MrG's Blog & Notes

* This is an archive of my own online blog and notes, with weekly entries collected by month.

[MON 06 MAR 23] THE WEEK THAT WAS 09

* THE WEEK THAT WAS: As discussed in an article from MSNBC.com ("China Used To Be Russia's Junior Partner -- Ukraine Changed That" by Hayes Brown, 24 February 2023), one of the big unknowns concerning the war in Ukraine is the relationship between Russia and China.

Traditionally, Russia has seen China as either a rival or a junior power. Even before the war in Ukraine, China had been outpacing Russia in economic development; thanks to the war and its disastrous impact on Russia, China is now the senior partner. The war's strain on Russian business ties to Europe has left China as a much-needed market, both as a supplier of manufactured goods and importer of natural resources like oil. The Chinese are exploiting their advantage, with Alexander Gabuev -- a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace -- commenting that China will:

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Will Beijing do any more than that? So far, the Chinese have demonstrated no interest in providing munitions to Putin; the Americans pressed them on the matter, citing intelligence claiming there were discussions to that end, with the Chinese denying them. The Americans said their intelligence was partly derived from sources within the Russian government, which clearly did not make the Chinese happy at all -- even if they suspected it was a lie. What happens in the future is hard to say: China will not be happy with a Russian defeat in Ukraine, but won't be happy supporting a lost cause either. All that can be said is that the Chinese will do what serves their perceived interests.

Incidentally, this last week Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke at an international meeting in Delhi, in which Lavrov said: "The war, which we are trying to stop, which was launched against us using Ukrainian people." The audience laughed at him, with Lavrov stumbling over his words for a moment.

* The fallout from the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot continues, one of the aspects being the defamation lawsuit being pressed against Fox News by Dominion voting machines, which Dominion filed in protest against Fox claims that their voting machines were rigged. Testimony so far in the case has not helped Fox, establishing that Fox News talking heads knew they were lying when they said the 2020 election was stolen -- and worse, with Fox boss Rupert Murdoch confirming that in his own testimony. It was obvious all along they were lying, but legally establishing that was something new.

Donald Trump was not at all happy with being thrown under the bus, calling on Murdoch to "apologize to his viewers and readers" for not endorsing the Republican's conspiracy hoax. That was expected; more surprising was that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries sent a letter to Murdoch and other Fox News executives asking for the network's hosts to stop spreading misinformation about the 2020 election.

A joint letter from the two Democratic leaders in Congress is unusual. The letter was direct:

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* As discussed in a press release from the University of Cambridge ("LED Smart Lighting System Based on Quantum Dots More Accurately Reproduces Daylight", 3 August 2022) researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK have designed smart, color-controllable white light devices from "quantum dots" -- nanotech semiconductor devices -- that are more efficient and have better color saturation than standard LEDs, and can dynamically reproduce daylight conditions in a single light.

Quantum dots have been used as the basis for full-color flat-panel displays, but using them for lighting is a new idea. Natural-light LED bulbs currently used red, green, and blue LEDs to get the right mix of colors; the Cambridge researchers found that using a range of quantum-dot colors got better results, and was more energy-efficient. It seems, however, that the QD-LED bulb's colors cannot be tweaked; the article was not clear on this point.

[MON 13 MAR 23] THE WEEK THAT WAS 10

* THE WEEK THAT WAS: As discussed in an article from ECONOMIST.COM ("Ukraine Is Building Up Its Forces For An Offensive", 11 March 2023), over the winter, the war in Ukraine has degenerated into a battle of attrition, with Russian troops suicidally throwing themselves at Armed Forces Ukraine (AFU) positions in the Donbas region, centered on the town of Bakhmut. The AFU has remained passive in the face of the pressure, simply trying to stand their ground and inflict as many casualties on the Russians as possible.

The reason for the passivity is obvious: the AFU cannot win the fight with a defensive war of attrition, and so is building up resources for a mobile offensive when spring weather comes. The first German Leopard tank, donated by the Poles, arrived in Ukraine in February -- following extended dithering by Olaf Scholz, Germany's chancellor, who decided to Leopards to be sent to Ukraine in January. They have been slow to arrive, with possibly about 60 modern Leopard IIs in the pipeline, along with about a hundred older, updated Leopard Is.

Other tanks are trickling in. Britain is sending a company of 14 Challenger 2s. America has pledged 31 M1A2 Abrams, arguably the most imposing main battle tank in the world -- though it's not clear when they will get to Ukraine, with the pledge made at German urging. Poland, which has promised 14 Leopards and has already sent around 250 Soviet-designed T-72 tanks to Ukraine, will send 60 modernized T-72s. A variety of infantry fighting vehicles, from the ageing Soviet-era BMP-1 to America's Stryker and Bradley vehicles, will fill out the armored brigades.

In parallel and driving the fuss over armor has gone on, there's been a shift in strategy. Late in 2022, the US and Britain realized that a protracted war was not desireable, and that Russia was even weaker than had been perceived. That led to a decision to ramp up support on 20 January 2023, at the January 20th at the eighth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, an American-led meeting of defense ministers held roughly monthly at the American air base at Ramstein in Germany.

One European defense official says that the infusion of arms agreed on in Germany in January alone amounts to two-thirds of the total sent to Ukraine in all of 2022. Advanced weapons are clearly included in the mix, though security means details remain hidden. One important addition that is known is the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GL-SDB), an improvisation using air-launched SDB glide bombs mated to recycled US Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) boosters, with twice as much range as current US-MLRS rockets. Russian ammunition dumps and headquarters will no longer be safe in the rear. To be sure, not all the gear is in the form of imposing weapons; one significant American contribution is in the form of armored bridge-laying vehicles, essential for offensive operations.

Ukraine's army is now being transformed. Most of its hardware is still of Soviet origin -- but while the ratio of Soviet-standard to Western kit stood at five to one at the end of 2022, that is expected to fall to five to two as the aid flows in. Almost a third of Ukraine's army will soon have NATO-standard equipment. General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine's top officer, hopes that he will eventually have three new army corps at his disposal, each with six brigades, and each comprising more than 20,000 men.

The Russians are perfectly aware of the buildup. Although the Russian offensive seems poorly thought-out, it appears that it is partly intended as a "spoiling attack", attempting to throw the Ukrainians on the defensive and disrupt their offensive plans. Zaluzhny didn't snap at the bait, fighting a defensive battle, allocating no more resources to it than necessary, inflicting disproportionate damage on the Russians. Instead, AFU troops have been sent abroad to be trained for the coming offensive.

