Hello from a Starbucks in Independence, Missouri. We are making both better and worse time today than yesterday. Better because the roads are smoother, straighter, flatter. We also topped up Hestur’s tires because they’d been looking low. It’s much more reponsive now, and we can maintain higher speeds. Worse because there is a high wind cutting across the highway, and with less to break it, we’re weaving around a bit.

And because we are really quite tired. Every now and again, as we drive along, we get a flash of the “big picture,” and we remember that 2010 was really kinda rough. And then with the push to get packed up . . . Well, let’s just say we fall dead asleep at night and have to stop every two hours or so during the day.

Well, we’re done with our mochas: it’s time to hit the road again.