SIXTY FIVE YEARS ON

Outside the roadtrip capsule, they are remembering D-Day. Not only does the destruction of Nazism pose a problem for anyone basically opposed to war, but, on a much more personal level, I have to wonder if I would have had what it took to do what these guys did?

The secret word is Beachhead

WHAT'S REAL AND WHAT IS NOT

Since I’ve never been exactly in the habit of taking vacations – I always figured, to do that, one had to be gainfully employed in the first place – I have been looking through the windshield of this mythic but quite actual Doc40 road trip with some fascination. The world seems a much calmer and more organic place away from the 24-hour news cycle and the manufactured crisis-de-jour, although this is not to say that the world of Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, and the Taliban is any the less real. It’s just that – when not caught in the immediate ebb and flow – it tends to recede and not so constantly and so petulantly demand my attention and emotional involvement. I know I will return to media perdition, but it feels so damn good to be away from it. (Pic from Valerie.)

The secret word is Relax

Koko Taylor – RIP

David Carradine -- RIP

BILLBOARDS ON THE LOST HIGHWAY

OUR WHACKY UNCLE BILL

Uncle Bill does not approve of the roadtrip and makes his attitude abundantly clear.

THE ROAD TRIP ROLLS

The Doc40 road trip rolls on, into the dust and into the distance. I know the posts have been short – if not skimpy -- but that’s the way of it when reporting from the fabled Lost Highway. Most of the characters are keeping up, although there are elements of the exercise that are akin to the proverbial herding of cats.

The secret word is Boldly

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

Cousin Claudia stayed home to take care of her Seconal collection.

CYBERPOSTCARD #3

Mekonta is breathtaking as always. The weather is lovely. My hotel is the one exploding. Wish you were here.

MARMITE JESUS?

Jesus H. Christ. When the image follows one across all cultural divides, and appears in the lid of a jar of Marmite -- the unique British salty yeast spread -- you know the guy has to have something going for him despite all the trouble he's caused. Of course, the Brits are not gathering in their hundreds to worship at the Jesus jar. Those raised in what Eddie Izzard calls "the Murdering Bastard Religion" -- only invented to let Henry VIII dump a couple of surplus wives -- can't raise those levels of emmotion. (The image came from the wonderful Valerie.)

The secret word is Soldiers

IN ALL THE DELIS IN ALL THE WORLD...

A sandwich has been named after me! I am blown away. Like I was in old school show business. My Facebook pals Mike Dolan and Tim Napalm alerted me to the above menu posted in what Mike called “little indie coffee place called Cake Shop” on Ludlow Street in New York. The really odd part is that I actually eat ham & Swiss.

The secret word is Crust

CYBERPOSTCARD #2

The bottle people of Pangea do not communicate well.

SUNDAY MORNING

In distant places, breakfast can be strange. (Or is it that in strange places, breakfast can be distant.)

CYBERPOSTCARD #1

The flight was all that might be expected and we were able to avoid the attack of the Lego facegrabber.

The secret word is Brunch