jrnl: added all the posts from the web to published

12 files changed, 544 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/published/2022-04-30_ferryland.txt b/published/2022-04-30_ferryland.txt
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+One of the central conceits of the modern world is that we can make things happen. That we can reach into the world as if it were the proverbial watch and we the watchmaker and tinker to our heart's delight. Perhaps more to point that we can make things happen *as we want* -- that we can set things in motion and control the outcome of these things. This isn't true of course. And, helpfully, all of existence is here to disabuse us of this wayward belief.
+
+Say for instance you want to get to Ocracoke island. It seems simple enough. You drive down highway 12, hop on a ferry, and you're there. Sometimes it is that easy I suppose. Doesn't have to be though. 
+
+Ocracoke is one of the most remote places on the east coast. It is isolated. So much so that there is a dialect of English spoken nowhere else on earth but here, and it came to exist precisely because this island is so isolated. There are no bridges to here. It is a small place. Every resident of this island knows every other resident by name. I'm pretty sure there are no doctors on the island. There is only one grocery store. 
+
+Still, the map says all you have to do is drive down highway 12 and make it happen. 
+
+In the bus the weather dictates our days as often as not. When it's sunny we're out and about, when it rains we're out and about, but wet. Still, despite our relative exposure to, and limitations of, weather, to be honest I didn't give getting to Ocracoke much thought. We got up early, ate some breakfast and headed for the ferry. To make it happen.
+
+The bus was running well and everything seemed to be going smoothly. If you'd asked me if I was going to make it happen I'd have probably looked at you funny because that's not really how I think of it, but yet, I suppose that's what I was going to do. Right up until I pulled into the ferry entrance area. A ferry worker was standing there to inform everyone that a barge had hit a sand bar and was stuck, blocking the ferry. I leaned out and asked how long it might take to free it and all he said was, *well, it got stuck at high tide*.
+
+A bunch of optimists had already pulled into the ferry queue, but I didn't want to get the bus stuck in line so we pulled past and contemplated what to do. Just beyond the ferry area is a museum called the Graveyard of the Atlantic that'd we'd been meaning to check out, so we decided we'd do that and see what the status of the ferry was afterward.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-16_133923_okracoke-ferry-trip.jpg" id="image-2882" class="picwide caption" />
+
+The museum was something of a bust. I think we might have spent 20 minutes wandering around, but there wasn't much to hold the kids attention beyond a few interesting artifacts that have washed up here over the years. It was one of those museums, and we've run across a few, that seems to think its subject matter is inherently interesting enough that it doesn't need to bother with pesky details like storytelling. If you want to learn more about seafaring in these parts, check out the maritime museum in Beaufort, or any of the lifesaving station monuments along the Outer Banks, both are much better.
+
+Back outside a quick glance over at the docks told us the ferries still weren't running. Well, one nice thing about the Outer Banks is you're rarely more than 100 feet from the beach. I took the kids down to the shore for a bit while Corrinne did some research and tried to figure out the odds the ferries would start up again that day.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-16_151849_okracoke-ferry-trip.jpg" id="image-2883" class="picwide" />
+
+For most of the history of this ferry it was a short, fifteen minute trip from the end of Hatteras straight across to the end of Ocracoke. That changed in 2006 with hurricane Sandy, which chopped off the end of Hatteras. Nature, now nature can make things happen. Thought there was island there did you? Watch this.
+
+The missing chunk of island wasn't a big deal at first, there was a slightly longer ride along the same route, but little changed. However, over time all the sand that used to be at the end of Hatteras has been migrating west, filling in and creating shoals all around the cut between Hatteras and Ocracoke. Now, to get through requires an hour long circuitous route, picking and dodging through the ever-shifting shoals. 
+
+We kept an eye on the NCDOT website and just after lunch we got word that a ferry coming the other direction was now also stuck on the sand near the barge. Things were piling up. At that point we figured we were not going to make it happen. We headed back up the island to the other campground to get a site for the night and try again the next day. The Cape Point campground was uninspiring, a grassy, bug-filled field. I drove through twice before we settled on a site that seemed a little drier than the rest. I put the chocks under the wheels and was about to get everything set up when I decided to call the ferry office one last time. Maybe we could still make it happen.
+
+It turned out that shortly after we'd given up, the coast guard had showed up and managed to free the stuck ferry and move the barge enough out of the way. The ferry was open again. We jumped back in the bus and headed down to get in line. And quite a line it was, we waited a couple hours before they put us on. By this point though no one waiting on the ferry had any sense of making anything happen. It was pretty clear that we were at the whim of nature. Maybe it would happen, maybe it wouldn't. Either way, it would happen on a schedule we had no control over. We bought a big bag of chips at the store and sat back and waited.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-16_173150_okracoke-ferry-trip.jpg" id="image-2885" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-16_192614_okracoke-ferry-trip.jpg" id="image-2886" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/bus-ferry-cam.jpg" id="image-2884" class="picfull caption" />
+
+We'd never put the bus on a ferry before, or at least not one this big (we did take a small [ferry ride](https://luxagraf.net/field-notes/2018/02/ferry) in Louisiana once) so I wasn't quite sure what to expect once we finally got on. It turned out to be a nice smooth ride. There was one moment when we hit bottom, but we never got hung up.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-16_194106_okracoke-ferry-trip.jpg" id="image-2887" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-16_204639_okracoke-ferry-trip.jpg" id="image-2881" class="picwide" />
+
+It was nearly dark by the time we "made it" to the campground on Ocracoke. We were all tired, but there was also a great feeling of accomplishment, of having gotten somewhere, not exactly how we'd wanted, but perhaps how we needed. Somewhere between will and hanging on for survival is where I think adventures, however small, happen. The collision of will and world and then navigating resulting currents and winds by faith, and some degree of grace, literally and figuratively, is the best way to travel the world.
diff --git a/published/2022-05-11_ocracoke-beaches.txt b/published/2022-05-11_ocracoke-beaches.txt
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+From where I lie on the shore it looks like my children are giants wading in watery-green meadows, crests of white foam rolling behind them like mountains upon mountains. The sun is warm on my chest, the water cool on my feet. Everything is as it should be,  and there is no need for anything else.
