The Rules (I)

1. Should a Mexican man found in the desert, bleeding and dying in the cab of a pickup truck which appears to have been involved in a drug-deal gone bad, start begging for 'agua,' under NO circumstances--no matter how tortured a conscience--is there to be any returning to the scene with said agua.

2. There is to be no picking up of hitchhikers on any lonely Nevada highways. This applies especially but not exclusively to busty, scantily-clad hitchhikers walking away from broken-down Hondas made in the mid-1980's.

Everything in its Right Place

• Determine duration and dates of trip: Check (Dec. '07)
• Reserve airline tickets and car rental: Check (Jan. '08)
• Make abortive attempt at planning details of trip and purchase tickets to Radiohead in St. Louis instead: Check (Mar. '08)

So far, so good...