We arrived home just after 11 p.m. last night, greeted by two ecstatic cats. The two days' ride home was long, but we planned it that way, to be able to arrive home late last night and miss some of the grueling desert heat and sun.

Let's see, a quick recap that will no doubt turn out to be less than quick:

Friday we were able to sleep in, and oh, we did. I woke up with a sinus headache, and downed many Tylenol Allergy/Sinus and Advil pills. We decided to do laundry again, and did so, and ate lunch while it was going around in circles. I kept reading things about Hurricane Katrina and spent most of the morning and early afternoon fighting back tears. In her journal, Christine asked why she felt guilty, when she didn't cause the hurricane, etc. My own guilt stemmed from being on vacation, from enjoying myself, for worrying about how much we were spending when, for crying out loud, we have a huge house, and jobs, etc. It's a useless way to feel, because there's poverty and suffering all over the world every day and I can't fix it all, even if I sold the house and all my belongings and donated the money and did charity work for the rest of my life. But I was tired and headachy and very, very sad.

There are many ways to donate money-what do you all suggest? I've heard both good and bad about the Red Cross, and I'm not sure how to separate out the truth from the rumors. Alas, as much as I want to, I'm not allowed to donate blood-I lived in Britain for more than 3 months between 1980 and 1996 (when I studied there), and thus I might have Mad Cow Disease, don't you know. (Where does the Red Cross think the British get their donated blood, hmmm?) (The problem, apparently, is that there's no way to test for MCD. But the real problem, as far as I'm concerned, is that I have been allowed to give blood since then; they've changed the rules recently. In fact, I just checked, because when I checked a month or two ago, it also said if you lived there from [X date, I don't remember] until present for more than 6 months, you couldn't. Now it says you can't if you received a blood transfusion during that time. Which means Ken is now eligible to give blood, hurrah!)

Wait, wasn't this supposed to be a recap of the last few days?

Friday afternoon we headed back into Yellowstone to see Old Faithful. I wanted to see some of the other geysers, which are far more impressive, but the timing was bad (some only blow once a day, and we weren't hanging out there until 9:30 p.m.). We saw Old Faithful just as we arrived, through the trees, so we hung out for an hour so we could see it again, sitting inside and eating ice cream (strawberry for me, moose tracks for Ken). I also found Advil Allergy/Sinus, and tried that.

We got back to the hotel in time for a quick shower and then it was off to the big banquet, where they announce where next year's CCR will be. Atlanta! Or near, anyway, at Chateau Élan, ooh la la. Looks utterly, fabulously cushy and gorgeous. And, it should mean that we can go to DragonCon, which is usually over Labor Day weekend (CCR ends on Friday night so people have the weekend to travel home), as well as see my sister, niece, and new grandnephew, and Phaedra! The Chateau Élan people had put together a hilarious professional video welcoming us to the resort. I felt so loved.

I did a quick e-mail check in the lounge and then took my pounding head to bed, where I finished writing postcards so we could mail them before we left (and not, therefore, be totally lame). Meanwhile, Ken bought me presents! A stuffed bald eagle (to go with my raven puppet and baby red-tailed hawk that makes a real red-tailed hawk cry), and a new helmet! The helmet thing was more of an opportunity than anything else. I only kind of need a new one; you're supposed to retire them every 5 years or so, and mine's 5 or 6 years old. I already knew what kind to get (and had tried it on to determine my size-main features are a sunshade built in, less wind noise, and more air flow, as well as the fact that it's silver, rather than black), and he found someone online who was selling one for way below cost (wore it for a couple of hours and realized it wasn't the right size). He needs a new one, too, and will be ordering it post haste.

I forgot to mention that earlier in the week, I bought some other items to make the desert trips less hideous: a cooling shirt (the fabric wicks away moisture from the skin), a cap-type thing made out of the same type of fabric, to wear under my helmet; and a cooling band that you soak with water and wrap around your neck. On the way home, I told Ken I loved that neck thing almost as much as I loved him. So not kidding. It lasts for almost 2 hours and really does keep me cooler. The shirt and cap work really well, too.

