Any day that requires getting up before the sun rises is off to a bad start, in my book at least. But I have to say that despite the usual hassles and heartaches of air travel, we managed to get to the opposite side of the country with a minimum of drama. Today's Moment of Zen came during our long layover in Denver, when I spotted Everclear frontman Art Alexakis standing in front of us, waiting to board a flight to Portland. I was too groggy to go up and say anything to him. But I will say this: seeing him close-up and in person, you can clearly tell he's lived a hard-charging life! The other fun moment was hearing two podcast shout-outs (one to me personally, and one to the Pulpology site) from our online friends Craig and Linda of The Indie Travel Podcast. Thanks, guys!

We arrived at Sacramento's "The SMurF" airport and called for a hotel shuttle. Happily, our three boxes arrived at the hotel a few days earlier. Keith & Crystal checked in a few hours later, and we even heard briefly from Tony & Christina. OK peeps, tomorrow: to the Playa!