reentry, 10/12

I ate the last lunch of my trip in Reno, surrounded by tourists and casinos. I didn't like it very much.

Fifteen miles later I was in California, instantly recognizable as I conducted a late merge into the out-of-state vehicles lane for "agricultural inspection". (As far as I know, California is the only state whose state line feels like an international border.) Apparently some days they don't bother inspecting anyone, so I needn't have put so much thought into whether I was in-state or out-of it after a month on the road.

The Donner Summit Roadside Rest Area was crowded and sunny, with a pond and giant conifers and a mountain vista. All around me were yuppie couples and working families and vintage hippies, taking a break on their way back from gambling or camping at Reno or Tahoe. Everyone looked healthy and happy. A guy sat outside the restrooms playing classic rock songs on an acoustic guitar.



And an hour after that, I was in the Sacramento suburbs, passing chain stores and exit signs, surrounded by everyone else going home. Traffic on I-80 was stop-and-go starting sixty miles away from San Francisco.



Home at last.

recommended reading

Well, I just finished Spilling Clarence, Anne Ursu's slightly surreal novel of remembering and forgetting in small-town Minnesota. I thought it was really great. It reminded me some of Don Delillo's White Noise, but that's a dangerous comparison for a book. Here's an excerpt with no particular context, from the story of Lilith, the perpetual cafe worker: ( Copyright violation. )

Here's a longer excerpt courtesy of the publisher, and of course here's the book's official site.

I also recommend Joan Didion's essay "On Keeping a Notebook," from Slouching Towards Bethlehem and also found in various anthologies. It was interesting for me to read in juxtaposition with the notes I write here and elsewhere.