I can see my house from here.

Alohioha from the eleventh floor of the Crown Plaza in downtown Dayton. My apartment complex-to-be (as of tomorrow) is caddycorner north and west from me, just out my window. And eight stories down. It's a wee loft building.

The trip took about 8 hours, which was longer than I'd expected, but I wasn't exactly in a hurry. Usually when you take a long drive, you're looking forward to something on the other end. Friends, family, wagging dogs, WallyWorld, etc. But all I had was a hotel room, guaranteed late arrival. I took my time. Which made the trip fairly stress-free, especially the ten-minute stretch between Hancock and Cumberland, where 4 unmarked cop cars were nailing people, including one in a silver SUV.

I spent most of western Maryland going up and down long slopes, like a slow, boring roller coaster, which made me think about writing the Maryland Department of Transportation and introducing them to the concept of tunnels.

My Pregnant Wife said Dover the diminutive dog spent most of the day staring out to the street and whining, and around 6 o'clock, all three were out on the porch awaiting my arrival. Hopefully they'll temporarily get out of that habit. It was a rough good-bye, but we're just thinking of this has a series of extended TDYs, my Daytonexperience a temporary stopover before I can return home. And bend way over and pat Dover on the head and tell him he's a good boy.