I turned a two and a half hour drive into a five hour tour by totally misplacing Highway 205E yesterday, but there was a cuddly silver lining. I am in love with a Viking-proud Danish drummer raised in Stockton, it's rumored, and I learned, by seeing it on a water tower*, that this is their minor-league hockey situation:

Stockton Thunder indeed. Oh it's too parfait.


*My love for California's Central Valley, my home region as well, is unfeigned and frankly pugnacious, even though objectively I admit it's a long string of shitholes. I shoutily defend towns like Modesto and Bakersfield.