Since January, America's 7th Army Training Command has been running a five-week course for Ukrainian units at its Grafenwoehr training area in eastern Bavaria, in Germany. During its 2022 offensives, the AFU generally attacked in company-sized units. The training at "The Graf", as it is known, is intended to teach Ukrainian troops to fight in bigger formations and become adept at "combined-arms" warfare -- in which infantry, armor, artillery and other combat arms work in a coordinated fashion.

There's necessarily a cloak of disinformation over what happens in Ukraine. Anything that the public knows, Putin does too, so the message is tailored to Putin. It's obvious an offensive is being prepared, but we don't know its specifics, and we have reasons for caution. It's not possible to train more than a battalion of troops at The Graf at a time, meaning that most of the AFU still suffers from limited training. The huge materiel requirements of a major offensive are very hard to support, and there cannot be enough of everything. Finally, although Russian forces are badly-led, badly-trained, badly-equipped, badly-supported, and thoroughly demoralized, they have still been able to come up with nasty surprises on a regular basis. Nonetheless, there's good cause for optimism come the spring, and hopes that the war can be concluded this year.

* Regarding Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, discussed in this column in the past ... in a recent visit to Iowa, he was presented with a decorative plaque of a big snowflake -- and did not notice that the arms of the snowflake read, in elegant script: FASCIST.

While Governor DeSantis hogs the limelight, his wife Casey does get a bit of attention -- mostly because of her sense of style, since she's inclined to dress like a Disney princess, with capes, long gloves, and so on, even on relatively informal occasions. I kind of like it myself, but as one Twitterer put, she looks like she's promoting a sofa in a 1960s magazine ad.

* As discussed in an article from ECONOMIST.com ("How A Chatbot Has Turned Ukrainian Civilians Into Digital Resistance Fighters", 22 February 2023), Ukrainian civilians in Russian-occupied territory have proven adept at using smartphones to provide intelligence to Ukrainian forces. They've been helped by a chatbot named "eVorog (eEnemy)", developed by the Ukrainian government and introduced shortly after the invasion began.

Simply asking for reports from citizens would not have worked well, since the reports would be all over the map, and not necessarily coherent. The chatbot leads users through a list of questions to determine what they saw, where and when. It is leverage off Telegram, an encrypted messaging platform, and uses another government app, Diia, to check the identity of those submitting information. The phone's satellite navigation function confirms the location. By December 2022, eVorog had received more than 450,000 reports.

The intelligence collected is collated and validated to ensure that it is accurate and timely. In unoccupied Ukraine, civilians use eVorog to report the location of unexploded munitions. Another app, ePPO, allows users to record the flight of aircraft, missiles and drones.

The most controversial aspect of eVorog is that it allows Ukrainians to report collaborators. Its developers used as an example of collaboration a Ukrainian woman who was made pregnant by a Russian soldier, implying that victims of rape might be deemed traitors. They backtracked, saying the purpose of the app was "identifying the enemy, not condemning the actions of Ukrainians."

[MON 20 MAR 23] THE WEEK THAT WAS 11

* THE WEEK THAT WAS: In something of a surprise move, this last week the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin on charges of war crimes -- specifically, the abduction of over 10,000 Ukrainian children who were placed with Russian families, with the intent to assimilate them as Russians. A similar warrant was placed for Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova, who is responsible for the relocation program.

The Russian government, which is not a member nation of the ICC, immediately denounced the warrants as "outrageous and unacceptable". It is unlikely that the ICC will ever try Putin, since the court cannot try anyone in absentia, and the Russians won't hand him over. Nonetheless, the action is significant. The Ukrainians had been pushing the ICC to take action, seeing it as increasing the squeeze on Putin. Ukrainian General Prosecutor Andry Yermak commented:

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Human Rights Watch called the ICC decision a "wakeup call to others committing abuses or covering them up." There's also talk of a new warrant being issued for Putin for attacks on civilian targets.

* As discussed in an article from ECONOMIST.com ("Emmanuel Macron's Vision Of A More Muscular Europe Is Coming True", 8 March 2023), in early February 2022, as Russian forces built up in what seemed to be preparations to invade Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron traveled to Moscow to speak with Vladimir Putin, the two men talking across a very long table to ensure social distancing. The conversation was tense, but Putin did say that Russia would "not be the cause of escalation". On 24 February, Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine.

Macron's trip to Moscow had not achieved its goals -- but since that time, he's had reasons to feel encouraged. He has made no secret of wanting a more powerful and assertive Europe, and that has come to pass. Trying to place France in a leadership position of a renewed Europe has not been so easy.

Macron couldn't be faulted for failing to try, hosting a stream of foreign leaders in Paris, and often traveling to foreign capitals to meet with them as well. He texts them all continuously. France itself is hardly weak, being nuclear-armed and having a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council; France maintains a big army with the ability to project power globally. Its military bases and overseas territories stretch from the Caribbean to the Pacific. With 264 embassies and missions, France runs the world's third-biggest diplomatic network after China (275) and America (267).

Macron has an underlying theory to guide his efforts, speaking of a "grand bouleversement (great upheaval)" -- meaning the decline of the unipolar, American-dominated global system that emerged after the Cold War, and its replacement with a more fragmented world and a new round of great-power rivalry. He believes that the European and French response should be more "sovereignty", meaning "reinforcing the capacity to decide for ourselves, and continuing to be able to do so".

When Macron outlined his ideas in 2017, in a speech at the Sorbonne, his calls for "European sovereignty" sounded like high-minded abstractions. The war in Ukraine has made them more concrete. Europe no longer talks only of rules, trade and peace, but also of guns, autonomy, and power. Military spending is surging across Europe, while European countries ship all the arms they can scrape up to Ukraine, and reduce dependence on Russian energy. Europe is also displaying a new-found liking for industrial policy.

There are limits to how far talk of "sovereignty" goes. European countries near to the war have concluded that their security can only be guaranteed by NATO -- the biggest factor being the American support of the alliance, the USA being well the most powerful component. Germany has been reluctant to take big decisions without American cover, and is keen to buy American weaponry. Macron himself has never been honestly anti-American, instead wanting France to be a peer to the USA, and is currently treading softly on NATO. Even as France is increasing its military spending by a third, he now speaks more about a "European component of NATO" than full-blown "strategic autonomy".

However, nobody has forgotten that France withdrew its forces from NATO's integrated command structure in 1966, returning to it only in 2009. France is still perceived as keeping a certain distance from the alliance, one French former NATO official saying: "We still talk about NATO as if it is 'them' and not 'us'."

