Dog Parks

I am thrilled how many small cities have off-leash dog parks. Ogden's did not impress but Rawlins, Wyoming made Lilly very happy 

Eastern Nebraska and Iowa Are Beautiful

Luxuriant green and foothills.  One corn field we passed had rows aligned north south.

The Walther PPK

As we finished loading our car for our trip, I suddenly realized that I had unloaded all the guns to conform to FOPA (1986); and i will be crossing one state that does allow constitutional carry or recognize my Idaho or Oregon carry licenses: Illinois. I could not immediately find the PPK/S's loaded magazine. I had forgotten to unload my wife's American Arms PX-22 (a licensed PPK clone):

It has one substantial advantage over the PPK/S: it fits silently into my front trousers pocket. No printing, no more drag than my usual cluster of keys and food. The genuine Walther is definitely more accurate but at typical armed robbery or "mass murderer comes to you next" range, it is good enough.

So does anyone still make the PPK in America? No.S&W have made it. Walther made them until 2015. The European-made ones are hideously priced.

UPDATE: Of course, my longstanding criticism of pocket carry applies: do not carry with a round chambered. Even with the safety on, it seems unwise to risk something else in your pocket taking it off safe and something else pulling the trigger. Not likely that both could happen but there was that incident shortly after Idaho legalized concealed carry where an ISU chemistry shot himself in the leg during class.

You are unlikely going to need to draw and fire within fractions of a second. There are usually enough indications that you are at risk to draw and it is time to rack the slide. Also, the PPK DA trigger is monstrously heavy; you do not want to fire DA if you can avoid it. 

The PPK is also so tiny that an aggressor may not see it in your hand in the dark until too late. Unlike the Browning Hi-Power, racking the PPK takes little muscle strength.

Of course,  .22LR is not a .45 or 9mm; it is not even a .380. If used defensively, you need to focus on hitting a vital part rather than relying hydrodynamic shock as it passes near a vital organ. At 6-7 feet it should be hard to miss the head or heart. As with many defensive incidents, the simple drawing of a gun may cause an aggressor to remember an urgent appointment elsewhere.

CRAMER'S RULE: The underpowered pistol you have with you is more effective than the pistol whose weight and bulk caused you to not carry it.

Western Nebraska

Not as flat as the jokes.

Trigger Warnings Gone Wild!

 I hope you remember College Girls Gone Wild! From The College Fix:

TRENDING: Libraries attach trigger warnings to historical resource catalogs 

This may hurt to know but people in the past had no idea that some day, people who imagine themselves to be intellectuals would be so injured by language that today we consider hateful and offensive that even reading a description would be problematic.

A couple years ago, I used a small news clipping in an American History class that referred to a "Negro banker." I had at least one student who apparently thought the N-word was "Negro." I shudder to think what their reaction would be to the United Negro College Fund or the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum 

If you cannot read a catalog entry with some offensive antique words without blowing a gasket, maybe history or even academic study is not for you. Find a field more appropriate to you: unicorn breeding.

We Stayed at the Hilton in Ogden

 Very quiet, very comfortable room. (It is a Hilton; it better be.) There is an indoor skydiving business across the street; if we had more time, I would go over there. I have always wanted to experience skydiving without the adrenaline rush of jumping out of a perfectly functional plane while wondering if my parachute is going to work.

They are so spoiled. 

Their First Stay in a Hilton

In Ogden. Or is it Dogden?