Believe it or not, this is the best time to be alive

[hunter]

37. My problem may be that I never learned to equate automobiles with any kind of freedom...

... always saw them as some kind of rock chained to my ankle.

First problem is that automobiles confine you to roads, the second problem is parking them somewhere. Third problem is they are bloody expensive.

Basically it's like always having a license plate attached to your butt. Most people rarely wander far from their automobiles.

The same is true of air travel. Someone is making a list and checking it twice. Fly with someone else's ticket and you may find yourself locked in a little room while someone wearing blue gloves explores your bodily orifices.

I can walk, hitchhike, take anonymous public transportation, and end up in places nobody else knows where I am. That's my notion of freedom.

Most of my ancestors ended up in the U.S.A. anonymously. I've got one documented European immigrant, she was a bride to Salt Lake City. She didn't like sharing a husband so she ran away.

The rest of my ancestors were clearly escaping various sorts of troubles in Europe and Britain. They landed in the Americas and didn't want to be found.

Nobody knows where one of my great grandfathers came from. None of the several stories he told of his origins turned out to be true. My Army Air Force officer grandfather was a character of the similar sort. The dates-of-birth on his California Driver's Licence, his Social Security record, and his military records didn't match, and he'd gone by several names throughout his life, consistently keeping only his dad's surname, my surname, which may have been authentic or not.

I like that.