On the road again

I have been at my home in Arlington, Virginia for about a week. That's long enough. Long enough for me to cook a few meals for myself, long enough to meet up with some friends, long enough to do some laundry. I had a job interview in there too. (They've got it down to me and someone else, and the second interview will be in early October.)

I really wanted to see my friends Brian and Jenny Lumb at Nourish and Flourish in Asheville on The Pilgrimage, but I didn't tell them that I was planning to see them until I was leaving. At that point, they quickly and regretfully told me they were in Seattle! I would still like to go see them, so I will do that now. They will be there this time. One good thing about going now is that I may actually get to see some fall foliage on the trees...maybe.

If I don't see autumn leaves on my way to Asheville, I may see some as I head north through West Virginia and Pennsylvania. I am going to see some other friends in New York and Ontario this time after I leave North Carolina. I may go to Rhode Island (one of my two remaining states) on the way back, but I probably won't. I invited another friend to come see me next weekend, and I hope he can come. He lives on the west coast and really needs a break from the project he has been doing recently in Boston, so I suggested he take a hop down to DC instead of going all the way back to California for the weekend. I did not get to see him when I was out there last month. Anyway, I can't be in Rhode Island and Washington at the same time, and I am definitely going to be in Canada at least two nights. For sure.

This time, I have a white Kia Forte. The guy who gave be the upgrade was not at the car rental place today, so I spoke to Lolita again. She is the person who checked me in last time. She is a nice lady, but she wasn't going to upgrade me. Not even if I batted my eyelashes at her. In fact, today they did not have anything to upgrade. At the time I picked up my car, they had my Kia and a 15 passenger van. That's it. She offered me the van, and I said no. (Someone had it reserved anyway.) I usually reserve a compact car, which is actually a sedan, and usually I get a Ford Focus. I am not happy about getting a Kia this time, but we'll see how it does. I am sure it's the same car class as the Focus, but I just can't stop thinking about those hamsters in their commercial, and that's not the picture I want for a car that I am driving hundreds or thousands of miles. I think they need to rethink their branding strategy. I used to work for Honda, and we made fun of Kias. We also made fun of Hyundais though, and I know they have come a long way since I was at Honda.