A brief update before we head south tomorrow, to San Fransisco; we are likely to be out of wi-if range then until Saturday, so be prepared for a few days delay before the next update.

Ashland is chic and liberal, full of people trying to be trendy. It boasts a nine months a year Shakespeare Festival and a British pub selling (local to Darlington) beer. We ducked both, but did manage a couple of local hikes amongst the family visiting.

What Ashland lacks is one of my favourite American sounds - a night train on the railroad imitating a coyote as it continually gives blasts on its horn. Amtrak diverted the L.A. to Seattle service a few years back, so all is quiet on the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Some sad news. The SF Giants lost the first of their best of five post-season play-off games last night. Hoping for better things this evening, but not feeling too optimistic. This is baseball we are talking guys - and it matters.