Macron has also made the primacy of French national interests clear, speaking of France being a "puissance d'equilibres (balancing power)", that is independent and open to speaking to all. That creates tension -- particularly in Poland and the Baltic States, since it hints at being open to an accommodation with Putin. To be sure, Macron has made it clear that Russia must get out of Ukraine, but he's also been careful to leave the door open for talks. One French parliamentarian says: "It's very difficult both to have a special dialogue with countries like Russia or China, and to act as the pivot in Europe, building consensus and leveraging Europe to project power."

Finally, there is something of a disconnect between French ambitions and capabilities. Paris hums with big ideas, such as preserving biodiversity, improving food security, ensuring "effective" multilateralism, and curbing extremism online. Getting them all done is another question. French bungling led to the formation of AUKUS, a defense pact between America, Australia and Britain unveiled in 2021 -- which meant cancellation of a deal to build French submarines for Australia, threw French Indo-Pacific strategy into disarray, and led to a mini-crisis between France and the AUKUS governments.

Some of these difficulties are nothing new, France again having long had doubts about NATO, and always being willing to differ with the English-speaking countries. However, Macron's personal style aggravates the problems, He is aggressive, independent-minded, willing to try new things and take risks. His critics believe that his personal style saps his influence. A European diplomat says: "He has too many ideas, all the time. It is hard to make any of them stick." However, Macron will stay Macron, an aide saying: "The president will never accept that France is a middling power."

* I went in for a dental checkup this last week. On recommendation from my last checkup, I started using a waterpic, and decided I really liked it. Now I use it to clean my teeth every time I eat. I was worried that it wasn't really effective, but I didn't have any cavities, and the dentist told me my teeth were clean.

More interestingly, while I was killing time in the dental chair, I was playing a puzzle game on my smartphone. The dentist asked me about it, and we got to talking about video games -- me talking about how us old geezers are often fond of them: "Hey, some of us were playing video games from the start, and they're what's happening when we don't get around much any more."

The interesting part was that the dental assistant was a MINECRAFT addict, and the dentist played SKYRIM / ELDER SCROLLS himself. It was something of a revelation, in that video games have become almost as pervasive as TV.

MINECRAFT, incidentally, has pretty and pensive theme music, completely unlike typical game music. I download the themes from Youtube, where there's a large collection of game themes. Some Youtube channels specialize in them, such as OVERCLOCKED REMIX, which is all remixes of game themes. As of late, OC REMIX has turned to jazz-oriented remixes of game themes. A light jazz version of the TETRIS theme? That's imaginative.

[MON 27 MAR 23] THE WEEK THAT WAS 12

* THE WEEK THAT WAS: This last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, the visit being characterized by long red carpets and great state pomp. The visit apparently didn't go well for Putin, since there was no indication that Xi wanted to ramp up Chinese support for Putin's war in Ukraine. Xi instead pushed a peace proposal that nobody took seriously -- after all, Putin can end the war any time he chooses to stop attacking Ukraine, and doing anything less is just continuing the war.

Ahead of the visit, Sky News Australia conducted an interview with Michael Shoebridge, of Strategic Analysis Australia, who had a number of astute insights:

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Roughly simultaneously with Xi's visit to Moscow, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio visited Kyiv, pledging nonviolent Japanese support for Ukraine. The timing of Kishida's visit made it clear it was a characteristically Japanese indirect jab at Xi, in part to deflate Xi's "peace plan". It also reinforced the image of a changing Japan, more willing to assert itself in the world, with a photo making the rounds of Kishida being shielded by a burly and alert Ukrainian guard with an M-16 assault rifle. Japan has been pursuing joint weapons development with Britain as of late, that being something of a revival of the military alliance of the two countries of over a century ago.

Back in Japan, Kyoto University conducted its graduation ceremony. The university has a liberal policy for the ceremony, allowing graduates to dress as they please, with some turning to cosplay. One made a splash by coming as Volodymr Zelenskyy, wearing fatigues, a Ukrainian trident, and sporting a beard. It was a remarkably compelling impersonation, the lad honestly did look like a Japanese Zelenskyy. He didn't just do it for laughs, either, since he carried a sign, citing Zelenskyy's address to the US Congress and displaying a Ukrainian flag:

   Your money is NOT charity.
   It is an INVESTMENT in GLOBAL SECURITY and DEMOCRACY
   that we handle IN THE MOST RESPONSIBLE WAY.

The graduate's name was not available at last notice, though it was mentioned that it took him a number of years to pass the university's entrance exams. That's not unusual, since getting into a good university in Japan is very difficult. The aspiring student who's failed his entrance exams is a stock character in Japanese manga / anime, being called a "rounin" -- a masterless and wandering samurai.

* As discussed in an article from VOX.com ("Thanks, Obama! The Hilarious Reason Why A Judge Just Blocked Wyoming's Abortion Ban" by Ian Millhiser, 23 March 2023), we are in a political "silly season" that began in 2016, and isn't showing signs of letting up yet. One aspect is multiple attempts by a number of Red states to ban abortion. Wyoming, for example, is trying to pass a law to make abortion a felony.

This last week, a Wyoming judge put a temporary block on the law -- ironically citing a 2012 amendment to the state constitution that was intended to spite then-President Barack Obama. It all started with the Affordable Care Act (ACA AKA "ObamaCare"), the health-care program set up by the Obama Administration. The Right hated it, calling it a "government takeover of health care", and a number of states passed constitutional amendments to, in principle, block it.

The Wyoming amendment provided that "each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions." Apparently, nobody in the state who voted for the amendment recognized that this was almost the same as saying: "My body, my choice!" However, a group of patients, doctors, and nonprofit groups brought suit against the law -- and last August, Wyoming district court Judge Melissa Owens halted the law, rejecting the state's flimsy argument that the amendment was only focused on the ACA, and should not be construed as protecting reproductive rights.

Owens wrote that the amendment "unambiguously provides competent Wyoming citizens with the right to make their own health care decisions," and she was bound by that unambiguous text, adding: "A court is not at liberty to assume that the Wyoming voters who adopted [the amendment] did not understand the force of language in the provision."

She reasoned that the amendment gave the people of Wyoming a "fundamental right" to make their own health care decisions, including the decision to seek an abortion. That fundamental right could only be abridged when the state seeks to advance a "compelling state interest" and when it uses the "least intrusive" means to do so.

In response to Owens's August decision blocking the state ban, the state legislature enacted a new law decreeing that abortion "is not health care" and so was not protected by the amendment. Owen's decision this last week blocked that law as well, declaring that "the legislature cannot make an end run around" around a constitutional amendment, and that it was the court's job to decide whether abortion meets the state constitution's definition of "health care."

