In order to accomplish several goals, I embarked on a 5-week drive-about from mid-June to mid-July. Number one: escape the heat in Texas. Number two: visit as many old college buddies as possible, as well as a cousin or two. Number three: jettison the bad case of writer’s block I had been nursing since March.

I was quite successful in regard to the first two, but was mostly disappointed by the quantity and quality of my latest writing. Damn, what was I thinking? Just put 5000 miles on my car, couch surf (actually guest rooms, thank goodness), tour through gorgeous countrysides from northern Alabama to Virginia, New Jersey to Long Island, New York, the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, a hop to Nantucket, and then top it off with a jaunt into Vermont. What more could I ask?

Oh well, as Buckaroo Banzai quipped, “Wherever you go, there you are.” I need to put in the effort, and must not rely on the muse to throw me a bone. The good news is that I did, in fact, make a few starts, false though they were, but they have at least exposed trails I won’t be heading down.

Stay tuned.