Seafarers! I've completed my journey. Returned to the Emerald City last night. It's been a good sail along the eastern seaboard. Learned alot. Jamestown reminded me that Africans set foot upon these shores before my own people kissed the Blarney Rock@ Plimoth; and D.C. reminds one that the Senate doesn't function much (if ever) during the summer. When I visited their chambers, one lonely solitary senator was talking to himself, or so it seemed, or to the numerous pages and one stenographer. Barack & Michelle heard I was coming and immediately exited stage right for Moscow. I took in the fireworks show on the Mall -- nice with Washington Monument in the foreground -- while the real fireworks was taking place in Anchorage with news of Sorry Sarah's resignation. "I am not a quitter!" she protested as she absented her state's highest office prematurely. If it's not quitting, how will she eventually describe it -- a "strategic retreat" in this age of double-speak? This morning, CNN reported that 7 of 10 Republicans would still vote for her today if she was running (Gott im Himmel!) for the presidency. I could better understand that result if CNN had polled a mental institution. Is there a difference? Has this nation completely lost it? Then there's the Michael Jackson fiasco. Who was his publicist if all he stood accused of was false?

Now I'm back among more sane surrounded by my buds who sailed in during my sojourn. So good to be reunited with these blokes once again. Spearchuck is just the same tho some of his lovely dreadlocks have been sheared during a barfight in Zanzibar. And the rest the batch has become considerably more mindful about buttoning their flys.

More later. Hope to hear from you. Salty 7/8/9