Wyoming is a very conservative state, but so far the state Supreme Court has taken a hands-off attitude toward Owens' decisions, and shows no sign of becoming more active. How things go over the longer run remains to be seen. However, it's hard to believe that anti-abortion sentiment has a future, since it's on weak constitutional grounds and isn't supported by the majority of Americans. How long it takes to play out to the end remains to be seen.

* The ACA, incidentally, just 13, with an essay from MSNBC.com ("As The Affordable Care Act Turns 13, The Law Has Never Been Stronger" by Steve Benen, 23 March 2023) singing its praises:

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This is a highly optimistic read on the ACA, which certainly has had its problems. However, that raises the question: would it have been so troubled if the Republicans hadn't done everything in their power to destroy it? Maybe we've finally turned a corner, with the realization growing among Republicans that the ACA is here to stay, and trying to tear it down does the GOP no good.

* As discussed in an article from NEWATLAS.com ("Lockheed Martin Stalker XVE Drone Claims World Endurance Record" by David Szondy, 12 April 2022), Lockheed Martin set a flight endurance record for their lightweight Stalker VXE drone, with one remaining aloft for 39 hours, 17 minutes, and seven seconds.

The Stalker is an evolved series of drones, originally introduced in 2006. It is of conventional prop aircraft configuration, with forward wings and rear tail assembly. The Stalker XVE has an open architecture, being configurable as per mission requirements. Weighing only about 20 kilograms (44 pounds), it uses electric propulsion powered by either a propane-fueled solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), providing an endurance of eight hours, or by a battery providing a flight time of about four hours.

Maximum speed is 93 KPH (58 MPH) and ceiliing is 3,660 meters (12,000 feet). The Stalker is launched by bungee or rail; there is an option for a vertical take-off configuration with "quadcopter" underwing rails, though the machine that set the record did not have the VTOL option. The Stalker's hybrid option gives it options for long-range surveillance, limited only by radio line of sight. Its small size and quiet propulsion makes it hard for an adversary to spot.

[TRIPLOG] OHIO & DISNEY TRIPS

* OHIO & DISNEY TRIPS: I used to like to take long road trips, mostly to take photos, particularly at air museums, but the last time I took one was in 2016, when I drove from Loveland, Colorado, to Washington DC. It wasn't an entirely satisfactory trip, so I was not eager to go on one again. It also led to a rethinking of my photography hobby; I ultimately realized that I provided more value with my aircraft drawings and retouches of historical photos than I could possibly provide with my own shots.

In addition, the four years Donald Trump was in the White House were nationally acrimonious, and I became more paranoid about getting out. I did plan in early 2020 to go to my nephew Graham's graduation from Baylor University in Texas, but the COVID-19 pandemic rendered that plan impractical.

By the beginning of 2022, COVID-19 was about as much under control as it was going to get, and so I started thinking about a trip again. At the end of February, of course, Russia invaded Ukraine, Russia got slapped with sanctions, and fuel prices skyrocketed. The trip went on ice, but I didn't forget about it, going back and forth on the idea for months. Did I really want to bother? I'll be 70 years old before too long, and I won't be able to do it much longer. I'd long budgeted $250 USD a month for travel; my travel budget was flush, so I had the money.

I finally decided in the summer of 2022 to take a road trip to the WINGS OF DAWN airshow, with World War I aircraft, at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, in Dayton OH, on 7 November 2022. That was not a major event in itself, but I started scouting out other stops along the way, and gradually fleshed out the trip.

Having decided to go, come the fall I had to make sure I got flu and COVID vaccination shots, got my car serviced, and run other errands. In the meantime, I nailed down hotel reservations, and hours and prices of attractions. I came up with a trip schedule:

• MON 2 OCT: Drive from Loveland CO to Topeka KS, visit the zoo and air museum there.
  
  
• TUE 3 OCT: Visit the Kansas City Zoo, spend the night in Terre Haute IN.
  
  
• WED 4 OCT: Visit the Cincinnati Zoo, spend the night in Columbus OH.
  
  
• THU 5 OCT: Visit the Columbus Zoo.
  
  
• FRI 6 OCT: See the airshow at Dayton OH, then spend the night in Richmond IN.
  
  
• SAT 7 OCT: Drive back to Topeka.
  
  
• SUN 8 OCT: Drive back to Loveland.

I had been thinking of going to a theme park, but figured I was too old for such a thing. Really, as long as I have video games to play, why do I need a theme park? My video game system is like having a theme park in my living room.

Anyway, one issue for the trip was that I had been working on a clover lawn for my house, and wanted to keep watering it since it was growing well. However, if there was a snap freeze some night, it might burst the vacuum breaker for my sprinkler system. Just to be safe, I wrapped up the vacuum breaker in an old comforter and tied a plastic lawn bag over it.

* I hit the road very early on Monday, 2 October. The trip didn't get off to a great start. First problem was that I had decided to use a tablet computer for navigation, but from the outset it proved unwieldy and impractical. That led to taking Interstate 76 east while going through the Denver bypass instead of Interstate 70, which was what I was after.

That wasn't too much of a problem: the two freeways paralleled each other for a distance, so I just took the first exit that looked useful and headed due south. I was worried I would end up on a rural road, in which case I would have had to turn around and backtrack west on I-76 -- rural roads are mazes and a good way to get lost. However, what got onto was a boulevard, probably the most eastern one in the Denver area, and it was a straight shot to I-70.

Compounding this was a headache, backache, and drowsiness. That persisted until just before dawn, when I got off at a rest area, took a painkiller, put on my back brace, and took a half-hour nap. After I woke up, I hit the road again, feeling much better -- though the Sun rising in my face was blinding, forcing me to wear double sunglasses. I keep oversized sunglasses in my car for that purpose.

Using the tablet for navigation became more clearly unworkable as I drove along, since it wasn't always easy to read it well in daylight, and it wasn't sensible to fumble with it while driving. I doubt that using a smartphone for navigation would work much better. I should have gone my traditional route and printed out maps, the print-outs being easier to handle while driving than a gadget. Lack of the print-outs would lead to problems.

It was an uneventful trip through the Kansas flatlands, the most interesting thing being the big wind turbine farms that were sited at intervals along the freeway, mostly in western Kansas. It wasn't as flat in the eastern part of the state, and there were more forests. I got to Topeka in the early afternoon; I had some difficulties finding the zoo, but it wasn't too much bother.

The Topeka Zoo is a nice small zoo, particularly enhanced by its Japanese garden, framing a tidy conference center. It was warm and the animals were generally snoozing, but the zoo was nicely laid out and worth the visit. The air museum was nothing much, but I wasn't expecting much, so no problem. Being in Kansas, I wanted to get barbecue for dinner, but the restaurant I picked -- Hog Wild Pit Bar-B-Q -- was a chain and its food not particularly satisfactory.

