It was raining on arrival at LAX, so when Mike and Charlotte Kirby picked me up the next day the weather was glorious, the air clear and sparkling.  Ever seen LA look this good?  From the Getty Centre. . .

From rain in LA to snowing on arrival in Dallas, which was strange according to the natives. I enjoyed it!  Next day I did the Kennedy thing, here standing close to where it happened (there's an X painted on the road behind me).  Two lovely young men named Chad and Jim - who were also staying at the Paramount - took the photo for me.  Chad'n'Jim were from Wisconsin, Jim was running for mayor of his town, and both were young, cute, and incredibly polite - even going so far as to hold my elbow as we negotiated slightly snowy, slightly icy gutters and footpaths.  For this Aussie girl, it was a whole new experience! (politeness and helpfulness, that is)

Next stop Albuquerque (yes, more snow!) to stay with the Ladyshrike herself.  ABQ is a lovely place, worth the price of the ticket just for the plane ride in  . . . the scenery is marvellous!  Shown here is Alice's family circle, after dinner at La Placita Dining Room in the Old Town.  Next day was a trip to Santa Fe - going we took the scenic route (gorgeous), homeward by highway.

Houston, where the landing was pretty hairy - we touched down with a little too much velocity, and the turn off the runway to taxi to the gate was very interesting - it felt like a one-wheeler.  Houston, where I ate entirely too much, but had a wonderful time staying with Bob Fleisher and family (including The Texans - see the Canine Division).

Pictured here is the Houston Gathering of 3 February 2000:  (l to r) Bob Fleisher, me, Mark Fowler, and Donni Call of New Orleans (who most sinfully brought all of us bottles of rum - excellent!)  After dinner we repaired to Bob's home to taste (guzzle?) the port that Kerry Webb sent along to be consumed at a gathering.

Bob and I also visited Johnson Space Centre, where I took an inordinate number of truly bad photos.  We had a wonderful time (spent the whole day there), seeing Mission Control, a superb I-Max movie, a shuttle mock-up, and a whole lot of big buildings where NASA is building stuff, and training astronauts.