Notes from the Road

6:15pm (Barstow, California) -- We're on the way! Taking off into the evening sky, we tilt up over the Pacific before swinging eastward over the Mojave Desert. The arid hills below are glowing bright orange in the setting sun.

8:15pm (Las Vegas, Nevada) -- The sunset over Nevada is beautiful and peaceful. We are flying high and smooth with a clear sky above and below. To the west the horizon is a blazing red line that quickly cools to a deep cobalt, high altitude blue.

6:02am (southern Greenland) -- The miraculous, wild beauty which is Greenland from above. The pack ice along the eastern shoreline is broken up into smaller pieces than it was when I last passed over it. The man across the aisle from me reminds me of a potato. He is short and round and has not moved in his seat since the plane took off.

5:30pm (London) -- On the street in front of St. Paul's, the sun is reflecting off the rain-shiny pavement. The bare trees are glistening with drops. Everything is bright. The sign in front of Starbucks say "Pop In For A Visit."

8:40pm (Manchester) -- In the air again, the lights of the towns below look like spiders splayed out across the countryside. As we fly over, they seem to creep in and out from beneath the carpet of low-lying clouds.

9:02pm (Glasgow) -- Glasgow is all orange lights. There must be a rule about it.