Hmmm.... Saturday night and no panic, but it's 8 PM and we really haven't started packing yet. I can see it won't be an early start in the morning. The forecast says sun and 92° in Watkinsville tomorrow. Humidity probably around 50-60% so there's no doubt we'll be sweltering on the first leg. I suspect we'll get cooled off round about the time we hit Memphis -- they're forecast for the same heat but a very good chance of T-storms in the late afternoon. As long as there are no tornadoes...

Had a bit of a disaster yesterday. As usual, I've got a grant proposal due (to USDA) the week after next -- right in the middle of the trip. I had done an unusually good job getting it worked up in advance and had every intention to turn it in today, a full 11 days early. But in one of those everything-goes-wrong-at-once computer debacles, the folder containing the grant files -- and only that folder and only those files -- comletely disappeared from my thumb drive leaving behind all sorts of other folders and files. I hadn't backed them up in more than 24 hours, and none of the software I had could track them down. They were just vaporized, so I ended up burning some midnight oil last night to get caught back up. No matter, I can see that I'll be working at night in strange motel rooms to get it finished in time. At least I'll have lots of time on the ride to think about what I need to write at each night's stop. Yeah....right.......