The most notable moment on the bus was this accident. Caused the bus to fall behind schedule a bit.

  

I got off the Greyhound in Roanoke. Turns out that The Smart Way bus to Blacksburg had a stop about thirty yards away. It wasn't long before I was on my way to Virginia Tech, where the stop was just over the hill from my brother's place. $4 for a half hour bus ride, mostly on the freeway. What a deal!

After all that rain a few days ago, the hills were very green.

  

Differences between this bank and one in California aren't hard to list. Things like there would be sprinkler heads to make the grass green in California, and words like "Citizens" wouldn't be likely in the banks name.

Donna and Brandy were freshly back from their trip to Minnesota. We just hung around and talked.

  

After my brother got home we sat around and talked about this and that. The kids are getting ready for school. In Minnesota Brandy met her half sister that she didn't even know existed until she got there. Dad's health isn't so good any more. After a while the TV took over a lot of the talking. They had this interview with Clinton, who at some point said something like "Africa is a continent not a country."

I thought about that a bit. Then during the next commercial break I said "That makes me feel like Georgia is a country, Arkansas is a country." I watched my brother take that in. He nodded an "I get you" kind of nod but didn't comment.

  

  

     

And then there was the time Brandy got up to kill this bug on the floor and found out it was a lego piece some kid had forgotten to pick up. I enjoyed hearing the giggle when she realized what the problem was.

  

Sunday Mornings they watch Global Public Square. It seems to be my brother's religion. Watching him get time to listen to the babble box for that reminded me a lot of the battles we had for our father's attention while he was watching Meet the Press.

  

After the TV switched to covering the Colorado batman shooting my brother called it "disaster porn" and killed the machine. We went out and played frisbee on the lawn with the kids. That was fun!

  

Due to my cat allergies, I slept in this tent in the yard. It worked out great.