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The art car event is over. The traffic on I-95 was horrible. Our hotel in Savannah is wonderful. I am very tired.

More tomorrow.

Georg and I talked it over and it looks like we're going to leave after the rally today. That would have us missing three hours of display time downtown, and the awards ceremony and photo session from 3 to 4.

As I said yesterday, I feel no small obligation to be here when they want us to be here. And I don't feel great about skipping out early. But, the arguments in favor of leaving early are pretty strong.

First, it seems like the important events are done. The display time today is just all the cars together in a parking lot, not spread out around the town like we were yesterday. And the fundraising "people's choice" vote is over. I'm not that into award ceremonies and UMJ isn't going to win anything anyway. (I always skip the awards ceremony in Houston too.) It will be a bummer to miss the photo session, but you know, I'll have other opportunities to take photos of the car.

The main thing is that it's the end of the art car weekend, we're both tired, and we don't want to wait until 4 pm to start a 5-6 hour drive. Also I'd be very happy to avoid 4 more hours of standing in the Florida sun on my already burned face and throat.

My only reservation is that Mt Dora has done so much to bring us here. I really don't want them to feel like we didn't fulfill our obligations. I'm going to track down a driver who's been here before and knows the organizers, like Carolyn or Dave, and find out what they think. If it sounds like the organizers would be really upset with our leaving early, then we'll maybe reconsider.

It's weird because all the other out-of-town drivers have the opposite problem from us: they all have to go west, so it would be better for them to stay here longer in order to miss the hurricane. They're supposed to be driving through Louisiana on I-10 just when Katrina will be passing through. Yikes. It makes my concerns about driving late and sunburn seem pretty trivial.

Today was exhausting but fun. The parking arrangements were different from what I'm used to. The purpose of the event was to bring more foot traffic to the local businesses, so they had us spread out all over the downtown area. Also they asked us to stay with our cars so we could talk with spectators. Which was nice, I had some great conversations. But I also missed sitting and talking with the other drivers, which is what happens when we're all parked together.

They had little tip jars next to each car, with a sign asking spectators to "vote" for their favorite car by putting a dollar in the jar. All the donations will be given to the local hospice, and the car that raises the most money wins the "people's choice" award and a cash prize.

Unfortunately the donations depended a lot on where your car was parked. I'm not saying that I would have won in a different location; there were some amazing cars at this event. I think the prize will go to the Aerocar, Fat Rat or Hamburger Harley, and all of them deserve it. But still, my street got about half the foot traffic of the main street, and I think that did make a difference. On the other hand, some of the cars were on remote streets that hardly got any traffic at all! At least I got to meet some folks and raised a little money for the hospice.

I think I mentioned already that they gave us vouchers for dinner. We checked out the menus of a couple of places, and ended up eating at a seafood restaurant called Pisces Rising. It was insanely noisy, not the environment I would choose for a nice dinner out. And the waiter was kind of an overly friendly surfer dude. But the food was fantastic. We started with these wonderful little spicy crab cakes. Then I had grouper in almondine sauce, and Georg had whole snapper. He said it was well worth the bones, and I'm inclined to agree after trying a bite. We splurged and got dessert: key lime pie for me, and orange cake for him. Both fantastic. The best part of a very good meal, I think.

After dinner was Hamburger Harry's 50th birthday party, at a local bar. We were both pretty tired (me more than Georg I think) so we left after an hour, at about 10:30. I'm not sorry we went, but I would have been if we had stayed any longer. It was fun though. Carolyn (Stink Bug) brought sparklers, glow stick necklaces, and a cake shaped like a hamburger. Besides Carolyn, Bonnie (Women Who Rock)and Robert (Fat Rat) were there, also Becky (Wheels of Imagination), Felicia (Catgoyle Cavy) and her boyfriend and friend, Susie and her husband, and of course Hamburger Harry and his son Karl.

Now we're watching Iron Chef while I process photos. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. We have to check out of the hotel room before the day's events get started. Which means we won't have a way to shower and change before driving to Savannah, which we probably won't get to until around 9 pm. At least the art car events should be easier tomorrow.

