Adrian is a Good Cranker

Days Walking - 48

Today is another rest day.
They seem to sneak up, don’t they? We’re actually doing pretty well, and could probably go for another couple of days without a break, but it’s good to stick to the routine, and not overdo.

I just finished my most recent book, The Portable Steinbeck. It was good, This dude can really put some words together. The style has a very familiar, homey, parable feel to it. The voice seems sincere and heartfelt.

Steinbeck’s writing style feels so unforced, easy, as if it just poured out of him over dinner. Steak, Potatoes, and Lots of Beer.

“Papa, tell us about Lenny and George!” The kids insist, and Papa chuckles, hefts cute little Marguerite onto his knee, takes a long puff on his pipe, and starts to talk. Not that I’m saying ‘Of Mice and Men’ is just so much rambling, it’s not. It’s a great piece of writing. It’s shorter than I expected, though. What passed for novel-length back in the day would now be a novella.

Interestingly, the whole Bugs Bunny cartoons usage of “Which way did he go, George?” and the dopey giants who show up in the various toons, grabbing one of the characters and exclaiming: “I will pet him and squeeze him and love him and…” as the giant squishes the poor Daffy/Bugs, etc - Both of these are references to ‘Of Mice and Men’.

Spoiler alert:
If you have not read the book and hope to, be warned.

The odd thing about the cartoon references is that OM&M is a pretty damned depressing book, with a terrible (great) ending. Why would the Warner Bros cartoon types think that lampooning Lenny was funny? I just don’t see it.

I think the WB cartoons back in the day liked to plug in Grown-Up references, for the adults in the audience, while the kids giggled at the slapstick. But I think that this was a reference used in poor taste.

It seems like a director might have said “Hey Mac, inject some Steinbeck into the next toon.” And since Mac had only read one Steinbeck piece, he had not a lot of options. “Um, yeah I’m make fun of Lenny it’ll be great.”

NO!!

But I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The only good author is a dead author, IMHO. I can’t stand to discover someone right after their first book has debuted. Then you have to wait years for the next book.

None of that, thank you. A dead author has output their last work, hopefully 30 years before my birth, and their 50 Volumes of Amazing Writings are readily available in handy collections. In paperback if I’m unsure, and in the executive ultra snazzy hardback folio if the characters are named Delores and Humbert.

Quilty, you jerk!! (Now there’s a character that shoulda shown up next to Bugs and Daffy.) Joking!

I would very much like to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and a tall glass of milk. Yes Please Thank You.

Heather - a 'Shout Out' is like when you're interviewed on the news about the drive-by shooting that happened on your block, and while on camera, you say "Hi Mom!" or "I would like to shout-out to my homies at Bronx Jr High". Shout-outs have also evolved into the realm of the internet, where you take the time to recognize your pals.

Email Eddie from Jacksonville, Florida would like to complain that this blog is no kinda guidebook on traveling Alaska. It seems: There aren’t enough details about which are the best places to stay in Barrow, where the best cheeseburgers are available in Deadhorse, which brand of parka is the best in -40 wind chill, on and on.

Well Eddie, I never intended this blog to be a useful travel guide of that sort. These posts are more a stream of consciousness account of what it is like for me to take this journey. So, decades from now, when I have a husband, a career, a mortgage and three children, I can look back at this mental snapshot of the young me and remember.

If you want a detailed travel book, an 'Alaska on $40 a Day' or some such, go to your local library (gasp! - I know they don‘t have coffee there, but rumor is, they have a few books) Or go to a bookstore, and get something written by a professional guide type person. I’m not one.

I don’t have the perspective to provide comparisons of local hotels, I only stayed at one of them, how would I know about the amenities of the other? I can’t make recommendations of any kind, because everyone’s needs, goals, and tastes are different. I can only say what works or doesn’t, for me.

So Eddie- I’m not writing a bad Alaska Guide Blog, I’m writing a halfway decent diary. For some reason, a few people seem to enjoy it for what it is. I suggest you get yourself some books (Seriously, a stack of them, because you can’t trust any one perspective).

Caeled’s fungus is all cleared up. Just thought you might like to know. He’s so damn happy. Speaking of happy, Kwame isn’t. He was definitely not his typical chipper self, and sulked in the shelter all day. We’ve vaguely concerned, but let him have his space. We all have antisocial days. Church is rooming with him right now, but assures us that they didn’t have a tiff, it doesn’t seem to be rest-of-us-related.

We spent the day close to camp, which for stealth purposes is a ways from the road. So no interaction with trucking types at all. I missed it!

I have to admit, even a few moments contact with a friendly random soul is a sweet and reassuring thing. Chatting with one of these on-the-go folks reminds us the world is still out there, life goes on, and will hopefully be there when we get back to our homes and regular lives.

Litany Webb, signing off

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