I hope no one's been holding their breath waiting for the next installment...

June 6:
Spent the day with another Poet Laureate whom I knew online but had not met previously. Talked LOTS of poetry, and he gave me the driving tour and some of the history of Napa and environs.

June 7:
Early in the day, I walked around and bought the Audre Lorde book "The Cancer Journals" at a used book annex of the San Francisco Library. I had read an excerpt years ago but did not want to buy the book until I finished mine so I wouldn't be influenced by it. Of all the cancer books I'm aware of, hers seemed like the closest to what I'm doing, especially in attitude. That evening, my poetry feature in Berkeley went really well. My theme (and I usually don't theme) was "All Road Trips, All The Time." I included both past writing and some of the new pieces that I had just written on the trip.

June 8:
Woke up with the chills and 30 minutes later started barfing. Throwing up and shaking for the next several hours. It was all I could do to get out of bed and make two phone calls around 2pm: one to Kate to tell her our meeting was postponed; and one to my girlfriend Kimberly, with whom I was supposed to stay that night. Since I didn't have a fever, the best guess was food poisoning. I felt fine the next day.

June 9:
Saw Kate in Modesto. She took an extended lunch hour to meet me We could've used a few more hours but she had to work and I had to drive. My friend Kimberly who can have her space cadet moments, sent me step-by-step directions to her place ("after you see the three blue mailboxes, you pass a fenced field with buffalo...") She lives at the end of a long dirt road up in the mountains near Yosemite in a town with no name. Her directions were perfect and I arrived 6ish with no problems whatsoever. I was able to follow the 2-page printout of directions by moving a binder clip down the page as I progressed.

I've written enough today. More later; start cookin' yer popcorn.