Did you know that the sun is brighter in Florida? Or maybe more direct, or anyway something that causes skin to burn faster. At one time I think I knew that, but unfortunately the thought was not in my head this morning. I was careful to cover my tattoo with sunscreen, but I didn't even think about other exposed skin. Consequently I have quite a burn on my face and throat and collarbones.

I was in the shade most of the day, but I guess not enough. It's been a long time since I've been really sunburned, but I do remembered that the worst part is dehydration. I'm drinking a lot of water and slathering my skin. Susie (the parade organizer) kindly gave me some free samples of after sun skin care lotion from her shop. It's called Anthony Logistics, it's a product line for men, but it smells nice and it's very soothing.

I should start processing photos but all I want to do right now is relax, read my book and keep slathering.

Georg kindly agreed to sit by the car so I could sneak away for a half hour nap. But instead, I'm just sitting in the hotel room enjoying the quiet. Not to mention the air conditioning.

The heat is brutal out there. I had been checking weather.com, and thinking that it would only be a little bit hotter than in NC. Well, I was wrong. When they say "it's not the heat, it's the humidity" they aren't kidding. All we're doing is sitting by the car talking to people, but in this heat it takes a lot out of you.

OK, it's about time for me to head back out and give Georg a break. We have to stay with our cars to talk with spectators. Normally I wouldn't feel obligated, but the town of Mt. Dora is generously compensating us to be here, so I really ought to be out there pressing the flesh when they want us to be there. We're off duty at 5. We'll have dinner in town (they gave us two $25 vouchers! on top of the stipend and the hotel room! that's what I mean about generous) and then later tonight the art car people are throwing a birthday party for Hamburger Harry. I tried to find a photo online of his Hamburger Harley, but all I found were photos of a Harley rally in Hamburg. So y'all will have to wait until I get my photos posted. I promise it will be worth the wait. The Hamburger Harley is amazing.

The party was great fun. It was by the pool, pleasant and breezy once the sun started to go down. There was tons of hors-d'oeuvres type food, as predicted plenty for dinner. We sat and talked with Dave and Irene Major (Aerocar), and Bonnie and Robert Blue (Women Who Rock and Fat Rat). Mostly we talked about art car events around the country. We also chatted some with Carolyn (Stink Bug) and Becky (Wheels of Imagination). Dave and Irene have been to tons of events and have great stories to tell. They made me wish so much that I could take the whole summer off and just do art car events!

We got our packet with the parade route and instructions on where to park tomorrow. They have us kind of spread out around the town. I think because the point is to bring foot traffic to the local businesses, so they want the cars parked in front of as many stores as possible. There are more cars here than I had expected: over 20! I thought there would be only half that.

Georg and I had intended to stroll around Mount Dora this evening, but the town seemed to be pretty much closed up. So we're chilling in the hotel room. The local PBS station is showing some old Frank Sinatra special from 1973. Right now Sinatra and Gene Kelly are singing a duet and doing a little dancing. I have to say, even in 1973 those two guys still had it.

Tomorrow morning we have to be at the children's home by 9:30. It looks pretty close to the hotel, so I think we can safely leave at 9:15. Tomorrow is a long day, so I may not post photos until Sunday. We'll see how it goes.

We're in Mount Dora. Again today was an easy drive, with only a little craziness at the end when the directions failed us. But we found the hotel anyway.

It's a nice place, very charming. The hotel includes several buildings and ours was built in the 1930s. You can kind of tell by looking at the bathroom. It has that classy 30's tile. Our room does not, alas, have a view of the lake. But it does have net access! For $10 a day, which would be pissing me off enormously if the room weren't free.

We saw a couple of other art car drivers as we checked in: Women Who Rock and the Rat Man. Also known as Bonnie and Robert. I didn't realize before that they're a couple. And we also saw the driver of this car, whose name I unfortunately don't know. She's really cool though. She let me use her cold cream to wash my face in Louisville, on Friday night after we had been out in the heat all day. Because of that I went and bought a pack of Ponds "disposable facial cleansing cloths" for this trip. They're basically Handi-wipes with a gentler cleanser on them. They're really wonderful to have in your bag after a long grubby day.

