I’ll never forget my dad’s first herniated disc. We were sitting in the bleachers at Compo watching Dad play softball, when the batter hit a pop-up just foul of third base. Hammerin’ Hank races in from left field and OWWWWWW! Life would never be the same.  Not really that bad, to be honest. Just…

About a month ago, my mom was in the city for a meeting, or a haircut, or something like that. That evening, we had dinner together at Via Carota, my favorite Italian spot in the West Village. As we enjoyed the delicious Cacio e Pepe and Rigatoni Pomodoro, we talked about the basics: work, my new…

LA/XC-6: Greetings from Santa Monica! I’d fully intended to kick off this post with my latest enchantment at the Grand Canyon, but in between my day there and today’s arrival in Santa Monica, I spent last night in Sin City.  A…

LA/XC-6: Greetings from Albuquerque! Little did I know that Carol’s 69+ birthday present to me was to send me driving to St. Louis in a midwestern snowstorm!  I felt like I was on one of those legendary plains cattle drives!  …

So Mom’s been sharing all your Bourbon Trail adventures with me so far . . . been there, done that I say. LA/XC-6 Anyway, I’m actually enjoying my laissez-faire days around Westport.  True, Mom refuses to take me to the beach…

LA/XC-6:  Greetings from Lexington! All good so far.  Got to LGA nice and early, just the way I like it.  My whole family made lots of fun of me for leaving WePo at 6:30PM for a 9:53 flight, but I don’t care.  Who needs an ulc…

***COUNTDOWN:  2 DAYS TO LA/XC-6*** Hmm . . . I don’t know about this one.  My own logo, for The Roof Rack Report (left), was designed by a pro back in 2012 — and it’s held up pretty good, if I do say so myself.  Matter of fact, just last week we got a big compliment on it from Elise, Kemba’s dog…

***COUNTDOWN:  5 DAYS TO LA/XC-6*** Which would you choose? Yay!  Finally!  After 16 years of dog ownership — 11 with Ricky the Beagle and 5 with Kemba — I’ve won my first battle of wills!!!  (Obviously, if this was ever goin…

* * *COUNTDOWN: 15 DAYS TO LA/XC-6 * * * Beagle Man came home from Montauk at the end of September with all sorts of complaints about his back and his right shoulder.  He tried to blame it all on me — as usual:  You know, “all that tennis ball throwing, all that stick throwing.”  But the real rea…

One of the first things you always hear about Duck Tollers is how intelligent they are.  After what I saw this past weekend, though, I’m really not so sure.  Ah, Kemba, Kemba, Kemba.  Okay, here’s the picture:  Beagle Man brings Kemba to stay with Elise, the dog-sitter, on [caption id=”attachment…