Another October, another nervous breakdown, another soul-searching drive out into the desert before I start a terrifying new chapter of my career. This trip is longer, and further, and I'm doing it alone, which I think adds nicely to the Mystique of Crazy that seems to surround me more and more these days.

If I don't come back, you can go ahead and assume that it was bears or mechanical failure, and not that I decided to become a park ranger under an assumed name somewhere in New Mexico.