I guess we'll meet everyone else at 6 tonight, when they're having some kind of party for the art car people. Until then we're free. Right now we're just hanging out in the room and relaxing. I should be out working on decoration repair on my car, but it's pretty hot so I may not get to it until later. (I hear it's a fabulous cool day in Durham, and I'm so bummed that we're missing it!) Rumor has it the party will provide enough "heavy appetizers" to make a light dinner, which might turn out to be enough for us since we had a big lunch at Steak n Shake. Neither of us had ever been there before, and I have to say it was good but a heck of a lot of food. Also the waitress was very accommodating of my lengthy dithering over the menu.

The first day of our vacation was easy and uneventful. We finished packing in the morning, and Georg showed Rob the garden while I cleaned the car. I even had time to do a little work!

Then we had brunch with Rob at Foster's before heading out. While we were there I saw my favorite customer from my days back at Ninth St Bakery. I'm amazed that he still remembered my name after all these years. (I still remembered his name too.)

We left at noon and made it to our first stop, Hardeeville SC, before 6. Hardeeville is a small town near the Georgia border. I don't know anything about it except there doesn't appear to be a Hardee's. Our hotel is a bit downmarket, but it has free wireless! Yay! I almost didn't even turn the computer on, because the list of amenities didn't mention net access. But Georg persuaded me that it was worth it to check, and he was right!

For dinner we picked a restaurant nearly at random from the phone book: Pepper's Porch in nearby Bluffton. (Which turns out to be a quaint tourist town right near Hilton Head, but we didn't know that until we got there.) It was about a half hour drive on gorgeous scenic low country roads. Lots of twisty live oaks covered with Spanish moss. The restaurant turned out to be excellent too. A bit noisy, but the food more than made up for it. I had shrimp and grits, and Georg had grouper stuffed with shrimp and crab. Both dishes were wonderful, and they also had possibly the best collards I've ever had. It was an auspicious start to our vacation.

All the way down we kept passing convoys of utility trucks going south. I guess they're heading to Florida in anticipation of the hurricane. It's heartening to know that there are teams ready to go when a hurricane happens. I just hope it doesn't happen anywhere near Mt. Dora! Actually I'm not worried about it. Mt. Dora is north of Orlando, and the landfall was much further south. Our art car event may get rained on, but nothing worse than that.

Yes, it's art car time again! Tomorrow morning we leave for an art car weekend in Mount Dora, Florida. I have to admit I was hesitant about going to Florida in late August, but I heard so many good things about this event from other drivers that I couldn't pass it up. There are some fun events, like a stop at a school for underprivileged children. And the event organizers are treating us very well, including a generous stipend and two free nights in a historic hotel.

Unfortunately one big part of our trip fell through: we were going to spend a few days with some friends of ours who have a house about an hour from Mt. Dora. But at the last minute, they got a big contract which will keep them here in Durham for the next few weeks. What a shame! I was so looking forward to seeing their new house. Still, I'm happy they have the work, especially since it's a client they've been trying to land for years.

Since we can't hang out with our friends in FL, we decided to spend a few days in Savannah having a mini-vacation after the car show. I'm really looking forward to it. I've always wanted to see Savannah. And this will sort of make up for the vacation we mostly didn't have last June, when family crises cut short our stay in New York.

This is going to be a much more low-tech art car event than Louisville was. It's a small show, only about a dozen cars, so I'm not going to fool around with webcasting. And it looks like the hotel doesn't have net access, so I may not even be able to post my photos during the event. I'm taking my cell phone data cable, but the data connection sucks (not to put too fine a point on it) and I'm not optimistic about being able to post photos that way. At least our hotel in Savannah does have net access so I'll be able to post then.

Rob is here to pet sit for us. I feel so much more comfortable knowing that the dogs get to stay home and have someone they know take care of them. Well, someone Thirteen knows. Jane still isn't too sure about Rob. She seems to be getting past the "running out of the room wheneve Rob enters" phase. I think once he's fed her a couple of meals, she'll warm right up to him. As long as he doesn't make any sudden movements or loud noises. Did I ever post the hilarious thing our scaredy-Jane did a few days ago? She accidently stepped on a piece of bubble wrap that had fallen off my desk. Poor thing literally jumped in the air and ran out of the room. I know I shouldn't laugh. I'm sure it was frightening for her. But come on, it was funny.

