Day 180 of 1000
My admiration for the unsurpassed beauty of the state of Oregon does not diminish my admiration for the beauty of Virginia and the Carolinas. I have been criss-crossing all three states continually since the beginning of January to the tune of about $1500 of car reimbursement per month at 45¢ per mile. It looks like I will be running in this mode through April or May. I hope I slow down after that, but I have been thoroughly enjoying the places I visit and the people I meet.
I gave a talk on my research and development work to a group of engineers and technicians at a large French tire company near Columbia, South Carolina on Thursday. It made me think of one of my favorite characters in all of literature, the ugly American (a retired American engineer trying to help out in a fictional Southeast Asian country) from the book, the Ugly American. I met engineers from the U.S., France, Columbian (Medellin–how cool is that. He even complimented me on my Spanish.), and Puerto Rico (The University of Mayaguez where our friend Carlos B. studied). There are no cultural barriers when engineers are talking together about technology and solving problems.
I will contnue to write as often as possible. I am accumulating some good material and I need to get it written down before I forget it.