North Conway, NH

Transprovincial Traveling Tip #1:
Compare MapQuest directions with a reliable map.

Transprovincial Traveling Tip #2:
Bring reliable maps with you.

So I got a little lost, okay? It just hurts that I got lost looking for the Bridge and Tunnel to Windsor. It’s kind of like my backyard as compared with, say, Quebec. Then I missed the 401 out of Windsor (the 401 is the great, big highway that goes to Toronto and Montreal.) I figure that my wandering contributed an hour to the 15-hour trip. Regardless, I arrived and that is good.

At the campaign office, I was indoctrinated: no talking to the press and no talking about the campaign. Anything you say can and will be used against us by Karl Rove. Loose lips sink ships and all that--standard operating procedure for even the smallest election campaigns.

The big news is that Martin Sheen will be here Sunday at 7:30. We volunteers will be advertising for him all day. Julie asked me to get his autograph for her or, because she’s not an autograph hound, I could just “touch him” and she would touch me. I told her, perhaps too emphatically, that I would get the autograph.

Tonight I met my hosts, Bill and Mary. He’s a retired-but-working physician; she’s a retired nurse with her own consulting company. We’re staying in their skiing condo, which is a modern, three-story, three-bedroom affair with a hot tub. I have the downstairs guest room and rec room to myself. (I had imagined sleeping on the hardwood floor of a drafty 19th century farmhouse, but I’m sure I’ll recover from my disappointment.) My gracious hosts have asked me to make myself at home, offering food in the fridge and even a swimsuit and towel for the hot tub. Dean attracts some pretty nice people, I must say.

It’s cold up here. The overnight forecast calls for clear skies and a low temperature of absolute zero, without the wind chill. We’re near “Hurricane Mountain,” and yes, the winds are bitter, probably at 40 or 50 mph. Tomorrow I will wear my thermals--all three pairs.

Sorry—no pictures tonight. I’m having trouble with Open AFS.