In other dog news, Thirteen continues to respond well to acupuncture. They let us cut back to every ten days instead of once a week. Which is a relief to my schedule (and my wallet). And she also continues to lose weight. She's down almost 2.5 pounds! That's like me losing 6 pounds. Which would be no mean feat in 7 weeks. I still feel guilty about making her lose weight. But it seems pretty clear that if she were smaller it would help her arthritis. Thirteen doesn't look any smaller, still round and squidgy, but when I scratch her back I can feel her hip bones more than before.

I totally forgot about this until someone posted it to the artcarz mailing list:

I'm in 3D! How cool is that?

This guy came by with a dual camera, took my 3d photo, and showed me his portfolio. The photos were amazing. The ones he showed me were mainly horses and they really seemed to leap off the page. He gave me 3d glasses to view them, and let me keep the glasses too.

Every time I get home from an art car event, I notice this weird soreness in my legs. The tops of my feet and the lower part of my shins is always really sore, every time. This morning I asked my friend Jason P. about it, he's into fitness so I thought he might have some insight. He pointed out that you work those muscles when you curl your toes.

Which makes perfect sense: art car events always involve, not just lots of driving, but lots of driving slowly & using lots of clutch. 90 minutes of riding the clutch wouldn't be unusual as we caravan to the staging ground and then go through the actual parade. And since art car events are always in the summer, I'm always wearing sandals. So I spent the whole parade gripping the sandals with my toes so I can drive. No wonder my shins get sore.

Jason suggested that I get a pair of driving shoes, keep them in the car, and just slip them on whenever I have to drive. I bet that would help a lot. So does anyone have driving shoes or know what I should look for? What makes a good pair of driving shoes?

The drive from Louisville back to Durham was a breezy nine hours. Much easier than on the way up. Guess I could have had breakfast at Lynn's Paradise Cafe after all! But at the time I thought I wasn't going to get home until after dark and I didn't want to delay myself any longer. Oh well, next time for sure!

I noticed on this trip how much gas prices can vary from state to state. In West Virginia I paid the highest price I've ever seen for gas: $2.499 a gallon. I bought exactly two gallons, which was just enough to get me safely across the state line to Virginia. Where I filled the tank for $2.119. I wonder if WV has an unusually high gas tax or something?

Jane Lane and Thirteen were out in the yard when I got home. They were both so excited. Jane jumped up and down and danced around. Thirteen was more sedate, but no less happy. It was nice to get such a warm welcome.

Georg kindly did some laundry for me this evening so I'll have clean clothes tomorrow. I can't believe I have to work tomorrow! Ugh! I feel surprisingly good considering the pace of the past four days. The only ill effects so far were a mild headache when I got home, and that was probably just from being on the road for nine hours. I'm going to turn in early tonight so I'll be fresh tomorrow. A BPAL package arrived while I was gone with two more Somnium blends: Nanshe and Temple of Dreams. I think I'll try Nanshe tonight.

I forgot the best part of the weekend: they had the spectators vote on their favorite cars and I won third place! I've never won anything at an art car show before. I've never even thought about winning, because the cars at these shows are always so amazing and I wouldn't even try to compete.

As a prize they gave me a nice, roomy leather duffel bag. It kind of smells like real leather but there's not a "genuine leather" tag on it so I'm not sure. Lisa suggested I could use it for an equipment bag. It's so big that I could put all my cables and peripherals in there, and still have room for my computer bag too.

Thanks, Kentucky Art Car Weekend!

The Kentucky Art Car Weekend is all over. Tiredness was catching up with me today, and I didn't talk to as many people or take as many photos as on previous days. But I still had great fun. Steph and Stephanie drove in from Indianapolis, and it was delightful meeting them both. They were great to have along, able to handle themselves and keep up at a rather chaotic event without ever contributing to the stress level. I wish I'd had enough energy to hang out with them after everything was over, but I was so exhausted that they headed out pretty quickly. Lisa went with them to continue her vacation, so I'm on my own tonight.

