.  She was up for something out of the box.  Later, she proved a writer's dream as an editor, fixing broken things, preserving any decent writing I happened to luck into.

I actually did the deed in early August 2004, and the series ran shortly thereafter.  Unfortunately, the News-Post removed the series from its website, archiving it behind the pay-per-view curtain.  We've assembled the raw parts into PDF files, with apologies for the fact that the words I have on file mightn't be as polished the words actually published in the newspaper; our photo choices differ, too.

Please take a look when you have some time.  These essays only make sense to a relaxed reader.

Cheers,

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