Appleton

Well, we’re here in Appleton; we’ve done grocery shopping; we’ve had dinner at a local pub, and I’ve met with the professor with whom I will co-teach the Gender 101 class I’ll be teaching. My first class is tomorrow, and I’m both excited and nervous about starting the term. Mostly excited.

It’s cold here, but not so cold; still, I appreciate having my boots and my very cozy coat. For now, I have Betty to keep me warm at home, but she’s leaving in the next week to head back to NY and start working herself.  (But don’t worry, she’s coming to visit for Valentine’s Day, when she’ll also speak to my classes.)

Greetings From Kenosha, Wisconsin!

We’re nearly there. Not quite. It’s been a lot of driving – just crossing Pennsylvania takes a day, after all. We’re in Kenosha now after driving today though the end of PA, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, & then just the first tip of Wisconsin. It’ll be a few more hours to Appleton, tomorrow.

For those of you who have asked, or guessed, where I’ll be teaching: Lawrence University is the answer. I’m only teaching for a term, which is three months.

So, the trip. We started later than we were supposed to (of course). Betty forgot her license & her phone. We drove & drove & drove through Pennsylvania, & I finally convinced Betty to stop in a little town near the Ohio border called Barkeyville, PA. Ah, what a town! We found a Comfort Suites, checked in, & then went out to find dinner & beer. We checked one place that didn’t have any. We checked another. & Then, finally, I asked someone who said, “Oh, this is a dry county.”

So much for beer.

But the boys have been fantastic, absolutely lovely, the brilliant kittoi I’ve always known them to be.

Another highlight was that someone clever, instead of writing the usual WASH ME on a dirty truck, wrote I WISH MY WIFE WAS AS DIRTY AS THIS TRUCK instead. That was somewhere in Ohio, I think.

We have eaten way too much fast food.

We have sat way too long in a minivan.

We are very excited about arriving tomorrow.

& With that, I’m off for a bath, & a toast to Barack Obama for his Iowa Caucus victory, & bed.

Crossdressers Needed

A couple of weeks ago I posted a survey by TAVA, the transgender veterans association, and they are especially needing to hear from crossdressers. I know you’re out there, so please do respond to the survey!

A New Day

It’s the day Betty and I have been waiting for: the first day that isn’t 2007, at long last. We’re hoping 2008 will be a little kinder, maybe a little more amenable, which looks a little ironic from where I’m standing: amidst all the bags I have packed for Wisconsin. I am looking forward to teaching, to meeting various professors and students and even MHB readers, but there is also a part of me that doesn’t want to travel at all anymore; I just want a job, teaching most likely, somewhere I could live, and live with Betty, and have a home big enough for three cats and way too many books. As a result of the commute to North Andover this past fall, this trip to Wisconsin seems like the final test of my resources, or rather, if I ever had any slight bit of agoraphobia after 9/11, this trip is my proof that it’s all gone.

So, off we go. Tomorrow, Betty and I drive to Wisconsin, and we’re planning on arriving on Friday. If we can post from the road we will, but we might not be able to. Or we might not want to. Who knows? In either case, I’m on my way, and so is the new year.