The schedule at these art car events is typically grueling, and I get through them through "sheer force of will" as Lisa put it. I just kind of mentally prepare myself for three days of constant activity, little sleep, and total lack of control over my environment, with the rare hour of downtime taken up by blog posting and photo processing. During an event I just stay in a mindset of "got to keep moving, got to keep going until after the parade." Luckily most events culminate with the parade, so I can safely crash as soon as it's over.

Webcasting always adds to the stress level -- even if it works perfectly, it's one more thing to deal with. Having Lisa here made everything so much easier and less stressful. She did everything for the cams. All the server side stuff, all the equipment, the connectivity, moving the cams around, everything. It was amazing.

The parade itself was great fun, although the illuminated cruise last night actually more spectators because we drove right past some kind of gallery crawl event. The funniest part was when we pulled into the destination and everyone started getting out of their cars, and suddenly Chris (Heaven & Hell Car) came running down the line telling us all to get back in. Turns out whoever was in the lead had accidently skipped part of the route, including the part where we were supposed to drive past the sponsor! So we headed back out and finished the parade. It was hilarious.

I only had one complaint about the parade. Someone a few cars ahead of us kept throwing colored smoke bombs out of their car. The smoke took several minutes to dissipate, had an acrid smell, and made it kind of hard to breathe if you got caught in a cloud of the stuff. I'm honestly stunned that someone in one of our parades would do that to the rest of us. We're driving around in crazy heat, without a/c because we have to leave the windows open to wave at people. Thank you for forcing us all to breathe that noxious smoke! How clever you are! How daring and transgressive! Do you also ring doorbells and run away?

It wasn't just us: the smoke bombs were thrown at spectators, and worst of all, they threw one right in front of a church where a bunch of people were gathered for a wedding. Thank goodness the bride wasn't standing there, the smoke smell might have gotten into her gown. An event like this depends on the goodwill of the community. Why the hell would someone -- one of us -- try to ruin not just our parade, but a stranger's wedding?

I'm going to write to the parade organizer thanking her for doing such a great job (which she did; Lisa and I were both impressed by how well she kept things moving along) and also mention the smoke bombs. I guess the person who did it thought they were being cool, but that was so not cool. It was the anti-cool.

Now I'm chilling in my monstrous huge hotel room, watching a marathon of America's Next Top Model. (thank you VH1!) I may not even leave the room again until check out time tomorrow. I ate a little bit after the parade, and I have veggies and nice dip here, maybe enough that I won't need to go out and get dinner. I was thinking about going back to Lynn's Paradise Cafe for breakfast in the morning, but that was when I thought the drive would take about nine hours. Now that I know it's closer to 12, I'll probably get on the road as early as possible.

A few tips I learned on this trip, so I won't forget for next time:

• Using a cooler full of ice as a mini-fridge to store snacks works great, but only if you remember to refill the ice every day.
• Bring hair conditioner. This bubble updo uses so much product, it's really hard on my hair.
• Bring a shower cap. If I can prevent my hair from getting wet, the hairstyle lasts for two days.
• Keep a travel sized container of facial cleanser in my bag. At dinner last night, I saw one of the other drivers in the ladies room and she let me use her cold cream to wash my face. The rest of me was still sweaty and gross, but with a clean face I felt a thousand times better.
• Bring cotton socks and my "farmer's friend hand salve." It was so refreshing to slather up my feet, put on the socks and let it sink in overnight.
• Make another outfit that matches the car. And make it a little longer than usual, so I can climb in and out of the car without flashing the world.
• Fix that short foot on the good tripod that Kevin gave me. My other tripod which I've been using doesn't have a detachable pan-tilt head, but Kevin's does, which would make things a lot easier. Also get a tiny level and attach it to the tripod.
• Get a hand cart that's nice enough to bring into a hotel, but sturdy enough to handle my equipment. Dragging my ass down the entire length of a parking garage while carrying a camera bag, computer bag, battery charger and 50 ft extension cord is not an experience I want to repeat.
• Get a short heavy duty extension cord, 8 foot or so.
• Keep hand sanitizer in the car.