I went back to the Hampton Inn and ended up being busier than I thought I would be. I had run short of time before leaving Loveland and more or less thrown all my kit into the car. I took all the jumble up to my hotel room and sorted it out, then repacked them in a much more orderly fashion. Turned out I didn't even need one of the pieces of luggage, so I stowed it in the car. Now all the camera kit was in a camera bag, all the digital kit was in a carry bag, miscellaneous kit for the hotel room was in an athletic bag, and bathroom kit was in a kitty litter bucket -- my late neighbor had a cat and I got a set of buckets from her. For the first time, I would come back from a trip more organized than when I left.

* On Tuesday, 3 October, I ate the free breakfast at the Hampton Inn. I wanted to get a new pair of sweat pants and there was a Walmart nearby the hotel. I didn't find sweat pants, but I did find some black athletic pants that I liked, so I picked them up. That done, I went east on I-70 to Kansas City, my objective being the Kansas City Zoo. It turned out to be a first-class zoo, and I wish I'd been able to stay longer, particular to take the ski-lift ride over the Africa environment.

It was on leaving the zoo that I made the biggest blunder of the trip. I didn't have any trouble getting back eastbound on I-70; the problem was that I wanted to go to a Fazoli's -- a low-cost Italian-food chain I'm fond of -- east of town, and failed to think that the route to it involved navigating a freeway interchange. I ended up going in circles and getting dangerously disoriented and confused. I did get to the Fazoli's, but it was painful.

I would have been much smarter to have taken the next exit to the east, onto a city boulevard; inspecting the maps later showed me it would have been no difficulty -- straight roads, only one turn and then directly to the Fazoli's. The blunder with the interchange spooked me; it didn't ruin the trip, but it gave me hesitations.

Anyway, I cruised east through Missouri, making a stop at Boonville in the center of the state to fuel up at a Love's truck stop. I did find some nice fleece cargo pants there at a good price, so I picked them up, too. While I was fueling up the car, I was approached by two Latins, a lad and his mother -- probably Mexican, with a somewhat beaten-up old van. They couldn't speak very good English, but I thought they were broke, so I asked: "You need some money?"

That got a very confused response, so I said: "You need some money?!" -- and I gave them a $20 bill. They took it. Apparently they were trying to get to Virginia on no money. The mother was overly thankful, which got annoying -- so I gave her a little origami paper cat, and shooed her off. I carry origami pieces in my kit bag for just such occasions.

I've driven through Missouri a number of times, but never remembered much of it; it's kind of nondescript, largely rural and semi-rural, with farms spacing between deciduous forest, the terrain going up and down, up and down, more built-up, then less. I got to Terre Haute, Indiana, after dark, having to deal in frustration with long strings of tractor-trailer rigs hogging the road. Worse, the LOW TIRE INFLATION light kept going on. I thought I'd told the service people to check the tires, but they didn't.

On reaching the Hampton Inn in Terre Haute, I settled down for the night. I tried on the pants and they seemed too short, despite the fact that they were XLs, and that's what I usually bought. Later I would realize that they were okay, but overall the day was discouraging. I didn't feel like giving up on the trip, but I had to reconsider it.

I was to visit the Cincinnati Zoo the next day -- but on inspecting the map, it meant navigating a complex of downtown freeways, and it looked like trouble. Even though I had bought a ticket online before I left, I decided to forget about it, and go straight to Columbus, Ohio. Actually, the change in plans would turn out to be for the best. I went to bed, thinking: This trip is more bother than it's worth.

* On Wednesday, 4 October, I ate breakfast at the Hampton Inn, then hit the road and headed for Ohio. Getting around the Indianapolis Beltway proved to be a bit tricky; I had to stop at a hotel to get my bearings, but from then on I was okay.

The route east took me past Dayton. I got to thinking that I had plenty of time, and so I might just drop into the USAF Museum and take pictures. I was planning on doing it after going to the WINGS OF DAWN airshow, but why wait? I hadn't prepared for the visit and would have to navigate by road signs, but I figured the museum route was well marked.

That was another blunder, what is almost guaranteed to happen to me when I improvise -- all the worse because I'd got confused trying to get to the museum in 2016. The route is in fact well-marked, except for near the museum, with wrong turns taking me in circles through downtown Dayton. I finally got myself straightened out, found the museum, and parked there.

Visiting there still turned out to be the right thing to do. The trick was that I finally figured out how to get my Samsung S21 Ultra camera smartphone to work right. It was supposed to have a very nice night / low-level photography mode, but I hadn't been able to get good results with it. I had brought a mini-tripod along to see if that helped, but it proved clumsy.

After going through the World War II gallery at the museum, I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. The S21 Ultra has image stabilization, which hadn't seemed to work -- but that was because I didn't understand it. I had to stand still with the camera in both hands; the image stabilization could compensate for the low-level jittering while I held it, it just couldn't compensate for the wilder gyrations of one-handed shooting. In all the other galleries, I took what seemed, on my display, to be good low-light pictures.

I also remember that when I visited the air museum in 2016, the aircraft were spotlighted but otherwise not illuminated, giving a cavelike environment that made photography difficult. I wasn't quite sure, but the museum exhibits seemed to be much better illuminated than they had been in the previous trip. As it would turn out, this session was the most productive part of the trip.

Anyway, that done, I got back on I-70 and cruised to Columbus, getting off the beltway in the dark at Dublin -- a suburb of Columbus in the northwest. There was a Hilton Garden Inn just south of the east exit, but I couldn't spot it. I pulled into a parking lot and tried to get my bearings -- to look around and notice a discreet sign for the hotel: "Oh, it's right over there."

I would later talk to the desk clerks and figure out that the zoning in the area precluded large bright signs. The hotel was in an office park area, and the clerks confirmed that they were much more focused on corporate customers than tourists. Anyway, I checked in, and went up to my room -- only to notice that the hotel seemed to be piping in the kind of spacey ambient music I'm partial to. I always play it on an illuminated bluetooth speaker while I'm sleeping, and packed the speaker along on the trip.

I thought: "That's cool, they pipe space music into the hallways." When I got into my bedroom, I realized that somehow the bluetooth speaker had got turned on in my athletic bag. Whatever, I cleaned up and went to bed.

* On Thursday, 5 October, I got up and dressed. It turned out that the Hilton Garden Inn had a for-pay breakfast. I didn't bother with it, there being a Kroger supermarket and a McDonald's nearby that suited me better. When I got back to the hotel, I inflated my tires, using an air pump that plugged into the car cigarette lighter. I'd never used the pump before, but it turned out to work very well.

