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diff --git a/published/2017-05-19_little-black-train.txt b/published/2017-05-19_little-black-train.txt
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+We had to make a directional decision from Palmetto island, heading south would mean beaches, but a long road back up to Austin and then Dallas where we're scheduled to meet up with Corrinne's family. We decided to skip the Texas beaches for now. Temperatures have been rising beyond comfortable in the afternoon and one of the big appeals of Texas beaches is boondocking, which we can't do yet because we still have no water tank.
+
+So westward we go.
+
+I've recently realized through a few internet conversations I've had with friends and family, that no one believes that we drive (whenever possible) back roads. It seems that when I say back roads people think I mean staying off the interstate in favor of  state roads (usually two digit highways). But no, that's not how we roll so to speak.
+
+Admittedly, sometimes those highways are the only option, but when possible we go much smaller than that, stringing together routes using county roads, random streets and the occasional barely-a-road dirt track. I generally feel like a driving day should include at least one moment where we collectively think "there's no way this is right" and then continue on anyway. To give you some flavor of what it's like here's an otherwise not very good photo from somewhere along our drive out of Palmetto Island, through Louisiana:
+
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-19_141207_train-museum-driving.jpg" id="image-496" class="picwide" />
+
+Traveling this way is unquestionably slow (that 35 mile stretch above was probably at least 15 miles, not exactly covering ground in a hurry), but the advantage is that you get to stumble unto things you'd overwise never even know about. Like the wonderful railroad museum in Dequincy Louisiana. A couple of train cars outside under an covering caught my eye from a distance, but it was late in the day and I wasn't sure if the kids would be up for it. A couple of red lights later I saw a sign that said "railroad museum" so I thought what the hell and turned off on a small street and parked the bus. 
+
+I popped in the Iron Horse pub where what turned out to be a few off duty railroad workers were enjoying a drink, or ten, and asked if the bus was okay where it was. Now, the thing I know about the bus is that it's really hard to tow so it's not like I'm worried about it disappearing, but I dislike offending the local citizenry so I always like to ask. 
+
+<img src="images/2017/IMG_0375_01.jpg" id="image-504" class="picfull" />
+
+Of course one does not simply point to the bus, ask a question and walk away. So I spent ten minutes or so hanging out, fielding engine questions (Dodge 318, nope, not the 440, that comes along in '72) and learning a tiny bit about railroad work. Most of the people there were not just railroad workers, but second and even third generation railroad workers. I also noticed a sign that said all canned beer was just $1 when a train went by. This was the second time that having children forced me to a different itinerary than I would have naturally picked. Left to my own devices I'd have never made it to the museum, but I bet I'd know a lot more about railroad workers.
+
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-19_143724_train-museum-driving.jpg" id="image-497" class="picwide" />
+
+Eventually I extracted myself and headed across the street to the museum. Corrinne and the kids were already inside what turned out to be the old station house. There were switches and time tables -- most people don't realize this but timezones, and accurate time keeping only exists because railroads needed it[^1] -- along with old typewriters, a telegraph, even a Burroughs adding machine.
+
+
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-19_143555_train-museum-driving.jpg" id="image-505" class="picwide caption" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-19_144203_train-museum-driving.jpg" id="image-506" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-19_144829_train-museum-driving.jpg" id="image-499" class="picwide caption" />
+
+The kids, particularly Elliott, were drawn to the back room with the model railroad set up. Humans have come up with a lot of different ways of moving themselves around, but trains seem to catch kids imagination in some way that most other do not. 
+
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-19_144712_train-museum-driving.jpg" id="image-498" class="picwide" />
+
+Eventually we started to head outside when the woman behind the counter intercepted us and gave us keys to the padlocks. "I have to go pick up my daughter from school," she said, "just make sure you lock up when you're done and put the keys in the mailbox." We had free run of the place, which was cool, but I was more impressed with the trusting of stranger, how often does that happen in America anymore?
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-19_145515_train-museum-driving.jpg" id="image-500" class="picwide" />
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2017/IMG_0369.jpg" id="image-501" class="cluster pic5" />
+<img src="images/2017/IMG_0371.jpg" id="image-502" class="cluster pic5" />
+</span>
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-19_145609_train-museum-driving_01.jpg" id="image-507" class="picwide" />
+</div>
+
+We went in the railcar, poked around the engine a bit and looked in the cabooses as well. The kids seemed most enthralled by the  mini train that gets used during the local "railroad days" festival. Sometimes you need something that's more your size.
+
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-19_150432_train-museum-driving.jpg" id="image-503" class="picwide" />
+
+After looking around we locked up, dropped the key in the mailbox and headed on down the road.
+
+[^1]: Most of what I know about what we call "time" -- and just how downright strange and culturally-bound it turns out to be -- comes from reading the excellent, <cite>A Geography Of Time</cite>, by Robert Levine.
diff --git a/published/2017-05-23_keeps-on-arainin.txt b/published/2017-05-23_keeps-on-arainin.txt
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+We drove into Texas, still sticking to the back roads for the most part. I have some thoughts on driving in Texas, but I am not going to air them until I leave.
+
+A while back someone asked what we do when it rains. At the time I didn't know because, despite having some big storms come through in various places, it still hadn't really rained during the day. In Huntsville it rained most of the day so now I know. When it rains, we put on raincoats and play in the rain.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_092931_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-508" class="cluster pic5" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_093007_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-510" class="cluster pic5" />
+</span>
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_093026_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-511" class="cluster pic5" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_092934_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-509" class="cluster pic5" />
+</span>
+</div>
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_122445_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-513" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_122348_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-512" class="picwide" />
+
+When that gets old we drive into the nearest town, have lunch, and check out the sights.