+
+I'm not entirely sure what I was hoping for when we came to the Outer Banks, but whatever it was, or is, it's on Ocracoke. 
+
+Ocracoke is a tiny strip of sand running about 16 miles, and anywhere from 200 feet to three miles wide, with an official high point of five feet (there are berms higher than that). All total it's only 8 square miles of land. But something about the place, the way the ocean currents move, the collision of air from the land and sea, the history, the isolation, the seafaring, some combination of it all makes Ocracoke very different than the rest of the Outer Banks. 
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-26_132829_ocracoke_sRGNxWy.jpg" id="image-2899" class="picwide" />
+
+Ocracoke's appeal might have something to do with [the ferry](https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2022/04/ocracoke-ferry). It's that little extra step that makes it better. The harder you work to get something the more you enjoy it when you're done. As my friend Clay used to say when we were backpacking in the Sierras, you have to earn the peaks.
+
+It might also have something to do with the absence of trucks. Ocracoke is one of the few spots in the Outer Banks where you won't find trucks all over the beach. I know this probably sounds weird to those of you living near other beaches, but out here everyone drives to the beach -- right up to the shoreline. The beach ends up looking like this shot of Oregon Inlet most of the time:
+
+<img src="images/2022/IMG_20220528_143439.jpg" id="image-2900" class="picwide" />
+
+I get the impression that if you want to pick a fight out here nothing would get it going faster than suggesting that people *not* drive on the beach. Still, I've been to beaches all over the United States, and in a dozen other countries, and this is the only place I can think of where the beach has been so completely turned over to the vehicle. Edward Abbey [would not approve](https://images.luxagraf.net/slideshow/2010/4867251305x2.jpg).
+
+Whatever the case, it was a relief to get to Ocracoke and find beaches (mostly) truck-free. The beaches are nearly white sand, the gulf stream waters clear and cool, and because it's not quite high season yet, we've had them to ourselves most of the time.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-21_125451_ocracoke.jpg" id="image-2889" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-21_125534_ocracoke.jpg" id="image-2890" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-21_163525_ocracoke.jpg" id="image-2891" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-21_163643_ocracoke.jpg" id="image-2892" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-24_184301_ocracoke.jpg" id="image-2894" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-26_183401_ocracoke.jpg" id="image-2897" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-26_132829_ocracoke.jpg" id="image-2895" class="picwide" />
+
+Many a ship has run aground off the coast of Ocracoke or in the entrance to the sound on the west end, but no one who met their end here comes close to the most famous: Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. 
+
+Teach is a minor character in the novel I wrote, but a big part of what propels the plot and my kids have been obsessed ever since I read it to them. One day we took a break from the beach to visit the lighthouse and hike out to Springer's Point, which is (most likely) where Teach was murdered by the British. 
+
+We paid our respects by doing a little paddleboarding in the shallow bay.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-23_184301_ocracoke.jpg" id="image-2893" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-27_132829_ocracoke.jpg" id="image-2898" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-04-27_150042_ocracoke.jpg" id="image-2901" class="picwide" />
+
+Local stories hold that Teach's body is still out there underwater, wandering in search of his head. Personally I don't think so. From what I've read, Teach strikes me as someone who was willing to take his chances and if he went down swinging, well, at least he went down swinging. The kids want Teach to fight his way out, to live. That would be a more satisfying story, but part of what I like about Teach's story is that he didn't. Because history, and the universe it records, isn't whatever we want it to be. It has its own plan.
+
+That might be another element in the brew of Ocracoke's magic: a certain sense that when things come, be they hurricanes, sand bars, or murderous Virginia governors, you do what you can, but you have to accept that it might not go the way you want. In the meanwhile, hang on to the helm as best you can, paddleboard while you can, and most of all, enjoy the ride.
diff --git a/published/2022-05-18_separation.txt b/published/2022-05-18_separation.txt
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+After two weeks on Ocracoke we took the ferry back over to Hatteras and settled into another two weeks there. After a week Corrinne had to take the car and go back to Atlanta for family reasons. The kids and I stayed behind in the bus. This sounds pretty innocuous, but this is the Outer Banks, never forget that.
+
+Corinne left on a Friday. I finished up some work that morning while the kids played games, but I took the rest of the afternoon off and we headed the beach. My solo parenting guide starts with: find water, find sunshine, ... Don't forget food and water.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-07_105428_frisco-ii.jpg" id="image-2906" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-06_164608_frisco-ii.jpg" id="image-2905" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-04_121738_frisco-ii.jpg" id="image-2904" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-07_172420_frisco-ii.jpg" id="image-2907" class="picwide" />
+
+We had a good day at the beach. It would have been a perfect day if Corrinne had been there. As you might imagine, we are not apart much. When we are nothing feels right. Still, we managed.
+
+The next morning we woke up to clouds. I had checked the weather and noticed that there was a chance of rain. I hate driving the bus in the rain, and we needed to dump and move to a different campsite, so the kids and I got up early and got underway. We spent some time talking with Corrinne over by the lighthouse since the internet is much faster there (there's only one cell tower on Hatteras and it's not far from the lighthouse). 
+
+After about an hour the clouds turned much darker, you might say ominous if you were writing a bad novel, but I'll just say that as the wind picked up and the clouds darkened, getting back to our campsite seemed like a good idea. We did stop off at the store on the way and pick up a few extra groceries and some new books for the kids to read. 
+
+The latter turned out to be an excellent (if unwitting) strategic purchase, because by the time we got back to camp and set up in our new site the wind was a steady 35 MPH and gusting much higher. We spent a few hours indoors, but then we decided to head to the beach and see what it looked like. Less than 24 hours after our near-perfect day of sunshine and light winds, the beach looked like this:
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-08_175539_frisco-ii.jpg" id="image-2910" class="picwide" />
+
+The wind was so strong at the top of the dunes that the kids had trouble standing up. A bit of internet research suggests that would make it around 50 MPH. It didn't let up as evening wore on either. Instead it turned colder. Cold enough to cook inside the bus, which we haven't done since we left Myrtle Beach months ago. That was when I realized that all our winter sleeping gear was stashed in the back of the car, which was now in Atlanta with Corrinne. Luckily we were able to dig up two extra blankets and no one got too cold.
