Sacrifice to Silence: 752 (finished)

So, here we are in verdant Gaitlinburg, TN. Our hotel is round (like the apartment tower in Long Beach that was the one that the woman fell out of at the beginning of the first “Lethal Weapon” movie) and up a steep drive. None of the corners in the room are right angles, which disconcerts me. From the room I have a lovely view of the trees covering the surrounding hills. It must be stunning here in the autumn.

Yesterday we arrived in Atlanta, picked up our rental car, and drove here. We stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant in a small town. Much to our surprise, the employees were all Mexican and the food was quite good. We saw another Mexican restaurant in town and yet another just outside of town. Did a bunch of Mexicans randomly settle in rural TN? It’s a mystery.

We drove through the Smokey Mountain National Park, which was very, very pretty. I was driving, though, so I had to pay attention to the road—even more so, because “exhausted” was a state I’d already passed through on my way there. ;-) For the last part of the drive, we were behind a couple on a K12. I was rather proud of the fact that I could tell what the guy was doing wrong—he was cornering badly, etc. We had an interesting discussion about that.

We got to the hotel, checked in, and I promptly collapsed. Ken wandered around and I slept for an hour and a half. It wasn’t nearly long enough—I _so_ did not want to get back up. But I knew if I kept sleeping, I’d wake up in the middle of the night and be totally thrown off kilter. Plus, there was a welcome reception to go to.

There was good food at the reception (wings, cheese and crackers, spinach/cheese dip and tortilla chips, fruit), and we munched for a bit and chatted with various other couples. The thing about K12 folks is that they’re not what you’d consider “average” bikers. Because of the cost of the bikes, the people who ride them tend to be better educated, have a reasonable income, and are older than the norm (like, our age, as opposed to 10 years younger). Witness the fact that at last year’s rally, the investment seminar was the most popular activity. (They’re running it again this year.) We had dinner with one guy (I had a local beer—Cherokee Red, quite tasty—and we split a white pizza—very yummy, and we’re still kicking ourselves that we left the box with the final two pieces on the table), and then headed back to the hotel.

I didn’t sleep well last night—woke up several times for various reasons—so I’m sleepy again today, although not nearly so much as yesterday. We got up early and went to a brief orientation thing (I ran away when they started doing icebreaker activities). Ken’s been spending the day helping with tune-up and installation demos (“engineering geek,” she said fondly). This morning I dealt with GWW stuff. It took me all morning, but I got the final announcement to the Chronicler and answered all of the related e-mail. Thank the gods for the room in the hotel with wireless Internet access—otherwise, quite honestly, there’s no way I could have come on this trip.

I had lunch with Ken and some other guys, and now I need to get some writing done. Well, after I read for a little bit…

Tonight Mars will be closest to the air and most visible, than it has been since Neolithic times. Since before there were humans in North America. Think about that when you gaze up into the night sky tonight. I wonder where humankind will be the next time Mars swings back towards us?

Tonight we’re off to the Aquarium for dinner and wandering. This is apparently one of the top aquariums in the country (go figure). The fact that it’s part of the Ripley’s chain concerns me…or maybe it intrigues me…