I left the house this morning just as dawn was breaking and the birds were starting to sing. It was a little frosty but I got to the station and onto the train. There was only a slight delay while the two halves (one from Chester and one from Holyhead) were joined together. I tucked into my coffee and a book, which I had hoped, might give me some more inspiration for the Lincoln Highway journey next year. The title ‘A walk across America’ was promising but it turned out that Peter Jenkins who started out from New England, headed south to the Gulf Coast rather than west. However, his journey was eventful in that in addition to meeting some interesting characters, his faithful canine companion dies; he becomes a Christian and meets the woman who becomes his wife. His journey to the Oregon coast is contained in a second book, which I will seek out. Once I got to London, I had very short but crowded tube journey to my destination and enjoyed a very stimulating conference on spirit possession and mental health. At the end of the afternoon I walked along Old St, Clerkenwell Road and into Bloomsbury (hoping to do my 10,000 steps for today) with a brief visit to Skoob books. As my neuralgia was kicking in again, I headed to the British Library for a rest and to think about another book I have been reading: Geoffrey Wagner’s ‘Another America: In Search of Canyons. This was published in the 1970s, as was Peter Jenkins’ book. Interestingly, this review copy that I had found in the second hand department in the Waterstones in Bloomsbury, only cost me 50p more in 2015 than it did in 1974. Wagner is a disaffected academic and New York City dweller who, tired of academic life and crime levels in the city, heads off with his wife and a Porsche across the country. His style is informal and he can be very dismissive on occasions (e.g. don’t go to Denver) but certainly highlights some of the things we might want to divert to see. I have almost done 10,000 steps now that I am at Euston and am hoping for an uneventful train journey home.