Travelling West is always a good time. Long, but good. Started the day in Laguardia Airport which is creeping its way toward civilization one blocked lane at a time. At least there was a source for drinking water in this terminal. Made it to Denver then out to Helena without any incident, except I think I ate a low quality burrito and should have just had half of it.

For the past few years I have tried to consume an inordinate amount of my subscription reading on flights as I travel here and there. It works out great. I write a ton of notes that I forget about until the next flight when I open my notebook back up. Seat sizes and space between seats has made the use of a laptop, or even an ipad with a keyboard attachment, impossible. I think there were 13 inches between me and the seat in front of me – maybe that’s too generous of an estimate. I did pretty well reading however and will take a bit of a break from that until the flight back. 

The bag can hold quite a bit. Here’s the photo to compare to the one on Monday when I return home. I have my planner, my notebook, a copy of the latest issues of Poetry, American Scholar, Hegehog Review, and of course, several issues of the London Review of Books. 

Also visible: Phone charger, Kindle HD 8, and a copy of a book I’m reading. 

I finished the book for the Book Culture reading group but was unable to attend the discussion due to illness. Makes me pretty upset, but what can I really do about it. Better to feel well here today and not have made myself more ill by trying to go to a thing the night before travelling across the country. Also, I don’t want to get others sick, or make a bad impression as a plague carrier or something to the first meeting of a cool book group that I’ve found. I hope to be able to go next month. 

It’s nice to be out here as I don’t have to panic that this entry is late, I still have an hour on Montana time. I hope it posts that way, but if not, know that I stayed up late after being sick and travelling to share a few thoughts. Tomorrow evening starts the workshop/competition and I am trying out several new teaching ideas that I hope to film. The ideas are new, the lecture/discussion format is not. Time for some video rendering to set to cook overnight and to sleep the sleep of someone who has been up since 7AM New York Time. Whew.