"It could be almost anything," the mechanic say...

The plan is to get to NYC and Baltimore, liberate books, records, comics, and coins from storage, and bring them back to Seattle to sell. Shana, who moved to New York earlier this year, is back in town to get her car and drive it back across country. I'm lucky the timing is right and I catch a ride with her. About half a mile into our 3,000 mile journey, the front end of her Saturn wagon starts making a horrible grinding noise. She supposes it's a belt; I think it's coming from the wheels. In either case, we turn around to get it checked out. The corner mechanic can't figure it out, so Shana brings it to the dealer. Turns out it's the brakes.

The berries you see everywhere in Seattle this time of year are almost ripe for picking so we don't mind the delay.