Now my journeys are at an end

For the moment, anyhow. Ohio was Tuesday the 28th through Thursday the 30th; the Poconos were yesterday, and today was New Jersey. And I'm feeling pretty beat.

Ohio was the hardest, physically and emotionally. Driving for six hours at the posted speed limit (as far as you know) is exhausting, even though I was basically just sitting there and keeping the car straight along I-80.

Why is travel so exhausting? I like Douglas Adams' theory (expressed by Oolon Colluphid) that "every being in the Universe is tied to his birthplace by tiny invisible force tendrils composed of little quantum packets of guilt." These tendrils exert a force that grows stronger the farther you are from your birthplace. This might explain it, but I also think that something primitive in your brain intuitively understands distance traveled and works out how long it should have taken to travel that distance at "natural" speeds; you experience a level of fatigue that in some way corresponds to this imagined length of travel. This is why it is tiring to even travel as a passenger in a car, or a bus, or an airplane. (Airplane travel is tiring even without the security pantomime that you are forced to endure for the sake of appearances.)

Next week I may be traveling to Maryland, a trip that is long overdue. And my friends in New York should not assume that I am too weary to swing by their way sometime. But I think that tomorrow, the last day of my holiday break, I will just spend some time resting at home. And maybe start undecorating.