Written 02/01/2008.

It was a long drive from Van Horn to San Antonio punctuated with gusts of wind that made my adrenaline go nuts. Every time it happened my head would clear absolutely and I would be completely alert. I think this is kind of like what meditation is supposed to do.

The KOA in San Antonio is gigantic. I helped one of the employees diagnose what was wrong with their Internet connection; it turned out part of the problem was the long run of cable they adjust made. I wasn’t confident that would fix everything though so I went into town to find a Starbucks (with Vibeke’s help) and gave up after realizing it was in a crowded mall and that I’d have to pay for parking in an underground lot. I did see the Alamo, though. Tomorrow I’ll make it to Houston and stay with Will Keckley, an avid rider I know through the internet.

I think he’s helping someone move in the morning so I’ll probably spend the first half of the day in a Starbucks getting things done online.

I’ve been trying to think a lot about America and what I’ve seen lately. In a lot of ways this trip doesn’t feel like it’s covering a lot of new ground yet, probably because I’ve done parts of this drive before, some more than once.

Louisiana will be the first new state I’ll hit.

I want to try and go by Crater of Diamonds State Park on the way down to Mexico to try my luck at diamond mining.

America, though… I don’t know. Rural America can be a scary experience when you think about the coming election. I feel like so many people I’ve met don’t care who gets elected as long as some core belief system matches up. I think for a lot of people time and motivation are key barriers to getting involved with politics. Not many people view it as something important that should take precedence over other things in their lives. It’s hard to get motivated about politics and the whole process when no one you know is interested in it as well; I think that’s a big part of the problem in rural areas. A sense of disenfranchisement may affect people too when they compare their possible influence with that of someone in the ‘big city’.