Back again after another one of those long silences. Not intended, just life got in the way of blogging. 
Flew to NYC for a long Fourth of July weekend to visit my girlfriend Kate. While it was great to see her, it was hot and humid, and my allergies went into overdrive. Came back and drove up to Lake Tahoe, intending to stay for a couple days. What normally is a four-hour drive took seven hours, thanks to a truck fire that closed down the freeway and it turn caused me to hit Sacramento at rush hour. All in 105 degree heat…
Lake Tahoe was thankfully cooler, but unfortunately, the smoke from the various forest fires was bad. Really bad. Like 1-mile visibility. Like looking like it was overcast. Which only made my allergies even worse. So I turned around the next day and drove home. My head was so congested that my ears got blocked on the drive down the mountain.
Which in turn led to a nasty sinus/inner ear infection, which the antibiotics finally have put down. So I’m finally getting back into the swing of things.
