By Jeff Burton

Who knew going West would be so … (let your imagination run wild and pick your own description!)

Here’s a list to start with …. exhilarating, awakening, enlightening, exhausting, caffeinated!

On Friday — yeah, I know that was yesterday, but all the days are beginning to run together — we caught the “L” in Chi -town but it didn’t get us quite as far as we needed. So, we loaded up the truck and set off for Bev-er-ly … but we had a few different hills to get through first.

The ELV is a constant amazement of technological wizardry. Sometimes it needs a special potion to get itself going in the morning. Too bad ya can’t put Starbucks in the gas tank! We’re always saying, or hearing, “It was working when I turned it off last night!”

Really, we are able to pull off some amazing shots with this magical ELV, so don’t believe anyone who says that elves don’t really exist! Multi-camera-switching, live, you-saw-it-here-firsts are done all because of this vehicle. And, Phil Keating (left) rocks the house and was a perfect pick for this assignment. Props, dude!

And for now … there’s finally NO SNOW on the ground. But it’s rainy and 34 degrees. ‘Nuff said. But, despite the elements, the crew is a great one. To the man … er- woman responsible for a lot of it … Advance AA producer (not for the alcohol) Kathleen Foster is doing a remarkable job scouting the locations that truly give us a sense for the R.P’s. D’as what we in the biz call “real people.”

The thing that strikes me the most is that no matter where we go, no matter who we talk to, be it the farmer, blue collar worker in the steel factory, student or teacher, the same underlying rumbles (grumbles) seem to surface. The elected officials in D.C. have no clue what Americans are feeling. Maybe they will now.

In fact, if you’ve seen Phil’s live reports, you can gauge it for yourself. People are truly… dare I say… ready for a change. Economy, education, health care, security. You know the issues. We all do. People want to know when politicians are going to stop talking about them and get the job done!

So we’ve made a turn south down though Illinois and hit the gateway. The Arch (left). St. Louey Blues. The West is opening its wide, wide arms to greet us … and she’s crying.

Rain is falling as a mother would who’s children have gone astray. Maybe we should have loaded up the folks who wanna run this Great Land of ours and brought ‘em along for the tour! As pioneers, we also will head west in search of dreams and ideals that many still hold fast to.

There’s a “Masterpiece” in store for us Sunday (great BBQ sauce!) so stay tuned! Its a wild ride that’s pickin’ up speed like a runaway stage coach! Keep headin’ west young man! Stampede!

– Jeff Burton, ATL techie