I'd long inflated my tires using an old-style pop-out pressure gauge and an air pump with an analog needle, which was a hit-or-miss procedure, neither tool giving me a clear indication of what the actual tire pressure was. With the new pump, I screwed it up to a tire nipple, and it gave the tire pressure on an LCD display; press a button, and it drove up the pressure, with the LCD display keeping track. No more fuss.

That done, I went over to the Columbus Zoo. Incidentally, I left the bluetooth speaker on in my room; it turned out that playing the space music made the room feel more comfortable and warm to come back to. I only spent a few hours at the zoo. It's an excellent zoo -- many exhibits, nice layout and features, with an emphasis on Christmas lights all over, plus robot dinosaurs -- and I got good pictures, but I was simply not all that interested. I left earlier than I expected to -- getting a bit confused and trapped in a traffic jam for a little while after I took a wrong turn -- and went back to the hotel. There was nothing memorable in the zoo visit.

Back at the hotel, I quick-waxed my Honda. Its gloss-black finish is pretty but a dirt magnet, so I spray-wax it once a month. I waxed it before I left; I figured travel would wear it down fast, so I packed the spray bottle in the car to apply it again in Columbus. I kept the car clean all through the trip, nobody would think I had driven cross-country in it -- except for the Colorado license plates.

Later on in the afternoon, I went over to a Columbus tourist attraction named OTHERWORLD that I'd found online during trip planning. It on the other side of the town, but I had little trouble getting there on the beltway. It was set up in what looked like an old movie theater or such in a run-down shopping mall, and consisted of a maze of rooms, with wild sci-fi props as if from a DRWHO episode. I found it amusing, particularly liking the halls of mirrors, and was able to use my S21 Ultra to take good pictures. It was fun for what it was.

There was a Sheetz outlet not far from OTHERWORLD, and I stopped there for dinner. We don't have Sheetz in eastern Colorado, but I'd read about the chain in an article, it being described sort of half convenience store, half fast-food joint. All the ordering was on touchscreen, which is nothing new anywhere, I do it at McDonald's in Loveland all the time -- but it was a more elaborate system. I got mac & cheese, a mini-pizza, and a vanilla milkshake; the mac & cheese was bad, being undercooked, while the mini-pizza was okay at best, though the milkshake was good. Should have gone for a chili dog or the like. I went back on the beltway to the Hilton Garden Inn for the night, feeling somewhat tired and unenthusiastic.

* On the morning of Friday 7 October, I got breakfast at the McDonald's again, and cruised on to Dayton to the WINGS OF DAWN airshow. I had nailed down the route before I left the hotel and had no navigation problems. The airshow was a low-key affair, not heavily populated, with a fair number of re-enactors in WWI uniforms -- German, British, Australian, American -- plus at least a dozen WWI aircraft replicas, and to my surprise a good number of large RC models.

The aircraft were not all full-scale, some being about 75% or 80% scale replicas. I'd read about their construction, knowing that they were built of metal tubing with nylon fabric skinning, and using flat-four engines instead of radials -- the flat-four engines were hidden well enough not to be noticeable. I got a lot of pictures, but wasn't too interested in the aerial displays, for the simple reason that my camera gear isn't good enough to take good aerial shots.

I left at about noon, and drove across the Indiana border to the Hampton Inn in Richmond, which was a short trip. That left a long trip for the next day; I'd wanted to stay in Terre Haute again on the way back, but for some reason all the Hilton hotels in that area were booked up solid. I ate at a Fazoli's there, finding out they'd changed the menu a bit. They traditionally sold a big plate of spaghetti and meatballs as normal, but they had changed to a small plate at the older price and the big plate at a higher price. Worked very well for me, since I couldn't easily eat the big plate.

For lack of anything better to do, I binge-watched anime episodes on my notebook computer, at the hotel in Richmond, then got 9 hours of sleep -- haven't done that in years.

* Next morning, Saturday 8 October, I hit the road for Topeka, the drive being long and uneventful. Saint Louis traffic was a little crazy, but no problems; I ate once more at a Fazoli's, on the outskirts of town. Nothing of much interest but fuel prices: $3.99 USD a gallon in Ohio, $4.28 in Indiana, $3.20 in St Louis, $3.50 in Topeka. No rhyme or reason to it. I checked into the Topeka Hampton Inn and got to bed.

I ate breakfast at the Hampton Inn and hit the road early on Sunday, 9, October. I certainly had no doubts I was headed west: the full Moon was setting directly in front of me. The drive was uneventful as the trip out, the only thing to do was check the mileage meter as I drove along. I had been averaging over 42 miles per gallon on the trip, but in eastern Kansas the short-term average began to decline steadily down to 41 MPG and less. Once I got to western Kansas, it started to climb again. I figured that the mileage was an indicator of the rate of continental uplift towards the Rocky Mountains, with the rise being steeper in eastern Kansas. It started to fall again when I passed into Colorado, but came back up as I approached Denver.

Getting through Denver traffic was a bit nerve-wracking, but I handled it without trouble. However, as I was headed north out of the city, I increasingly had to make a relief call and was in growing distress. I had to get well out of town before I could get off Interstate 25 and make a relief call at a McDonald's -- I didn't dare get off I-25 without knowing where to stop, since I could end up driving in circles. I had a vague memory of having the same problem going north out of Denver some years back and stopping at the same McDonald's, but I couldn't validate it.

After I got relief, my way out of the McDonald's was obstructed by a woman with kids, noticeably a cute but hyperactively cheerful little girl. The woman apologized, but I replied: "That's okay, I find it amusing."

She said: "Their sugar fix hasn't worn off yet." Myself, I was still kind of nursing a thumping headache that had been contributing to my distress, but I'd just taken a painkiller, and it gradually kicked in.

It was interesting to notice that there was no decline in mileage as I went north, paralleling the mountains -- which reinforced my continental uplift idea. Anyway, I got back into Loveland at a reasonable hour, and stopped at the Kroger supermarket to get milk, as I always do coming back from a trip. I'd also got a taste for Froot Loops cereal from the hotel breakfasts, and picked up a big box -- the Kroger store brand, much cheaper than the Kellogg's brand but otherwise indistinguishable from it. I went home, unpacked, cleaned up the car, and went to bed.

* The next day, I got organized and reflected on the trip. I always keep my sales receipts when I travel; they would come in handy as something of a log of the trip. Anyway, total cost of trip was less than $1600 USD, including the froot loops. I estimated it would cover 2800 miles, I covered 2,884, averaging 42.2 MPG. Logistically, it went well enough, and the occasional fumbles were both inevitable and not, over the longer run, particularly troublesome. Examination of the photos I took with my Samsung S21 Ultra at the USAF Museum showed them to be everything I could have wanted -- which was ironic, since I hadn't thought that would amount to much.