+
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_140945_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-514" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_141229_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-515" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_142707-4_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-516" class="picwide caption" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_143216_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-517" class="picwide caption" />
+
+Then we do something I've been pondering ever since Taylor and Beth served us cornbread waffles -- would chocolate cake waffles work? Yes, yes it would[^1]
+
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_150233_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-518" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_150519_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-519" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_150535_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-520" class="picwide" />
+
+Eventually the rain stops and then it's back to life as usual exploring the outdoors.
+
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_155613_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-521" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_160813-1_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-522" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_161218_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-523" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_161340_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-524" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_183940_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-525" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-22_183955_huntsville-tx.jpg" id="image-526" class="picwide caption" />
+
+
+
+
+[^1]: Our oven doesn't work, so actual chocolate cake or cupcakes or whatever aren't possible. I believe something is wrong with the thermostat, though I haven't really spent much time investigating it yet.
diff --git a/published/2017-05-30_austin-part-one.txt b/published/2017-05-30_austin-part-one.txt
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+I grew up spending a lot of time outdoors. Camping, hiking, and later, backpacking, rock climbing, and mountaineering. The latter two activities ended up consuming more and more of my time as I got older. I chose the first college I went to chiefly because it got me closer to some of the best rock climbing and mountaineering around in Joshua Tree National Park, the San Jacinto mountains and, a bit further but still accessible, the high sierra.
+
+All I wanted to do was be in the mountains and, ideally, climb them. Since that wasn't financially viable for me I did what I considered the next best thing, I worked at the North Face and mostly sat around reading books on Reinhold Messner, Conrad Anker, Edmund Hillary, Alex Lowe, Galen Rowell and others. I even got to hang out with Ron Kauk when he gave a talk at our store. And of course I went climbing whenever I could. There was no "van life" crap back then, just dirt bag climbers sleeping in their cars out in Joshua Tree, the Buttermilks, Horseshoe Slabs, and Deadman's.
+
+Which is all just a little background on why, rather than writing about what we did for two weeks in the Austin Texas area, I'm writing about how absolutely mind blowing it is that Alex Honnold free soloed El Capitan.
+
+Just in case you're not familiar with what that means, it means that he climbed a 3000 foot rock face, alone with no ropes, no protection, no margin for error. He climbed it perfectly. You know that he did because if he hadn't he'd be a bloody smear somewhere up the face of El Capitan.
+
+While the sheer physicality of climbing for three hours and fifty-six minutes with no break is impressive, to me it's nothing next to the mental strength and absolute confidence it takes to even consider doing something like that, let alone doing it. If that doesn't blow your fucking mind then I have to say, I think you're probably not wired up quite right.
+
+Anyway, we drove across more of Texas.
+
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-23_120942_buscher-state-park.jpg" id="image-527" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-23_124322_buscher-state-park.jpg" id="image-528" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-23_124340_buscher-state-park.jpg" id="image-529" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-23_125431-1_buscher-state-park.jpg" id="image-530" class="picwide" />
+
+The plan was to spend a while hanging around the Austin area, but we're not very good planners. We forgot about Memorial day and couldn't get a place to camp in Austin. We ended up just east of Austin, near Bastrop which had a space and was close enough to drive into town. We tried to take the kids to a children's museum, but it was so crowded it was no fun for anyone. 
+
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-26_111801_austin.jpg" id="image-531" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-26_120617_austin.jpg" id="image-532" class="picwide caption" />
+
+We bailed out of that and headed out to Pioneer Farm, an all-volunteer effort to preserve a little slice of Texas (and more broadly, American) history with historic buildings, re-enactments and a working farm and blacksmith shop. Much more to the kids' liking.
+
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-26_140003_austin.jpg" id="image-533" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-26_140629_austin.jpg" id="image-535" class="picwide caption" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-26_140141_austin.jpg" id="image-534" class="picwide caption" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-26_145633_austin.jpg" id="image-536" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-26_151611_austin.jpg" id="image-537" class="picwide" />
+
+The rest of the time we hung around camp and sweated.
+
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-27_095800_buscher-state-park.jpg" id="image-538" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-28_095941_buscher-state-park.jpg" id="image-540" class="picwide caption" />
+<img src="images/2017/2017-05-28_095918_buscher-state-park.jpg" id="image-539" class="picwide" />
+
+It finally got hot while we were in Bastrop. Really hot. One day the weather said it was 97 degrees and the "feels like" was at 116. What better day to go to a dinosaur park and walk around in the hot sun for a few hours? Made me miss Matt and Debi who would definitely have been up for some heat. Surprisingly though it wasn't empty, there were more than a few Texans just as crazy as us, which was impressive.
+
+<img src="images/2017/DSC07525.jpg" id="image-541" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/DSC07531.jpg" id="image-542" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/DSC07537.jpg" id="image-543" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/DSC07540.jpg" id="image-544" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/DSC07549.jpg" id="image-545" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/DSC07562.jpg" id="image-546" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/DSC07570.jpg" id="image-547" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/DSC07579.jpg" id="image-548" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2017/DSC07589.jpg" id="image-549" class="picwide" />