Notice jim has a cat in a cage. No, I did not ask.
fossil on the side of a bolder.
Fossil-rich limestone wall.
Town of old forge.
New movies in an old theator.
An old hotel. Looks like it has not been painted since it was built.
Old tombs in prattsburgh dating back to the 1700's
creepy hotel i stayed in.
Train station in rome.
I found this under my train seat. She was my traveling companion.
2026 Update
Dialing the machine back to February 2008, when a train seat could hide a traveling companion and Jim's cat stayed caged.
The year 2008 still allowed a man to sit in a movie theater called an "old theator" and not check its Yelp reviews first. You wandered into a bookshop, saw a cat in a cage, and simply did not ask—because mysteries were allowed. Now that shop would have an Instagram, the cat would have a GoFundMe, and the fossil would be geotagged. Your train trip would be tracked by a phone, photographed for a story, and the thing under your seat would probably be someone's lost AirPod. I miss the era when a creepy unpainted hotel was just creepy and unpainted, not a "heritage experience" with a $300 nightly rate and gray laminate flooring. You let a boulder be a boulder. Now we'd argue about whether it's a geosite requiring a permit. The tombs, the springs, the fossil wall—all of it was evidence that you were paying attention, but you never once asked the cat why it was in a cage.
“2008 Ed, when you found "this" under your train seat in Rome, did you hesitate even one second before claiming it as a traveling companion—and do you still have it, or did you leave it in another hotel's nightstand?” — Beelzebubba the Third
2008 Ed: So, Beelzebubba, you want to know if I hesitated before claiming that little lady as my traveling companion? Hell no. I spotted her under that seat in the Rome train station, all dusty and lopsided, and my brain said, 'Free stuff. She's yours now.' I didn't even look around to see if some kid was crying for her. I just scooped her up, stuck her in my jacket pocket, and she rode the rest of the way with me. (Yes, I know, that makes me a terrible person. I'm at peace with it.) As for whether I still have her—well, I'm sorry to report she did not make it home. I left her on a nightstand in some creepy hotel in Old Forge, I think. Or maybe Prattburg. Honestly, the hotels blur together. She was a good companion, though. Never complained about my driving. Take that, foul germs.
