When last we met (over a year ago), I'd channeled my inner John Lennon, in the wake of winter and a crippling nerve condition. It was a new year—2017!—with new hope; I was shedding social media and trying an old-school blog.

With numb hands I tapped out a few things, then tapped off the computer entirely to roam Woody Guthrie-like many miles to South Dakota and back…