However, on consideration, I simply affirmed the conclusion I had come to on the trip: it was more bother than it was worth. I was, with some caveats, done with long road trips. That didn't mean I didn't want to travel any more, only that I had to rethink it. For example, I really wanted to go to the big Aviation Nation airshow at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, near Las Vegas, in November 2023. I figured out it would be a fairly easy and inexpensive trip. However, at the back my mind was that I wanted to see the new STAR WARS land in Disneyland, California; maybe I should drive on to California, too?

I immediately thought: NO WAY, it would become another big road trip -- but I knew it would bug me until I did see it. I had a brainstorm: Why not fly? Although I had reallocated some of the money in my travel fund, I still had plenty left, and could easily cover the trip. I thought: Do it and be done with it. The brainstorm continued, with the thought that I should go right away -- but that wasn't at all practical, so I decided to do it after the 1st of November.

* I hadn't flown in like two decades, so I had a learning curve on taking air trips again. I got tickets from Expedia, giving me the trip schedule:

• Thursday, 03 November: Fly from Denver International Airport (DIA) to John Wayne Airport (JWA) in Santa Ana CA in the morning, get to Anaheim, and check into the Hampton Inn near the Anaheim Convention Center, and only a bit farther to Disneyland.
  
  
• Friday, 04 November: Spend the day at Disneyland. A crowd-tracker website said the crowds should be light.
  
  
• Saturday, 05 November: Fly back from JWA to DIA in the afternoon.

I'd got air tickets online in the 1990s, so that was a familiar experience. I made a hotel reservation for the Hampton Inn near the Anaheim Convention Center, which was within reasonable walking distance of the Disneyland main gate. With my schedule nailed down, I then got a Disney ticket online for 4 November. The ticket was expensive, like $250 USD, and figuring it out was tricky, because Disney said that I had to get both a ticket and a park reservation. That didn't turn out to be much bother in practice, but I never did figure out the rhyme or reason to it. Disney also had a smartphone app for the ticket, with the app being used for attraction scheduling as well.

* Next problem was getting from JWA to the hotel, which was much too far to walk. I assumed at the outset there would be a shuttle from the airport to Disneyland or the Convention Center for a modest rate -- but investigation showed no such thing, and that taking a shuttle bus would be very expensive. Hotel shuttle systems, it appears, are set up to cater to tour packages and conventions. On thinking about that reality, I then thought of taking the municipal bus, and that led me to researching the Orange County Transit Authority (OCTA).

I spent a lot of effort doping out OCTA, downloading bus schedules on PDF and looking them over. It was surprisingly complicated to do, but with a lot of reference to Google maps and repeated inspections of the schedule PDFs, I managed to piece together the bus schedules to get me there and back. One difficulty was that I would be flying back on a Saturday, and weekend bus schedules were, not really surprisingly, different from weekday schedules. Very conveniently, OCTA had a smartphone app; I could get a day pass for like five bucks, and the app would display a barcode for a reader on the bus. It seemed efficient, and I was looking forward to trying it out.

Yet another issue was eating at the hotel. I didn't notice anyplace near the Hampton Inn that looked promising, but there was a 7-11 convenience store across the street, and I wondered if I could piece together a meal there. I checked out a local 7-11 and determined that was a reasonable thing to do. I could heat up foods with the hotel room microwave. I got to thinking later that a supermarket might be a better option -- there was one near where I had to transfer buses going to the hotel -- but on inspecting my local King Soopers, it would have been less convenient and just as expensive.

All that being nailed down, there was the question of putting together a travel kit. Airline security wasn't as tight in the 1990s, and I wanted to make sure I didn't have any problems with the security checks, which turned out to mean taking absolutely NO sharp metal objects of any sort on an aircraft. Since I needed to take cutlery if I wanted to eat out of 7-11, I packed a plastic cutlery set that I'd stowed away years ago, sharpening the knife a bit with a file.

I had some difficulties figuring out how to pack my kit so I could fit in the carry-on luggage requirements, the notebook computer being a particular puzzle. I also decided not to bring my big Canon Powershot SX60HS camera, instead taking my Powershot SX150 pocket camera. It takes good 14.1-megapixel shots, and has 12x zoom -- the SX60HS has 60x zoom, but it usually doesn't give good results much above 10x anyway.

I wanted to be able to take the camera into Disneyland, which led to the next question of how to haul my gear around once I went in. After some fumbling around, I bought a cheap fanny pack, and attached two small camera cases to it. Those cases weren't big enough for the SX150, but I could put other kit in them, and put the camera in the belly pack.

* After protracted tinkering with logistics, I got up very early on Thursday, 3 November, and drove down to Denver International Airport. I parked in one of the remote lots and took the shuttle to the terminal -- incidentally, it was supposed to rain that day, so I made sure I quick-waxed the car the day before.

I got a boarding pass at the United check-in using the automated kiosk -- I could have got one using my smartphone, but I didn't think much of the United app, and the kiosk worked slick. One thing I noticed that was different from the past was that somebody left their baggage idle, and a United staffer started shouting: "UNATTENDED BAGGAGE? UNATTENDED BAGGAGE?" I recall way back when having a staff guy trying to grab my suitcase when I set it down for a moment, and having a confrontation when I saw him walking off with it. Looks like they decided to exercise more consideration.

The flight out was uneventful, though I noticed I had a slight degree of motion sickness on take-off and climb -- not a great sign for going to a theme park full of thrill rides. I spent the time reading, playing games on my smartphone, and watching the aircraft track on the backseat video display. I really wish they had a cockpit camera so I could see where we were going.

Once I got to John Wayne Airport, I went to the transit area to pick up the OCTA bus. I was sitting next to a young black woman from Indiana who had preposterous long fingernails; no bus came, and the woman said she'd heard something about a bus mechanic's strike. Dang, I'd heard something about a strike and forgotten about it. I went back into the terminal and talked to the girl at the transit desk. She didn't know anything about that, but called up and found out it was so. "So what can I do?" "Take a cab." "OK."

I immediately got a cab, $50 USD fare -- which seemed reasonable enough under the circumstances. I was mostly disappointed that all my planning for riding OCTA was down the drain. It was a fairly quick drive to the Hampton Inn in Anaheim; I chatted with the driver, asking if California had taxes on food. He told me that they had taxes on prepared food but not unprepared food.

