Today I drove from Houston to Mobile, Alabama, via New Orleans, together with some longshore guys and gals.

It was a lot of fun—laughing in the car, talking local union politics (scary stories really, because there are some crazy crazy things happening in Houston longshore-world), eating a fish sandwich on the go (from Whataburger—and even the longshore guys and gals got fish sandwiches because apparently the meat ain’t worth trusting), peeing at a gas stop next to a huge cage with a tiger (yes, a real tiger), playing with the gps system (you know that made me—the techno-gadget geek—happy) and seriously enjoying warmer weather.

We drove across two 25mile bridges and one was through swamp land, nothing but swamp land. I am sure I drove this same road back when I was 12, in ’84, when my folks treated the whole family to a 3-month vacation driving all around the U.S (on an extended stopover, as we were immigrating to France from New Zealand).

The only sad moment of the day was when I talked with the babe. She’s running a high fever and is not happy. I’m finding it hard to be so far away from her for more than just a few days, let alone miss her while she’s sick. She asked me if I was going to be with her and when I told her I’d be home soon and I missed her, she said okay with a tiny little resigned voice that just broke my heart.