+
+That night the storm picked up steam and at high tide the ocean washed out the road from Oregon Inlet down to Hatteras. The ferry service was canceled due to wind and just like that, we were cut off from everything. 
+
+Luckily we had plenty of food and water, so we hunkered down the played games, watched a couple of movies, read, and kids drew while I wrote. For four days the bus did not stop rocking with every gust. 
+
+I know I've gone on about the wind once already, but the wind here really is fantastic. It is a thing worth experiencing if you ever get the opportunity. I don't want to sound too enthusiastic about this storm, since it did [wash away several homes](https://islandfreepress.org/outer-banks-driving-on-the-beach/public-invited-to-help-clean-up-in-rodanthe/), I'm not saying that's fun, but if you have a safe place to hunker down, it's a rather amazing experience to be out here in the wind -- to feel what our lovely planet is capable of doing with something as invisible and mysterious and yet powerful as the wind. 
+
+Unfortunately Corrinne's time in Atlanta was over before the storm. She went ahead and drove back, but had to spend an extra night in a hotel in Nags Head before the road opened again. After 5 days of storm it finally let up and the kids and I enthusiastically packed up to go dump and get out of the bus for a while. We were headed up the little hill that leads out of the campground when the bus died. It caught me off guard, the bus has been running so well, but I figured maybe I hadn't warmed it up enough so I cranked it for a bit, but nothing happened. And then it hit me: there's nothing wrong with the engine, we're out of gas[^1].
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-08_172539_frisco.jpg" id="image-2909" class="picwide caption" />
+
+Finally the roads are open the storm is lifted, we can get out, and what do we do? We run out of gas. 
+
+Fortunately the very nice camp hosts at Frisco (who we'd camped by way back at Oyster Point) came to our rescue and made a gas run for us with their gas can. An hour after we ran out gas we were on our way again. And at the same time Corrinne was on her way down. Our plan to meet up at the lighthouse and go to the beach didn't work out, but we ended up all back together again, and that's all that matters.
+
+That turned out to be good timing too, because somewhere back in the Pamlico Sound an undersea cable was cut and Hatteras and Ocracoke lost all communication with the mainland. No cell service, no land line service, nothing. It was fixed about 36 hours later, but it was interesting to see how much of day to day life ceased without that connection. The current world is pretty much the opposite of resilient. 
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-09_175539_frisco.jpg" id="image-2911" class="picwide" />
+
+Luckily at least some parts  of our current existence are still functioning because someone got out there and fixed the cable. The next day we were in line for the ferry, headed back to Ocracoke.
+
+
+[^1]: For those keeping track at home, that's only the second time I've run out of gas in five years, which is pretty good for not having a gas gauge.
diff --git a/published/2022-05-30_seining-with-val.txt b/published/2022-05-30_seining-with-val.txt
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+Most of the interesting things I've ever done have started while I was waiting to do something else. Waiting is possibly the best part of traveling really -- it's how you meet people. You wait for the right weather, you wait for the place to open, you wait for the guy to get back with the thing, there is always some waiting. It's like life moves a bunch of things into position and then hits pause and sees what you'll do with&nbsp;it. 
+
+We met Val waiting for the ferry. To leave Ocracoke you line up along the only road and wait. Our spot in line happened to be right next to a marsh, so I got my binoculars and stepped out to bird watch for a bit. A woman came up and started talking to me, and then Corrinne, about the bus. This isn't unusual really, it happens about every day when we're in the south, where strangers still talk to each other. In this case though we found we had a lot in common, and we just kept talking. Before too long we were making plans to meet up after the ferry ride. 
+
+But then [the weather happened](https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2022/05/separation), and then we went [back to Ocracoke](https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2022/05/back-on-ocracoke).
+
+It wasn't until we came back up to Oregon Inlet for our last week in the Outer Banks that we finally met up with Val again to go seining. That might sound random, but Val is a marine science illustrator (you can [buy her books from Johns Hopkins Press](https://press.jhu.edu/books/authors/valerie-kells)), and the kids wanted to see what was under the waters they're always playing in.
+
+We met up at our campsite and headed down to the broad tidal flat on the other side of the Oregon Inlet channel to use Val's homemade seining rig. A seine, for those that have never heard of them, is a fishing net that hangs vertically. Big seines have floats at the upper edge and sinkers at the lower. Val designed and built her own portable siene. It was small enough that it didn't need weights or floats, instead it had a very clever roller system. That way a single person could  push through the grass and anything living there would be swept up in the net.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-30_152936_seining.jpg" id="image-2933" class="cluster picwide" />
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-29_130650_seining.jpg" id="image-2929" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-29_130145_seining.jpg" id="image-2928" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+</div>
+
+Once you've pushed it about 8-10 feet you pull it up and see what you've got. Val even built this super clever viewing box, which allows you to see the larger things like fish and shrimp right where you are.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-29_150733_seining.jpg" id="image-2932" class="picwide" />
+
+To see the smaller things we collected out in the water, we put them in the floating bucket, and then came back to a dissecting scope we set up on the beach for a closer look.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-29_131138_seining.jpg" id="image-2930" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-29_142315_seining.jpg" id="image-2931" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+</div>
+
+This kids had so much fun we did it again the next day. This time Elliott had his own setup, consisting of a net he found on the beach and a lot of enthusiasm. The net proved a bust, but the enthusiasm carried him through.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-29_100815_seining.jpg" id="image-2926" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-29_125923_seining.jpg" id="image-2927" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+</div>
+
+We also did a bit of fishing. The kids pulled in some of the smallest sea bass I've ever seen, but anything is better than nothing  -- our usual catch -- so they were excited.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-30_165123_seining.jpg" id="image-2934" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-05-30_170722_seining.jpg" id="image-2935" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+</div>
+
+ A few days later Val's friend, who's a graduate student at the NC Coastal Studies Institute, invited us to come by the CSI open house. There were all sorts of things for the kids to do including getting some more microscope time with water samples from around the area, and building what amounted to a wave-drive alternator. The girls worked together and managed to generate a bit of electricity with their design.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-04_163358_oregon-inlet-ii.jpg" id="image-2936" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-04_175927_oregon-inlet-ii.jpg" id="image-2937" class="picwide" />
+
+A couple of days later we went to check out the sand dunes at Jockey's Ridge State Park. This is the tiny sliver of the island that still looks like what things probably looked like in the Wright Bros's days. It was hot, dry, and barren, but peaceful and beautiful in a stark way.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-05_170628_oregon-inlet-ii.jpg" id="image-2938" class="picwide" />
+
+And then it was time to say goodbye and hit the road. This is the tough part of traveling, having to say goodbye, so we don't. We always say, see you later, see you again, see you down the road.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-06_173331_oregon-inlet-ii.jpg" id="image-2940" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/IMG_20220528_191516.jpg" id="image-2939" class="picwide" />
diff --git a/published/2022-06-12_long-way-around.txt b/published/2022-06-12_long-way-around.txt
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+Somehow, in between all the things we did [with Val around Nags Head](https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2022/06/seining-with-val), I managed to get a little work done on the bus. I replaced all the exhaust hangers, which were just barely holding the tailpipe up, changed the plugs, wires, oil, oil filter and half a dozen other little things that amounted to a good tune up to get her ready the hit the road.
