This is where this story begins. Ben and I were in LA, staying with an old friend. We planned to travel back to Athens the way we'd come, maybe hit a couple new cities on the way. But (to be explained in another story another day) we agreed to "swing by" Iowa to visit my little brother and pick up my sister's cat, Olivia, after Olivia Tremor Control, of course. She had been staying here briefly because my sister though her summer would take her traveling and she needed a secure home for Olivia. Once she realized she would remain stationary, she set about getting her cat. We were elected. We stopped in Denver to visit another friend and then we were off. We planned to drive through the night and arrive in Dubuque, Iowa in the early morning.