Day 2, John Bryan State Park, Ohio, 505 miles so far, 4357 to the moon.

Did not sleep well last night. Was too tired. Need to get used to my new mattress, just an inch from the ground. It's one of those self inflating mattresses, which means that you inflate it yourself.

One of the problems i encounter on all these trips when i am trying to make progress on the road or in a camp is people stopping by to chat. The Defender and Donner are the draw. I try to be courteous, but i have to remain mindful of the fact that i need to get a good night's sleep, and every conversation i have takes away from that

I am absolutely trilled that after nine road trips, i have finally reached the peak of efficiency in organizing things in the Defender. Everything seems to belong where i have it and the chaos that followed us on our trips for nine years is gone. Of course, it's easier with just Donner, recalling that for six trips i had two dogs, one time with Leben in a wheelchair. How did i manage?

Tonight, when i set up the tent, i delayed putting Donner's bed inside, the bed with those three nylon laundry bags covering it. After his dinner, Donner immediately retreated to the tent on cue, walked inside, looked around for his bed, ignoring my mattress, and then walked outside the tent, saw his bed there, and immediately hopped on it and made himself right at home. See photo. I am amazed at how something as simple as that can bring me so much satisfaction on these road trips. He absolutely loves that bed now. Now i am wondering if he will like it as much when i pull off the red laundry bag to wash it and the bed mysteriously turns to yellow, then black. I will continue this routine at home.

To conserve my daily food boxes so i don't have to resupply before Yellowstone, today was one of those days where i pick up a salad for dinner during the day's drive. I usually resupply when i get down to five boxes remaining. It takes at least three hours to go through the whole resupply routine, which translates to 15O miles, or a half day's journey. My day's are spent making tradeoffs like that.

So far, i haven'd read a page of the one book i brought, From Dawn to Decadence, by Jacques Barzun, a study of civilization's downward spiral, very fitting for the times we live in today.

It's 10pm. Time to play taps and then light's out.

Ed and Donner, from the road