Take the first left at Albuquerque

6 hours and two plane rides later, and I am finally in New Mexico. I was fortunate enough to have a window seat on the first leg of my journey, which was unusual because I always request an aisle. The landscape was varied and exsqisite as we passed over the heartland of America through the great plains to the Rocky Mountains. My curiosity plagued me, because as I surveyed the Old West, I wondered whether the land parceled out in perfect squares was a relic from the days of land speculators and sooners?

The most interesting spectacle from the plane ride was the sighting of a weather balloon flying 120,000 feet above Albuquerque. The pilot was obsessed with radioing the tower and providing his captive audience with facts about the balloon. I was concerned that he wasn't paying attention to the "road" because he was so interested in the balloon, which incidentally was the size of the Astrodome in Houston.

When I was not peering out the window, I read one of the books my best friend gave me last night, Simon Winchester's The Professor and the Madman, which relates the story of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Your dear FF affectionately refers to this 20- volume tome as the OED. I have even hooked some of my students on its comprehensive entries. I will post a review when I finish reading it.

Tomorrow, I am going to rent my first rental car, and head down the Turquoise Trail to Santa Fe and Taos.