This evening was amazing. Amazing. I'll try to write more later, but for now I'm pretty tired so I think posting today's photos will take all the mental energy I've got. My one comment: The "hot brown" at Lynn's Paradise Cafe. It's basically a turkey and bacon sandwich with cheese sauce instead of bread, heated under a broiler. Oh man! Outstanding.

Also, today's slide show archive is well worth watching, especially the end when we were on the illuminated cruise. Lisa cracked out the iSight camera, which has autofocus, and spent the trip aiming it by hand and capturing incredible images.

There's a cool slide show of yesterday's web cam action online. Unfortunately I got fewer shots than Lisa did, so mine run out a lot faster. But still, it's neat to see a sped-up version of the trip like that. Oh look, there's when we stopped at Wal-mart to get camp chairs! There's when we were in the mountains! There's when we got stuck in traffic and that motorcycle got between our cars!

The new room is amazing. It's as big as my whole house! Okay, not really, but it feels like it. It's got a sitting room about as big as the entire room we had before, with a big couch, desk, round table and 4 chairs, TV inside a cabinet, and a wet bar with fridge. Then there's a hallway with a vanity, and the bathroom (huge, natch). No hairdryer at the vanity, but my hairdryer is in my car so that's no biggie.

Past the hallway is the bedroom. Again, almost as big as the entire room we had before. No chairs, just two beds and another TV cabinet. Also there's two closets, one in the sitting room and one in the bedroom. The internet connection is out in the sitting room. It's ethernet, they provided a cable. I'm plugged in and we did computer-to-computer wireless.

Okay, so this room was totally worth $20 more a night. I was thinking that we ought to come up with another problem in this room and try to get upgraded again. It has been pretty cool to see both the old decor and the new. Lisa dubbed them the tacky tower and the swanky tower. One of the art car drivers knows someone who works here and he gave us the scoop. Apparently the Galt House was built in the 70s by a private owner who never redecorated it. Eventually he either retired or died, and the new company is in the process of renovating. But it's an expensive job so they haven't gotten to the west tower yet.

Now we're chilling and enjoying the net access and the incredibly spacious room. We have several hours off, then I have to go back to my car and turn the bubble machine on. The cars are on display about four blocks from here so it's an easy walk. Then tonight we have an illuminated cruise at 8:30, and then dinner at the famed Lynn's Paradise Cafe which I'm really looking forward to.

OK, quick update. The trip took a lot longer than expected, but we made it without any major incidents. We got in to Louisville around 8:30 and headed straight to the drive in, no time to check in at the hotel. The drive in was a lot of fun. We chatted with Greg Phelps (That Car), Tim McNally (Plaidmobile), Conrad Bladey (Handy Car) and several people who I don't think have art cars. Because we hadn't gone to the hotel we brought both Undersea Mah Jongg and Spacepod. People really grooved on Spacepod being biodeisel & Lisa had a lot of conversations with people about that. Unfortunately I wasn't as good at conversation as I might have been, because I was so fried from the trip and from not having eaten dinner yet. I'm afraid I left all the conversation duty to Lisa.

Also, I meant to take lots of photos of the cars, but I was so fried that I only got a couple of random shots. What I really wanted was a photo of a row of artcars illuminated by the light from the movie screen. But the lot wasn't set up like that at all. The screen wasn't that bright and most of the art cars were on the street. So that idea didn't pan out.

The drive-in was at the Cinderblock Art Gallery. A bunch of cars parked in the lot and they screened the movies on the wall of the gallery. First they showed Wild Wheels. I hadn't seen the movie since meeting the Button King so that was really cool. The movie included the coffin that he had on display in Charlotte.

After Wild Wheels they showed a series of classic VW car ads. That was really fun. Then a short thing about the custom cars designed for the tv shows Batman, the Green Hornet and the Munsters. I'm not that into classic cars, or those shows, so that was less fun. Last they showed Repo Man. Which I love, but by that time Lisa and I were both so exhausted that we bailed. It's too bad, I would have loved to see that movie again. But there was just no way.