+
+We came up this way with the thought that we'd continue up the coast into Maryland and then cross over the mountains somewhere in Pennsylvania, head through Ohio, Indiana and up into Michigan. But then we realized if we did that it would be a long time before we saw Corrinne's parents again, and if living this way teaches you anything, it's that nothing really matters much beyond friends and family. So we chose to reverse course and head back to Georgia.
+
+Still, we left the Outer Banks reluctantly. It was starting to get hot and buggy, which made it a little easier, but we rarely like to drive away from the beach. 
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-07_155227_drive-to-ga.jpg" id="image-2941" class="picwide caption" />
+
+The first day we drove to Cliff of the Nuese State Park, which proved to be something of a let down -- there was no swimming in the river, something that had drawn us there. Ostensibly this was because there was no lifeguard, though judging by the smell I would guess it was more likely a raw sewage issue. No thanks. 
+
+We were on the road again early the next morning, bound for Columbia, South Carolina. It was a hot miserable drive. We took the Interstate, something we rarely do, and quickly realized why we rarely do it. If there is a more barren, desolate, lifeless place than the American Interstate highway I don't know of it. It's an awful experience driving them, inhuman was the word that kept coming to mind.
+
+We made it to Columbia, SC in the late afternoon. It seemed about 20 degrees hotter in Columbia than on the drive. We cranked up the air conditioning as soon as the engine shut off. We kept smelling a strange rotten egg smell. We'd smelled it the day before too, but not enough to be concerned. This time it lingered. 
+
+I went out in the sweltering heat and sniffed around the outside of the bus, pondering what on earth in an engine could have sulfur in it. I was just above the starting battery component when it hit me -- a lead acid battery. Sure enough, when I looked under at our starting battery it was leaking electrolyte. I pulled it out, wrapped it in a trash bag, and went down the local auto parts store to get a new one. Naturally ours was a month out of warranty. I started to buy another, but then noticed that the only one they had sported a manufactured date that was almost a year ago. I went to another store and got a different battery.
+
+I put it back in and didn't think much of it. The next day we'd scheduled a layover day to do laundry and run some errands, which we did, and then we spent to afternoon at the splash pad. It was hot enough that even the parents were in the water at this splash pad.
+
+<img src="images/2022/IMG_20220609_132933.jpg" id="image-2946" class="picwide" />
+
+The next day we hit the interstate again. We spent most of the morning cutting across South Carolina and into Georgia on Interstate 20, counting the miles until we could turn off, back onto the two-lane roads. About halfway I started to smell electrolyte again. Hmm. That's not good. 
+
+I only have two gauges on the dash that actually work. The speedometer and the Alt gauge, which gives a rough approximation of what the alternator is doing. I never look at it. But when I smelled the electrolyte I glanced at it, and noticed it was pegged over on C, which meant it was sending the maximum possible volts to the battery, which shouldn't have been needed after an hour of driving. It was overcharging the battery to the point that even the brand new one swelled and cracked open, spewing out electrolyte again. 
+
+I pulled over to assess the situation. I read through the M300 manual a bit and came to the conclusion that the problem was either a bad ground or a bad voltage regulator. Or the alternator. I ran a few tests with the volt meter and the alternator itself seemed fine, though the wires coming out of the alternator looked like garbage -- old and cracked with questionable connectors. I figured maybe I had bumped them somehow when I changed the belts back in the Outer Banks, and maybe they weren't grounded properly anymore. I cut the ground wire near where it came out of the harness and put on a new connector and did the same for the field wire. I figured I could re-run the entire wire later on, but this might do for a quick fix. 
+
+<img src="images/2022/IMG_20220620_163443.jpg" id="image-2947" class="picwide" />
+
+As a side note, I happened to be right by the road to Raysville when I noticed the problem, so I got off the interstate at that exit. Three years after [we were last there](https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2019/10/back-to-raysville), the road is still under construction. Half of the two lane highway was still closed and made a great place to get the bus out of the way so I could work on it in peace. Exactly three cars passed in the half hour I was pulled over, and every single one of them stopped to see if I was okay. This is why we spend so much time in the south. Just preferably not during the summer.
+
+I was feeling pretty good about the ground wire theory, but there was only one way to test it, so I packed up my tools and hit the road again. It was pegged over to C again as soon as I hit 50. Damn it. It was getting hot and I only had a few more miles of interstate driving so, against my better judgement, I pushed on. I didn't want a bus breakdown to prevent seeing family. Some times you just have to [push on through](https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2017/10/through).
+
+Something weird happened though, after about five minutes of being pegged over at C, it dropped back to the middle and the rest of way it was fine. About five minutes after that we finally got off the interstate and back on the back roads, rolling through the Georgia countryside.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-10_140226-1_drive-to-ga.jpg" id="image-2943" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-10_135912_drive-to-ga.jpg" id="image-2942" class="picwide caption" />
+
+We made it to the campground and settled in. I was pretty happy with my fix, though I wasn't sure how I was going to convince the local shop to give me a new battery. I unhooked it and put in the car. I figured I'd play dumb as much as possible. It comes naturally. Unfortunately that didn't really work because they tested the battery and determined it was fine. They also told me I had an overcharging issue. You think?
