The following morning, Saturday morning, I finished up the little bits of packing that were left. Once again, I was faced with a tremendous amount of free time. I bowled two lines at a local bowling alley, which took all of about 15 minutes. It went surprisingly fast, by myself, and wasn’t especially fun. I also played video games to kill time.

A video game at the time was a stand-up arcade game that took quarters or tokens. I was once quite good at Centipede, but it had been so long since I played, that I was out of practice.

I flew out of Norfolk at about 5 PM. There was a stopover in Chicago, where I had hoped to find some flowers for Merrianne. There weren’t any.

At about 9:30 PM, I touched down in San Jose. Merrianne was at the airport to greet me, and to my surprise, about a dozen other friends. It was truly a grand reception, with even a little welcome sign. Afterwards, we went to Merrianne’s for sushi and conversation.

If there was one thing I learned from the crossing, it was that most of the country was NOT like the coasts. In spite of what one hears on the news, the vast majority of the country is friendly, trusting, and generous almost to a fault. There’s hope for us, yet!

I dearly hope that this is still the true Spirit of America, and that it will continue long after I’m gone. – Roderick.