"And miles to go before he sleeps......"

I've been following the Buffalo on his trip across America. I get the impression he hasn't quite found it yet. This is not to say he hasn't made quite a few discoveries along the way. Somehow he's managed to find differences along his route in a country that is busy getting rid of differences. The one thing that does seem to remain constant is weather that doesn't often cooperate with the moment, as well as motel's that seem to think you should pay mortgages for a nights rest.

I have yet to decipher whether or not Buf has decided that the trip was worth taking. He's met plenty of interesting people along the way, although it's not certain he would not have met the same sort of folk within 5 blocks of his home. Hospitality and inhospitable behaviors seem to be a hit and miss proposition; no one area seems to be able to lay claim to either. At least it's apparent that our intrepid developers haven't been able to level all the mountains and fill in all the valleys; there are still topographical features remaining in this country that are worth seeing firsthand.

I think it must be mentioned in all fairness that one cannot truly judge a place and the people who live in it in the short time you spend there just passing thru. Buf is not sucking at the teat of some rich daddy, thus he is hostage to economic realities which do not allow him to hang out in any area for very long. Most vacations of any length usually allow you to focus your attentions on all that one place has to offer, and sometimes even then you are only scratching the surface. So, I have to offer that Buf is probably missing as much as he's seeing on his two wheeled journey. It is nice that he managed to snag a companion for the trip to help keep his sanity. Bob knows there have been plenty of people along the way testing that.

Unless I missed that chapter, our intrepid hero has also avoided having to ventilate the barrel of his good buddy, Mr. Gun. I also failed to capture any episode that involved him scraping his arthritic knuckles on some miscreants face; purely by accident, I'm sure it would have been. Not to say that his demeanor has not been tested, for it is well known that all across this land there are people who could use a good dose of Buffalo. They have no idea how fortunately they are to not have encountered him on one of their particularly bad days, when people tend to go out of their way to invite a good hurt on themselves. Now, I know that Buf is not the kind of guy who would embark on such a venture with any express wish to get into it with anyone.....but.....stuff happens. The fact that it hasn't happened is, as I think he would agree, a good thing.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this trip with this talented writer and liver of life. Although I am probably reading everything that will be in his book, I will pay gladly for my own copy regardless. Buffalo is truly a talented wordsmith, capable of spinning a grand tale, whether it be about the noises he hears on the street in front of his house, or some misadventure he had many years ago in far away and unfriendly places. I hope that all of you who have been equally faithful fans of The Buffalo can find the time to use that all-powerful word of mouth to insure his book is a great success, for if any of us deserves to succeed in this dog-eat-dog literary world, I think he does, if for anything else, walking the walk before talking the talk.