Robbo's Travels

Gooooood Morning, Llamaland, I'm baaaaaaack!

First and foremost, huge Llama Yips go out to Kathy for manning the fort while we Llamas were out and about (or "oot and aboot" as the Scots would say). Orgling's rayther addictive, isn't it Kathy?

Second, I have no earthly idea what is going on in the blogsphere, since I haven't even looked at a computer screen since last weekend. So if I start beating on a horse that is already very much dead, please indulge me.

Third, I have the following travel-related observations to make:

- As long time readers know, I have a real phobia about flying. But, if you have to get on an airplane, Midwest Airlines rocks. For those of you unfamiliar with them, all of Midwest's seats are big n' roomy 1st class jobs - they only stack four across where other airlines would jam five or even six. Also, their whole shtick is customer service, so you don't get the feeling so much that you're being herded into a cattle car by people who don't give a damn and would rather be somewhere else.

Unfortunately, it isn't what it used to be. About eight years ago I flew Midwest out to Omaha for a wedding. In those days, they served complimentary wine and did it so aggressively that I was pretty well buzzed before we'd even cleared Appalachia. They seemed to have knocked that policy off these days. Perhaps it's all for the best.

Of course, the only drawback is that Midwest only flies to half a dozen or so cities. But if you're going to one of them, it's definitely the best way to do it.

- I will never again agree to a "midsized" rental car. Enterprise saddled me with something called a Chevy Aveo. I'd never even heard of these things before, and I could completely understand why when I saw it - it's basically a Geo Metro knock-off. Small, low and frail. Not the sort of thing in which I'd care to take another hundred mile round trip on the Interstate.

- Speaking of driving, I am now of the opinion that police cruisers on the Interstate are detrimental to public safety. This is because they disrupt the normal flow of traffic. Usually, when someone is tooling along at or around the speed limit, other faster drivers will simply pass him. Nothing to it. And everybody is used to it. But when a state trooper is the one doing the tooling, nobody dares to pass. As a result, an enormous bottleneck can form up, with a large number of drivers suddenly finding themselves in very close proximity to each other at high speed and, equally important, in an unfamiliar situation - nobody really knows what anybody else is going to do. It strikes me that when the actions of public safety officials pose a hazard to public safety themselves, then the officials ought to consider changing them.

Just saying.

- Speaking of law enforcement, I had to spend a goodish bit of my time in the local Federal Building. To get through security, I had to present a photo I.D. When I flashed my creds from Father Justice, the guard would ask confidentially, "Are you armed?" Of course, I wasn't and wouldn't want to be. But just being asked was kinda cool.

- Oh, one other thing - Damn the Central Time Zone! How can Letterman be over at 11:30? It ain't natural.

UPDATE: Big Llama Yips! to our Llama Military Correspondent as well. I particularly like his Flash-In-The-Pan Babe series and hope he'll keep submitting them. When do we get to Catherine Bach, aka Daisy Duke?