Columns

This Christmas my wife steered me, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century. She gave me a navigation system for my car that gives you on-screen directions to get you where you want to go.

It was 8 o’clock Christmas morning and Jenny was getting a little peeved.

We should have seen it as an omen. When we got out of the car at the outdoor mall in Collierville, Tenn., it started pouring rain.

The thought of traveling around the country with your dog, as author John Steinbeck did in his book, “Travels with Charley,” has a certain romanticism about it.