I got an email this morning from a friend going to Mali. “Wann’a come along? Still got the travel bug for exotic places?” I responded that, no, the travel bug seems to have died, exotic places, uncommon locales. It doesn’t matter. Dead. Travel for travel’s sake holds little interest any more. I’m hoping the bug comes back. I used to say it was like malaria, that once exposed, you always hosted the virus. It always came back. So, no, not heading to Mali.

I am, however, heading to Colorado to camp, hike and fish with my mountain-man son, Tim. We hope to beat the first snow. I now regret giving him my expedition sleeping bag, rated to minus 20.

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A couple of friends dropped me a note after my last post, asking that I use the blog, if for nothing else, as a place to inform readers where I have essays published and so forth. Yes, that’s a plan. To that point please go to The Nervous Breakdown. An essay was published yesterday, A Crisis of Vacuum, which touches on among other things, my waning/non-existent travel interest. Too, go to Mostly Fiction where I review Daniel Kehlmann’s new novel (in nine episodes), FAME. I was very impressed with this little book. It’s not often you find such good writing combined with a unique literary technique.