A travel snafu brought us to Homer, Alaska, where the best joint in town is the Bidarka Inn. Population 5,454; minus children, that would just about make up one audience for us. We generally enjoy these unexpected opportunities to explore places off the beaten track. As long as the unplanned stops don’t impact a commitment.

After a nippy walk back from lunch in town (the Cosmic Kitchen, good), a hot shower was in order. The shower was a hideous, putty-colored, fiberglass unit complete with one of those ingenious curved curtain rods. Amazing what an improvement the curtain material made, though. The top quarter of the fabric, from my shoulder level up, was sheer mesh, allowing me to see out the bathroom door and out the window, to watch the activities at the skateboard park in the foreground, Kachemak Bay behind it, the snowcapped Kenai Mountains, and the Grewingk, Portlock, and Dixon Glaciers just beyond the bay. The distant view is spectacular in person. Much wider and closer than my photo appears.

Such small details, like a clever shower curtain, improve life on the road. My shower, even in the hideous, putty-colored, fiberglass unit, was pleasant. I probably used too much water.