I got to the hotel even earlier than I had expected. I asked the desk clerk -- a neat young black woman named Nola -- if I could stash my baggage with her and go for a walk to kill time until I could check in, and she tagged it for me. One of the reasons I wanted to go for a walk there was to figure out just how far it was to the Disneyland gate, and also to determine what resources were available to me. What I definitely noticed was that the good number of indigents wandering around, some shouting in a deranged way at people, or at nothing at all. They didn't accost people, however, hinting that the police strongly discouraged them from doing so.

I finally checked into my room at the hotel, and then went and got my dinner at the 7-11 across the street -- frozen lasagne and snacks. My plan to use the hotel microwave didn't work out well, however, since I hadn't realized that different microwaves have their own control panels, and there's a learning curve to using any one of them; I didn't manage to get the lasagne hot enough. Warming things up is easy with any microwave, however, and I should have got the two slices of pizza. Anyway, I played some video games on my notebook PC and crashed out.

* I ate breakfast the next morning -- Friday, 4 November -- at the Hampton Inn. There were a lot of families there doing the Disney trip, with kids eating breakfast in their pajamas, which I found very amusing. That done, I killed some time and went over to Disneyland, checking in to the south California Adventures park with a barcoded printout, and going through the security screening. First up was a visit to the Marvel Avengers Campus, which was sited on where the old A BUG'S LIFE attractions used to be -- and also took over the TOWER OF TERROR attraction from the Hollywood Land area to turn it into the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY drop ride.

I made a beeline to the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ride. I'd spent an additional $25 USD to get a "fast pass" to the front of the line, but it turned out to be not a good use of money: I could only get ahead once every two hours, and I could use the "Single Rider" line anyway, so no big deal. As it turned out, the drop ride wasn't a big deal either, not being very memorable -- might have helped if I had seen GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY -- and leaving me queasy. I talked with one of the staff on going out, saying I remember the TOWER OF TERROR ride didn't go just up and down, it moved around a bit, with the reply that was the version in Orlando.

The Avengers Campus was actually more interesting, particularly with the staff in high-grade Marvel superhero outfits -- Iron Man, Ant-Man & Wasp, & so on. However, I didn't stay long, going over to the Pixar Pier area, first riding the "Goofy's Sky School" coaster, which was a "wild mouse" coaster, back-&-forth hairpin turns, and then the magrail "Incredicoaster". I endured both of them well enough, but they just made me more queasy.

Next visit was to the "Grizzly Mountain" area. I wanted to run through the "Squirrel Scramble" attraction, which is log towers connected by rope runways and the like -- but it was down for maintenance. I shrugged and went on to the "Grizzly River Rapids" ride. There was hardly a line; I ended up on a float with a white dad and his half-black son -- making me curious about the absent mother, but we didn't chat. It was fun, but obvious as to why there was no line, since it was too cool a day to get very wet.

Incidentally, I had been wondering before I left Loveland what Disney was doing about lawns. California is suffering from monster drought, and the authorities have been trying to get rid of water-intensive lawns. Was Disney planting buffalo grass that didn't need much water? In reality, I didn't notice any lawns at all there. Disney was instead planting green ground cover plants of various sorts suited to a dry climate.

Anyway, after Grizzly Mountain, it was time for lunch. I'd scoped out the various park restaurants online before I went on the trip, and was told "Flo's V8 Cafe" had a nice fried chicken dinner for like $20 USD, which seemed reasonable enough. I ordered through the smartphone app, and was notified to pick up through the app. It was in fact an excellent fried chicken dinner, but it was more than I could eat, and not the best for me given that I was still feeling queasy. Incidentally, playing with the app was probably the most fun I had on the trip. It was very well thought out, and when I had any questions, I could ask any park staff, and they'd tell he how to get it to work. I was curious about how long a training course they got when they hired on, but I didn't ask.

It was afternoon by the time I was done eating. I had bought a "park hopper" ticket so I could go over to the older Disneyland resort, but I wasn't allowed to do so in the morning. I went over and made a beeline to the STAR WARS Galaxy's Edge area and took pictures, as well taking a ride on the "Smuggler's Run" attraction, riding on the Millennium Falcon. Having got my pictures, I was thinking of riding on the classic "Space Mountain" coaster -- but though I wasn't quite sick yet, I knew I would be if I did.

I went back to California Adventures instead, getting a bit disoriented -- not a good sign. I figured I'd ride on the "Radiator Springs" ride in "Cars Land", so I went straight to it, and found it entertaining. It was a giant slot car ride, but ran people through an animated CARS story before ending in a staged dual race. That done, enough already, I took a long walk back to the hotel, killed time there, and went to bed.

* On the morning of Saturday, 5 November, I cleaned up, packed up, ate breakfast at the hotel, took a walk to settle my still plugged-up digestion, and then caught a cab to John Wayne Airport. I went through security and killed more time there, then endured a dull flight back to Denver. I arrived in late afternoon and took the shuttle bus to the remote parking lot. It had indeed rained while I was gone, with the car dusted up; I wiped it off before I left -- going to Fazoli's in North Denver for dinner.

The Disney trip cost me $1250 USD; I was figuring on $1200, but the cab fares pushed me over the edge. The trip was forgettable, but I'd just done to check the thing off my list. I had low expectations, and it met them. I'm planning to take an air trip to Washington DC in early April, already have it roughed out. Although it's just another thing to check off the list, I'm more looking forward to it, planning to get shots of the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum with my S21 Ultra, as well as the Smithsonian garden complex. The cherry trees should be in bloom at the time.

I'm not looking forward to the air trip, but it is likely it will be the last air trip I'll take. I do have some road trips in mind, but they'll be checking off the list as well. In a few years, I won't think of taking more than day trips.

The Ohio and Disney trips were interesting from a cultural view at least. I recall, vaguely, being to Disney in the early 1960s, and had to contrast such memories as I had of it with the 2022 trip. The USA is far more racially diverse than it was a half-century ago, and I don't mind that at all. Maybe it's just because I live a private and privileged existence, and nobody really causes me trouble these days. If I did mind it, it would make no difference, I'm not going to be around that much longer anyway. I cannot and do not make any claims on the future.

There was also a contrast with the 2016 road trip to Washington DC, which was just before the 2016 election. That election was the start of a wild ride for the USA; we're not quite at the end of it, but I'm optimistic that we're getting out of the woods. The 1960s ended with a rebellion against the old America, with the election of Trump being the last desperate, doomed to failure, throw of that old America. They're going down.

I'm not worried about it. One of the other personal considerations of America's current era, as contrasted to being a kid in the 1960s, is being totally digitally wired, the world at my fingertips. I'm looking forward to enhancing my gaming library on Windows Steam -- and I just discovered HTML5 games for Android on my phone. I may not travel much any more, but there's still much to explore.