I'm not quite certain how far west because it was late last night and I was too tired to venture into that wonderful city. I have to venture in this morning because I need a blood test. I've picked out a clinic and hopefully they'll be willing to help a trucker in need. What I really hope is there'll be parking for the big rig somewhere close to the clinic. I don't have a lot of time to drive all over Fargo looking for a place to park the big rig so I can get some blood drawn.

Last night as I was driving across North Dakota something strange happened. I was somewhere west of Dickinson when I came up to the top of a hill and off in the distance on what must have been the horizon there was a huge, strange looking, dark orange object. At first I thought it must be a giant water tank or possibly some sort of petroleum tank because there were a lot of oil wells around. Then I went down in a valley and couldn't see it any more.

Having nothing better to do than drive the big rig down the road at the impossibly slow speed of 62 mph, I began to work up some theories on what the big orange thing was. Of course, I was also working on various scenarios for Chapter 16 of The Artists (Yes, I finished Chapter 15 and will be getting it off to my wonderful editor later this week.) when I came to the top of the next hill. The big, dark orange thing was even bigger now making it easily identifiable. It was the moon. Full moon, actually.

And, then I began to think about the moon.

Like I said, there's not a lot of activity going on in the big rig allowing for a lot of self-conversation. You'd be surprised the number of arguments we get ourselves into sometimes. Anyway, it's full moon time, again. If you're in customer service, the retail or food service industry, criminal justice, or any other occupation that places you in contact with people on a daily basis, you know about full moon days and nights. It seems all the crazies come out and, if you're one of the unlucky ones, come to you to show you how crazy crazy can be sometimes.

I was feeling a bit crazy myself, but then I am taking medicine to make me not so crazy. Yet, I'm feeling pretty damned good right now. In fact, I think it was the day before yesterday, I was driving across Montana so it could be either day, when I experienced this incredible sense of peace. I've never had this feeling before so it was quite a shock when I began to delve into it.

Then it got to be a bit scary because you see for the first time in my life I was at peace with the universe. I realized that I was okay with death.

I know, THIS GUY IS THINKING CRAZY THOUGHTS! But, you see, that's because it's full moon time and you can do that, especially if you're leaning a lilttle toward crazy anyway. I'm not saying everyone should go out looking for this sense of peace because it really gets you where it matters. Right now I think this feeling I had was a lot like when I used to meditate, but, of course, I wasn't meditating while driving across Montana.

Anyway, I needed to get that out and now I need to get ready to get down the road. I have to be in Roscoe, IL, tonight, so I can be in Indianapolis tomorrow afternoon.