Blairsville, Georgia

The Appalachian Trail starts (or ends, depending on your perspective) at Springers Mountain, a few miles south of where I am this week. If you're interested in a little virtual hiking check out the the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's Web site for an interactive map. You can zoom into the map at any location and see the topography.

At approximately the half-way point you could zoom to Duncannon, Pennsylvania and see where the trail crosses my river (the Juniata), and then the Susquehanna River at Clark's Ferry.

Or, you could zoom at the Southern end of the trail and see what the landscape is like where I'm working this week -- in the Northwest Georgia mountains.

I could walk to work if I wanted to. Except that it would take six months to get here!

East Brunswick, NJ

The challenge driving in New Jersey is making left-hand turns. You have to get in the right-hand lane and watch for an "all turns" sign. Then you exit and quickly loop around to a traffic light. To turn left you must turn right.

This week I am staying at a Best Western Inn, about 15 minutes from the bank where I'm working. Looks like I'll have four full days' of work and won't get home till late Friday night. It happens sometimes.

But there are three restaurants within walking distance, so I don't have to drive anywhere in the evenings. The weather has been nice -- not too hot in the day, low humidity, and cool in the evenings. No ranch chores, so all I have to do is hang around in the evenings with a clear conscience -- surf the Internet, post on the blog and listen to my audio books. I can even "Sling" local TV over the Internet to my little netbook. Almost like lounging in the WR!

It's a wonderful life!