+
+I set the problem aside for a few days. We weren't going anywhere and the best way to fix things is to think about them for a very long time. You have to have an idea of what to do in your head before you can do anything. In the mean time we spent some time with Corrinne's parents and her sister who flew in from Dallas to visit. There was air conditioning, relaxation, sleep overs, ear piercing and all sorts of family fun.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-12_070240_drive-to-ga.jpg" id="image-2945" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-13_172215_drive-to-ga.jpg" id="image-2949" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-12_114152_drive-to-ga.jpg" id="image-2948" class="cluster picwide" />
+</div>
diff --git a/published/2022-06-19_prairie-notes.txt b/published/2022-06-19_prairie-notes.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6871b76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/2022-06-19_prairie-notes.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+The wind is soft and cool, the twilight sky banded in pinks and yellows and blues. Frogs sing in the culvert in front of me, a killdeer plucks unlucky beetles and flies from the grass. Fields of green seedlings I don't recognize stretch in every direction and there is little else, save a distant clump of trees and power lines strung along the horizon.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-19_231705_drive-to-wisconsin.jpg" id="image-2954" class="picwide" />
+
+I love the plains. There's hardly any prairie left out here, but even as farmland there is something about the middle of America that I love. It's as if you can still hear the echo of the prairie -- this vast, open space with a kind of silence you don't find other places. 
+
+This, perhaps more than any other landscape, feels foreign to me. I have spent time in the mountains, the deserts, the sea. I know forests and rivers and beaches. But I know next to nothing about farms. It's a kind of endless mystery to me. What lives in these culverts between fields? What are these frogs I hear? What else is out there? What's it like to grow up here? What's it like to live here? This vast open sky. What is the character of the land?
+
+I like it. We never stay long, but I am endlessly fascinated by this ecosystem.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-19_233038_drive-to-wisconsin.jpg" id="image-2955" class="picwide" />
+
+When we left Georgia early in the morning several days ago we had no intention of coming here to central Illinois. The first day's drive was hot and brutal. The alternator was overcharging again, which added to the stress of the heat. Then the engine started vapor locking. In its defense the temperature was over 100 plus humidity. When we planned our way through the south we weren't counting on a heat wave, but these things happen. That first night out we punted, it was just too hot to cool the bus down by the kids bedtime so we checked into a hotel.
+
+The next day we hit the road early again. We hadn't gone more than a hour when we realized the rear hatch door was gone. Corrinne and the kids drove back to see if they could find it. I moved everything from the hatch into the bus (somehow we lost nothing out of the hatch), and hit the road again. They never found the hatch door, but by the end of the day we'd passed through four states into Illinois where it was at least a bit cooler. 
+
+We camped at Fort Massac State Park, which backs up to the Ohio River, adjacent the town of Metropolis, Illinois. Once upon a time, in about 1995, on my very first extended drive around the United States, my friend Mike and I came upon the giant statue of Superman in Metropolis in the wee hours of the morning and... I remember nothing else about that day, just peering up in the darkness at this huge statue. 
+
+I took the kids over to see the Superman statue while we were there, but the more memorable statue this trip was Big John, who presided over a store of the same name. The park also had a statue of William Clark, which felt curiously lonely -- where was Lewis?
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-18_070212_drive-to-wisconsin.jpg" id="image-2952" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-18_222600_drive-to-wisconsin.jpg" id="image-2953" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-17_215107_drive-to-wisconsin.jpg" id="image-2957" class="cluster picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/IMG_20220618_171334.jpg" id="image-2958" class="cluster picwide caption" />
+</div>
+
+We had reserved two nights at Fort Massac to avoid getting to St. Louis on the weekend, which turned out to be handy because I spent the extra day making a new hatch for the back of the bus out of plywood. At some point I'll probably give it a coat of resin and some paint, but for now the wood at least gets us down the road again. I'll miss that original hatch. 
+
+Unfortunately the heat wave would not let up. The forecast for St. Louis was in the triple digits and we decided we'd rather get north to some cooler temps. We changed plans and headed straight up Illinois, landing here, in farm country for the night.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-19_233457_drive-to-wisconsin.jpg" id="image-2956" class="picwide" />
+
+In some ways I wish we'd had an extra day out here, but we were off again the next morning, bound for the cool waters of Lake Michigan.
diff --git a/published/2022-06-22_illinois-beach.txt b/published/2022-06-22_illinois-beach.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6591a5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/2022-06-22_illinois-beach.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+I think it's important to remember that it's fun to do something for no reason at all. That is, not everything needs a reason beyond simply the freedom to do it. 
+
+This is what Sir Edmund Hilery was hinting at when he was asked, *why do you want to climb Mount Everest,* and he answered, *because it's there*. Because the freedom of the will to choose and act and do, the freedom for you to do something for no other reason than you happen to want to do it, is the irreducible, unassailable base on which all human delight is built[^1]. 
+
+That has nothing to do with how we came to be at Illinois Beach State Park, on the far northern reaches of Chicago, or what we did there, but I think it's worth saying things from time to time about the meta-journey if you will. One of the things I've learned from this adventure is that life isn't so serious as it seems, perhaps especially when it seems most serious. It's okay to do things just because. The universe is a whimsical place after all, how else do you explain the giraffe? Or this strange, abandoned concession center in the middle of Illinois Beach State Park looking for all the world like it was plucked out of a 1950s Soviet seaside resort and plopped here in Illinois?
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-21_065427_illinois-beach.jpg" id="image-2970" class="picwide" />
+
+
+One of the things I was most looking forward to about coming back to the Great Lakes area was replicating the day we [drove out of the heat and into the wonderfully cool summer of Wisconsin](https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2018/06/wisconsin). Alas, that did not happen this time (you can [never go back](https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2008/06/you-cant-go-home-again)).
+
+The heat wave followed us up through Chicago, where I stopped off at the Zipdee factory to pick up two awnings we'd ordered several months ago. With the giant, fifteen foot tubes on the floor of the bus, I hit the road again bound for Illinois State Beach, on the shores of Lake Michigan.
