August 2, 7:45 pm, Chester, IL

I've just been swimming in a gigantic 10 ft pool, filled with sparkling water as warm and welcoming as the womb. This is nice, very nice.

Ddogg and I are definitely the oldest people here, by far. This includes the lifeguards, who not only look the other way when the kids roughhouse, but also razz those kids whose antics are not amusing enough. It's funny, but also a little scary - like Our Gang, if the gang involved were the Crips.

The ifeguards have spent the last 20 minutes trying to get this tiny 4'5" girl to do a gainer off the diving board. She hasn't yet, but I think they're wearing her down.

So chester is a funny place. And it's not just the unsupervised William Golding's "Lord of the Rascals" aspect. Chester is home to Popeye.

This is a town dedicated to Popeye, whose economy revolves entirely around him. All the town banners are emblazoned with a Popeye; he's front and center on the water tower; even the Chamber of Commerce has a big fat Popeye face on it. I wouldn't kid about this. I think there's more representations of Popeye in this town than there were of Stalin in Soviet Russia.

It's great for the people of Chester now. Sure, they're living in the days of wine and roses. But what's gonna happen once ths nation-wide Popeye craze dies down?

Of course, I kid, and I kid because I love. I really like Chester. I got to stick my head into a Wimpy cutout, and eat a hamburger.

Also, the retaurant chain "Popeye's" is not named after Popeye the Sailor Man! It's named after Popeye Doyle from "The French Connection". What a world.

8/1 Motel 6, Carbondale, IL -> 7 hrs, 04116.6