Saturday, we finished packing, shipped a box home, and got on the road. I still had the damn headache. We rode through more gorgeous scenery: rivers, pastures, rolling hills. We even cut through the corner of Idaho, thereby adding yet another new state to my list. :-) On the way through Salt Lake City, there was a thunderstorm off to our right-a glowering dark wall of clouds with sharp bolts of lightning streaking to the ground. We got sprinkled on a little, but it was actually rather cooling and pleasant. We ate lunch in a restaurant that also had a cheese shop (cheeeese!), had a milkshake in a diner later on, and pizza in a little joint for supper.

As we rode through the darkness after supper, Ken put on music rather than the novel we were listening to, because he needed something a little peppier to keep him alert. I have to say, Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell really is the quintessential motorcycle album (er, except for the fact that the biker essentially crashes and burns in the first song-but it's all about the drama, right?). My mike shorted out the day before, which meant Ken could talk to me but I couldn't talk to him, and the only benefit of that sad problem is that I can sing as loud as I want and not trip the voice activation. And I can sing the entire Bat Out of Hell album almost without listening to it. (I have a vivid memory attached to the album, but I'm too tired to write about it now…)

It was a beautiful, clear night, with stars all around. Yes, there are times when the bike isn't the best mode of travel-when it's hot, or cold, or windy, or raining, when I want to be writing or driving myself-but I can't imagine how to experience some things without being on a bike. I looked at all the SUVs lumbering through Yellowstone and couldn't for the life of me get how it must have looked from the inside. Viewing nature from a car is like watching it on TV. I love being able to tip my head back and be surrounded by stars or treetops and feel the power and speed beneath me. Freedom. Euphoria.

We made it to Cedar City, Utah, before crashing hard. Well, we crashed after finding a Red Dwarf ep on TV…

The next morning, we were reminded why Utah on a Sunday is a lot like Britain-no, you can't have breakfast, everything's closed, so bugger off. Eventually we did find an IHOP, and they'll serve you real food at breakfast time, not just breakfast food. So I had a BLT. Which is almost breakfast food, if you think about it.

We cruised into Vegas before noon, and then put into motion our devious plan (actually, we'd put it into motion the day before, by pushing all the way to Cedar City): we found an air conditioned place to hide out for the day, rather than riding through the desert in the midday and afternoon hell. We grabbed lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican place, and settled in at a $2 movie theatre for an afternoon of random movies.

We watched Madagascar (missing the beginning, but wandered in during a break between later movies to watch the beginning), Herbie the Love Bug (which was surprisingly amusing, despite the obvious fact that the writers and director knew nothing about actual racing) (and may we have a moment of silence over the fact that the very cute Lindsay Lohan has dyed her hair blonde? Thank you.), and Bewitched (great premise, flawed execution, obvious cuts, and I just don't get the Will Ferrell thing).

After a quick supper (shared meatball sub), we were back on our way. We listened to music and I read (because Jenny Crusie writes unputdownable books) until it was dark, and then we listened to more of Inkheart (but didn't finish it, argh!), and then, finally, blissfully, just after 11 p.m., we were home.

The headache came back with a vengeance at about 4 a.m., so I staggered to the bathroom and took more drugs. Woke up a bit later and put on eyeshades, and eventually it all went away and I managed to sleep until after 8 a.m. I think it's gone now, but we'll see.

Amazingly, we're mostly caught up with après-trip stuff: laundry is done, all receipts are logged into Quicken, all mail has been opened and sorted and pretty much dealt with. I had an ongoing list of “to do after trip” (small things, like adding someone's birthday to iCal, etc.) and much of that is already done. We've made plans for meals for the week and shopped at both TJ's and the regular grocery store. I've updated my submissions log, my guidelines log, and my anthology deadlines list (although, alas, did no actual writing). And now it's far too late and I should've been in bed an hour ago, so off I go. Except, one more thing…

New Kate Bush album in November! Wahoo!

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Now Reading: Fast Women, Jenny Crusie
Lately Listened To: latest Styx podcast
Recently Watched: Battlestar Galactica, CSI: Miami rerun