+
+Thankfully the heat wave only lasted two more days, and we had the nice clear, icy waters of Lake Michigan to keep us cool in the mean time. Almost any day spent on the water is a good day in my book, though the temperature extremes were more than we're used to -- 100 in the air, 53 in the water. Stay in for more than a few minutes and you're shivering, but by the time you're out two minutes you're ready to cool back down again.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-20_174403_illinois-beach.jpg" id="image-2972" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-20_174406_illinois-beach.jpg" id="image-2971" class="picwide" />
+
+Fortunately after the weekend the air temp settled back down to a nice 80 degrees, making it a bit of fun to sit (and play) on the beach.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-21_103522_illinois-beach.jpg" id="image-2968" class="picwide" />
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-21_105102_illinois-beach.jpg" id="image-2967" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-21_105937_illinois-beach.jpg" id="image-2966" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-24_085816_illinois-beach.jpg" id="image-2961" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-24_054214_illinois-beach.jpg" id="image-2962" class="cluster pic66 caption" />
+    </span>
+</div>
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-21_173023_illinois-beach.jpg" id="image-2965" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-22_190901_illinois-beach.jpg" id="image-2964" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-22_194625_illinois-beach.jpg" id="image-2963" class="picwide" />
+
+The abandoned concession stand wasn't the only odd thing in Illinois State Beach, in fact there were quiet a few oddities. My favorite was the pair of Sandhill Cranes that strolled through the campground every day utterly unconcerned with any humans that might be around. In fact they would march right up to people, looking for food. I saw one sneak a hot dog off a picnic table and proceed to eat it before any of the people around it noticed.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-21_102538_illinois-beach.jpg" id="image-2969" class="picwide" />
+
+While I was photographing the birds a ranger pulled up in a truck behind me and said, "don't be bothering my chickens, now." I learned from him that while there's been a pair of cranes that have nested here for a few years, this year there are seven pairs. No one knows why they stopped here, and no one knows why they seem utterly unafraid of humans. Maybe they just wanted to. Because they can.
+
+The oddities of Illinois Beach State Park were perfectly suited to the real reason we came -- to install our new Zipdee awnings and get rid of our old. It's an odd thing to do in a campground full of people enjoying their weekend. But no one complained about the sawing and the remains of the old awning fit nicely in the dumpster. In the end rain stopped me from getting the big awning installed here, but I got our new side awning on at least. 
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-24_165911_illinois-beach.jpg" id="image-2960" class="picwide" />
+
+It keeps the afternoon sun out of the window and allows us to have the window open even if it's raining, but really we just like it... because it's there. It makes the bus a little more fun, a little more delightful if I do say so myself.
+
+<img src="images/2022/IMG_20220624_181415.jpg" id="image-2959" class="picwide" />
+
+[^1]: I am indebted to author John Michael Greer for some of this idea.
diff --git a/published/2022-07-01_hello-milwaukee.txt b/published/2022-07-01_hello-milwaukee.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..30d7127
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/2022-07-01_hello-milwaukee.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+The drive up to Harrington Beach State Park wasn't far, about 50 miles, but somehow that 50 miles changed everything. Once we were past Milwaukee (Harrington Beach is about 30 minutes north of Milwaukee) the last traces of heat disappeared. There were cheese curds at every gas station -- a sure sign you're in Wisconsin -- and the world felt quieter, more relaxed, more natural. Even the lake seemed somehow wilder. 
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-27_151631_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2974" class="picwide" />
+
+Last time we were here I [wrote about the yellow warblers](https://luxagraf.net/dialogues/yellow-warbler) that were everywhere in our campsite. This time was no different, one even came in the bus to check it out.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-28_110935_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2977" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-28_110933_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2995" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+</div>
+ 
+We came back to Harrington because it's a good place to camp and access Milwaukee. We don't spend much time in cities anymore. We avoid them actually, especially large cities. Driving into the Chicago to get the awning was a nightmare I'd just as soon never repeat. Smaller cities like Milwaukee are more tolerable, though still not our thing anymore. 
+
+That said, we made an exception here because we actually like Milwaukee and we have some friends living here that we wanted to catch up with, however briefly. We had also promised the girls we'd get some sushi and cupcakes, and then go to a museum for their birthday since we'd be spending their actual birthday somewhere without sushi.
+
+We started with cupcakes of course.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_103614_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2979" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_103541_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2978" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+</div>
+
+Then we had a sushi lunch and popped into a bookstore that was pretty amazing, but, despite having a seemingly endless number of books, did not have the one that the girls wanted.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_123150_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2980" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_123221_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2981" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+ <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_131256_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2982" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_131312_harrington-milwaukee_bzc4u7m.jpg" id="image-2983" class="cluster pic66" /></span>
+</div>
+
+The next stop was the Milwaukee Public Museum, which is such a vague name we didn't really know what to expect except that it had some dinosaur exhibit of some kind. I think that was a good way to go in, not knowing anything (the opportunity for you to go not knowing anything is about to be ruined) because now that I've been, I am still not totally sure what the Milwaukee Public Museum is, beyond, the very generic: really fun.
+
+The specimen collection in the lobby area reminded me of [La Specula in Florence](https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2011/06/natural-science), which makes sense because that collection was designed to show off the original Milwaukee Public Museum exhibits, which date from very near the time of La Specula. But even the "modern" parts of the museum weren't very modern. And I mean that in a good way. 
+
+The Milwaukee Public Museum is a throw back the museums of old: big dioramas, lots of signs and welcome absence of any screens or QR codes or any of the ridiculous digital gimmicks that pass for content in modern museums. Instead it was interactive in the original sense -- the kids could touch the buffalo fur, peddle a penny farthing, and even let butterflies in the butterfly exhibit land on them. 
+
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_135459_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2984" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_135612_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2985" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_182409_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2990" class="cluster picwide caption" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_141216_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2986" class="cluster picwide caption" />
+</div>
+
+The natural history portion of the Milwaukee Public Museum was extensive and full of great dioramas, though I have to take some exception the tiny little section devoted to the south. The south is apparently little more than a footnote here and can be adequately represented by a banjo, a musket, a few ears of corn, and a flag none of us recognized. 