OK, so the hotel. It's called the Galt House. It's a swanky place but they put us in the decidedly unswanky west tower. I have a suspicion that the west tower was once the original hotel, because it seriously looks like they haven't redecorated in about thirty years. Everything is clean and well-maintained, but trapped in an early 70s time warp. I'm talking dark wood paneling, weird retro chairs and a stucco ceiling in the room. We have to take some photos of this room before we move.

Which we are doing because the one thing the room does not have is net access. Their website says that all guest rooms have free internet access, but apparently in the west tower that means dialup. That is bullshit. I've never before been in a hotel that promised free net access and provided a phone line. Right now I'm writing from "the conservatory," a very nice glassed-in area where they have a wifi hotspot. That's fine for now, but I have so much net-related stuff to do on this trip, I can't camp out here all weekend.

Add to that a few minor annoyances (like the water glass Lisa picked up having a big crack in it, and the alarm clock in the room going off at 6 am and being next to impossible to disable) and our enthusiasm for the west tower has seriously waned. This morning we went down to the front desk and arranged to be moved into the east tower. The room will be bigger and therefore a bit more expensive, but it's totally worth it to me.

Okay, so enough complaining about the hotel. Today UMJ has to be parked on Main Street all day. In fact I need to get back to the room and get dressed (I'm still in my pajamas, fortunately they look enough like regular pants that I don't think anyone has noticed) and get my car over there. I'm not sure how much we're going to webcast today. We need to conserve battery power for the illuminated cruise tonight. We'll probably take another look at the schedule and decide.

I'm all packed, the iPod is loaded up, got my list for tomorrow morning, even had time to paint my toes. Nothing left to do tonight but try to sleep. Tomorrow morning bright and early we head for Louisville! We'll be webcasting the whole way there, though we expect downtime due to inevitable technical difficulties. We'll also be webcasting at various points on Friday and Saturday but we haven't decided yet exactly when. There's a lot going on -- besides the parade on Saturday afternoon there's a drive-in movie, a street fair, and a night-time illuminated cruise -- so I'm sure we'll find something interesting to point the cams at. I'll post here the time as soon as we figure it out. And as always, I shall do my best to post photos and updates each night.

I wish Georg could come too but it's going to be fun to have a cool chick art car event. Besides Lisa and me, Steph and Stephanie will join us on parade day. I'm really looking forward to meeting them. And I'm relieved that they have parade experience from VW events (and cam experience from VW events with Lisa), so they know what to expect.

I probably won't have time to post in the morning. When next I write, we'll be in Louisville!

So I may (or may not) have mentioned that Lisa and I are going to the Kentucky Art Car weekend. We're leaving tomorrow, and my work schedule among other factors has made it hard to get to my normal trip preparations.

In particular decoration repair. The decorations get a little ragged from all the weather and highway driving, so before every trip I give the car a once-over and do whatever repairs are needed.

I like to do this about a week before the trip, but for the past week my car's been in the shop most of the time. (Getting the catalytic converter, flex line and clutch replaced.) The days it wasn't at the shop, it was raining. I don't have a garage and I can't work on the decorations when the car is wet.

I got the car back yesterday, and the weather was fine, but last night was Georg's birthday so I was kind of busy. Today, finally, was time to work on the car. I arranged to go to Stoneline in the morning so I'd be free all afternoon. Ran a few errands, the bank, groceries, etc., got home about 3:15.

Two blocks from my house, a torrential downpour started. ARGH! Fifteen minutes later it was over and the sun was shining, but my car is soaked. It takes hours for that carpet to dry, and I can't do any gluing while it's wet.

But you know what? I'm not going to get upset about it. Call it an experiment in stress reduction. Self, repeat after me: It. Doesn't. Matter. If the sun stays out, the car may be dry enough to work on it tonight. And if not, so what? I always carry my art car supplies in my trunk. I can do the repair work at the Thursday night event.

Otherwise my day is going fine. I'm done with work, I'm partway packed already, I have all the supplies for our picnic dinner, I don't even have to think about the major headache (the cams) because Lisa is handling the whole thing, and I got a hefty and totally unexpected bonus from Stoneline this morning. Life is good. Wet, but good.