On The Road, Larry and the Wii.

Last weekend(make that the weekend before last) I took a road trip, one that in my mind would have been a mini "On The Road" experience. Next month, Jack Kerouc's On The Road will celebrate it's 50th year in print and I've always loved the idea as millions of others of the open road, no particular schedule or destination. The roadtrip didn't turn out quite like I had envisioned, still fun but not reminiscent of that show Route 66. So I thought of some rules for the ultimate "On The Road" roadtrip:

1. No roadtrips that involve stopping to see family. I'm not saying its bad to see family just that it kills the open road "explorer vibe" when you see some familiarity.
2. Don't take parents with you. Even if they're nice, still have that "authority" figure riding shotgun.
3. Pick your friend carefully. See any "road movie" and this proves to be true
4. Destination not really important. Just pick a place with something to see when you get there.
5. You have to travel in a convertible. To experience the open road you must get a feel, smell and the wind of the open road.
6. Stop and eat. Find that little hole in the wall place in a little town, you might be surprised just how good the food is.
7. Ipod. Packed with road tunes ... Freebird, Roll on down the highway, Ramblin' Man, any and all Bob Dylan etc.



So back to the weekend before last roadtrip, I finally made the pilgrimage to Booked Up in Archer City, TX. I hoped to find some really rare editions to add to my cookbook collection, turned out not to be so. The selection for cookbooks was a little thin, but typical, since really the cookbook category of the market really didn't get hot until the 80's and now is very hard to get published. I did get a book on the "Butter Industry" and a "Treatise on Baking" both from the 20's. While looking over the VAST and I mean VAST other selections of books, I was in the back "garage" of Booked Up no. 1 when I had my brush with greatness. I went to look for Texanna books and mystery books when I noticed a man that looked vaguely familiar sorting and pricing books. We had a pleasant exchange about how hot the weather was and if any more cookbooks could be found elsewhere, nope all looked at already in no.4. So, it was time to go and check out and when I did I asked the nice lady there if that was in fact the man himself back there sweating away pricing books, She why yes thats Mr Larry McMurtry himself. I told her that I didn't want to bother him but my father-in-law who is an avid reader of McMurtry told me to pass along that the only book that he did "get" was "All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers", she laughed and said she would pass that along. So there folks was my brush with fame, the most recent Oscar winner for co-writing a script to a movie I'll never bother to see, but a damn good writer anyway.

As for the Wii, FINALLY got one and talk about FUN, it's fantastic! The Wii has wireless networking built right in and with the expenditure of 500 Wii points (5 bucks) you can download the Wii Opera browser. I checked all the local bloggers with the browser and that all work and look great. The only thing the browser can't do yet is things like Flash, Java, Quicktime, yet it CAN run YouTube videos without a hitch. I'm looking foward to see how Nintendo expands the platform with things that aren't just shoot'em up, but with games that expand your brain and minimize your waistline (Wii Fitness makes ya break a sweat).