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_141717_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2996" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_183719_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2992" class="cluster pic66 caption" />
+    </span>
+</div>
+
+What the Public Museum understandably does a far better job with is the history of Milwaukee. There's a huge exhibit called the Streets of Old Milwaukee with a life size replica of the streets of Milwaukee through the ages. Most of it seems to be roughly the late 19th century, complete with lighting that replicates the look of old gas lamps. It really did feel a bit like walking the evening streets a century ago, peering in shops and homes at the various scenes.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_173108_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2989" class="picwide" />
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_143207_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2987" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_143521_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2988" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-29_173455_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2997" class="picwide caption" />
+</div>
+
+We met up with our friends later that night for some dinner before driving back out to Harrington. The next day our friends drove out to hang out at the beach for the day. There was a lot of driftwood on the beach, which the kids wasted no time in turning in to a little village.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-30_184105_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2993" class="picwide" />
+
+Unfortunately that was all the time we got in Milwaukee. Harrington's proximity to the city has a downside, it fills up quickly, especially the weekends. We managed to get four days midweek on short notice, but with fourth of July rolling around we had leave for more obscure parts of Wisconsin that don't see the crowds. We had a nice rainbow send off on our last night at least, and the next morning we hit the road again, headed north.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-06-30_231952_harrington-milwaukee.jpg" id="image-2994" class="picwide" />
diff --git a/published/2022-07-06_4th-of-July-2022.txt b/published/2022-07-06_4th-of-July-2022.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ddcae9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/2022-07-06_4th-of-July-2022.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+We would have stayed longer at Harrington Beach State Park, and we would have loved to head up into the Door Peninsula, but we were facing every full time RVer's least favorite holiday: Fourth of July weekend. Everything was booked. So, we loaded up our still-not-installed awning and headed north, where the crowds are fewer and we knew of at least one first-come first-served campground. 
+
+You can't just show up at a first-come first-serve campground on the Friday of fourth of July weekend though. Corrinne does 90 percent of the camp planning and she, marvel that she is, found a campground somewhere in the middle of Wisconsin that was somehow not already booked for the fourth and was on our way. We had reservations the day before and hit the road Friday.
+
+Now, you might be asking yourself, what sort of campground *isn't* full on America's most popular camping weekend? How awful is it that no one wants to go there? Actually it was quite nice. I think no one wants to go there in part because it's in a very rural area and when you have wild acreage, camping isn't really something you care about as much. At least that was our experience living in a 300-acre pine forest. Whatever the case Governor Thompson State Park was nice and we were happy to have a spot to park for the holiday weekend.
+
+Admittedly, there wasn't much to do at Governor Thompson if you don't have a boat (it's on a lake). One fellow vintage camper owner we met ventured over to the swim beach one day and called it the saddest little thing he'd ever seen. We never went to find out for ourselves. We just relaxed, did a lot of reading, and finally had the space to get our new awning installed.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-02_153235_gov-thompson-sp.jpg" id="image-2999" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-02_180645_gov-thompson-sp.jpg" id="image-3000" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-02_182710_gov-thompson-sp.jpg" id="image-3001" class="picwide" />
+
+After putting on the window awning on the other side I was dreading the full size patio awning. Fortunately for me, the installation process was different, so my fears proved unfounded. In some ways I think it was easier to install the patio than the window awning, though there were a couple of awkward moments. But now have plenty of shade to sit around and relax (and work, and play) in. 
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-03_120708_gov-thompson-sp.jpg" id="image-3004" class="picwide" />
+
+I'd forgotten how nice it is to have that under the awning space. We used to live in that shade, but we stopped using our old awning because it was so beat up and gross. Sitting under it was not a pleasant experience the last few months. With the Zipdee we've reclaimed that space. We have a wonderfully warm yellow light bathing the bus from all angles, and we've been spending a lot more time outside. Zipdee awnings aren't cheap, but well worth the money in my opinion.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-03_115523_gov-thompson-sp.jpg" id="image-3002" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-03_115524_gov-thompson-sp.jpg" id="image-3003" class="picwide" />
+
+With the holiday weekend behind us we continued north, bound for the shores of Lake Superior. We stopped off at a place called Copper Falls for a couple of nights. It's supposedly one of the highlights of the area, but our experience was that it's buggy and there's not much to do other than hike to see the falls. They are nice waterfalls, but you can't get near them and the mosquitoes and black flies were bad enough that it would have made Yosemite miserable.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-04_182326_copper-falls.jpg" id="image-3007" class="picwide" />
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-04_152815_copper-falls.jpg" id="image-3008" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-04_154726_copper-falls.jpg" id="image-3006" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+</div>
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-04_154339_copper-falls.jpg" id="image-3005" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-04_182533_copper-falls.jpg" id="image-3009" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-04_191019_copper-falls.jpg" id="image-3010" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-04_191036_copper-falls.jpg" id="image-3011" class="picwide" />
+
+I never like to complain too much about anywhere because it's an incredible experience to be able to live the way we do and a few bad nights for us is a tiny price to pay (and Copper Falls wasn't even that bad). I only really ever write about places we don't like much when they're very popular online, with the thought that maybe I can temper expectations and improve someone else's experience. Whatever the case, I was glad to hit the road again.
+
+And our plan worked. We pulled into the first-come first-serve campground in Washburn, WI on a Thursday morning, snagged the best site, and settled in for the summer.
diff --git a/published/2022-07-10_washburn.txt b/published/2022-07-10_washburn.txt
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+++ b/published/2022-07-10_washburn.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+We pulled into Memorial Park Campground in Washburn, Wisconsin just before lunch on a Thursday and grabbed one of the few spots left in the campground. It was just a few sites down from where we [stayed four years ago](https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2018/08/island-golden-breasted-woodpecker). We love a good first-come, first-serve campground, especially one with no stay limits. We unfurled the awning and settled in for the summer. 
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-08_200436_washburn.jpg" id="image-3017" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-08_174443_washburn.jpg" id="image-3016" class="picwide" />
+
+For us, these days, settling in means signing the kids up for Jui Jitsu, getting library cards, and figuring out the best places to get in whatever body of water is nearby. Washburn, and nearby Ashland, provide all that and more, perhaps most importantly, reasonable temperatures all summer, little in the way of crowds, and the kind of hospitality you really only find in small towns anymore.
