Tire pressure.

Today we spent seven hours in a vehicle. The cats spent seven hours in a large kennel in the back of said vehicle. With that in mind, the hotel suite at the Fairfield Inn near the 5 freeway feels like a palace. I might be emotionally drunk on the opulence and free WIFI that comes with the Marriot Bonvoy experience, but I think I’m exhausted. We’re all exhausted. Though we're in for the night, knowing that we have to do it all over again tomorrow, makes us feel even more drained.

Oh, what I would give to complete this journey by rail but the national travesty that is Amtrak doesn’t allow traveling with cats humanely. They would have to travel in the baggage car alone for the duration of the long trip.

It’s maddening, and I can tell you from experience that trying to hold a national press conference on this problem in the lobby of a Fairfield Inn…well, let’s just say this is not a topic many people seem to care about. It was awfully nice of the manager to offer me two chocolate chip cookies and a complimentary late checkout in return for lowering my voice, getting off the lobby furniture, and going back to my room.

My political career is over, it’s now time to decide what to do for dinner. Maybe if I buy enough microwaveable food and sit perpendicularly next to the hotel room window—watching freeway traffic zip by—I can leave Bonvoy behind and pretend to experience the real luxury of the American railway.