+
+At their first Jui Jitsu class one of their classmate's mother invited us to a midsummer party. Summer is bigger deal up here than it is in say Florida. When something is so fleeting you appreciate it more I think. Whatever the case, we showed up and had a great time. There was music, flower wreaths, comedy, even sack races. The kids danced late into the night. It was a good way to celebrate midsummer, something I've never celebrated before.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+        <img src="images/2022/2022-07-16_165753_washburn.jpg" id="image-3019" class="cluster pic66" />
+        <img src="images/2022/2022-07-16_171809_washburn.jpg" id="image-3020" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+    <img src="images/2022/2022-07-16_175425_washburn.jpg" id="image-3021" class="cluster picwide" />
+    <img src="images/2022/2022-07-16_190818_washburn.jpg" id="image-3022" class="cluster picwide" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+While Jui Jitsu, libraries, and swimming holes are all we really need, we do appreciate there being good Mexican food, and as of this summer, Washburn has that. All this corner of the world needs now is for the shifting climate to mellow out the winters a bit.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-24_124345_washburn.jpg" id="image-3023" class="cluster pic66 caption" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-25_153047_washburn.jpg" id="image-3024" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-26_072037_washburn.jpg" id="image-3025" class="cluster picwide" />
+</div>
+
+I think if we'd been closer to Washburn in 2020 when the U.S. shut everything down, we'd have rented a place around here. But of course that's not where we were so we'll likely never know how we'd handle a winter up here. For now though, it's a pretty great place to spend your summer.
diff --git a/published/2022-07-13_ten.txt b/published/2022-07-13_ten.txt
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/2022-07-13_ten.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+I was thinking the other day about some friends I haven't talked to since I left Los Angeles for good in 1999. I was thinking how astounded they would probably be to know that I had managed to keep two children alive and well for ten years now. What they would probably say is, *I think you mean your wife has managed to keep two children alive and well for ten years*. And of course they'd be right. 
+
+Whatever the case, somehow, our twins are ten. Double digits. A decade old.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-11_093151_10th-birthday.jpg" id="image-3036" class="picwide" />
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-11_063147_10th-birthday.jpg" id="image-3034" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-11_063132_10th-birthday.jpg" id="image-3035" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+</div>
+
+At least with a decade behind us I feel better about the fact that I can’t remember what I did without you. And I stand by the fact it couldn’t have been much fun. No offense to those friends back in LA. Whatever it was, it wasn't this good, I know that for sure.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-11_063351_10th-birthday.jpg" id="image-3033" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-11_063750_10th-birthday.jpg" id="image-3032" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-11_080811_10th-birthday.jpg" id="image-3030" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-11_080028_10th-birthday.jpg" id="image-3031" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+</div>
+
+One of the things the girls really wanted this year were cameras. When I got them I was mostly thinking about how cool it would be to see the world through their eyes. I wasn't really thinking about that fact that one of the things in the world as they see it would be, um, me.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-11_084519_10th-birthday.jpg" id="image-3029" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-11_084626_10th-birthday.jpg" id="image-3028" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+</div>
+
+I think it was the gifts that made my realize my babies aren't babies anymore. You don't give cameras and knives to babies. Well, we didn't anyway. Then again, while everything is always changing there are still constants. There's still no oven in the bus, and everyone still wants [chocolate waffle cake](https://luxagraf.net/essay/waffle-world).
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-11_124327_10th-birthday.jpg" id="image-3027" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-11_154237-1_10th-birthday.jpg" id="image-3026" class="picwide" />
diff --git a/published/2022-07-20_around-washburn.txt b/published/2022-07-20_around-washburn.txt
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/2022-07-20_around-washburn.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+One weekend I took the kids over to Madeline Island again. The museum was having a trading post-style reenactment, and we are suckers for a good reenactment festival. 
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-09_164703_madeline-island.jpg" id="image-3041" class="picwide" />
+
+
+We got to see some real birch bark canoes, and some artifacts like trade blankets, early compasses and navigation tools, even early pharmacy tools, including a pill-making board the kids got to try out, making some playdough pills.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-09_142021_madeline-island.jpg" id="image-3037" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-09_144557_madeline-island.jpg" id="image-3039" class="picwide" />
+
+Most of the reenactment stuff was things Voyageurs would have used in the fur trade, though there were a couple of people there representing local tribes. One man in particular was really great at showing the kids various tools and demonstrating how they worked. He was so good I forgot to take any pictures, which I realized later is kind of the highest praise I can (accidentally) give.
+
+The reenactment was a cool bonus, but really the museum there has enough that it's well worth the trip even if you've already been. But then I am deeply fascinated by the tools and techniques of history. I like to see how people solved problems, what tools they used, how the approached problems. Like this toaster, which really isn't all that different from today's toaster, and in some ways is better (if it were repaired to good working order). Certainly it has lasted longer than any toaster made to today is likely to last. The glass rolling pin though, that one I am not so sure about.
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-09_143649_madeline-island.jpg" id="image-3038" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-09_144828_madeline-island.jpg" id="image-3040" class="picwide caption" />
+
+While we have been to Washburn before, we were only here a few days and we didn't get to do much other than going to Madeline Island. With more time this time we've been able to explore the area some more. One of our favorite things we've found is Little Girl Point, a popular swimming and agate hunting beach about an hour away, on the other side of the bay. 
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-22_121456_little-girl-point.jpg" id="image-3042" class="picwide" />
+<div class="cluster">
+    <span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-27_120251_little-girl-point.jpg" id="image-3044" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-27_122106_little-girl-point.jpg" id="image-3046" class="cluster pic66" />
+    </span>
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-27_121110_little-girl-point.jpg" id="image-3045" class="cluster picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-07-27_120124_little-girl-point.jpg" id="image-3043" class="cluster picwide" />
+</div>
+
+When we don't want to go as far as Little Girl Point, we head up to Long Lake, just outside of Washburn. The water is much warmer water than Superior, and it makes a good place to do some paddleboarding. 
+
+<img src="images/2022/2022-08-05_141425_long-lake.jpg" id="image-3048" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-08-05_142037_long-lake.jpg" id="image-3049" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2022/2022-08-05_142850_long-lake.jpg" id="image-3050" class="picwide" />