PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

As I write this, I am still recovering from more than 16 hours driving from Salem, Oregon to Southern California.

It was a good trip, as long as you think of it as “an adventure,” as I did.

A few random perceptions along the way of more than 1,000 miles:

• There sure are a lot of Amazon trucks trekking north and south along I-5.  Fascinating to think of what it takes to get products from point A to point B every day. 

Give Jeff Bezos his due – the system seems to work.

• As in past cases of driving south, I noticed all big rig trucks heading south, some of them in my lane in the two-lane stretch of I-5. 

Plus, many of these rigs go by labels that include the word “logistics.”  Not “hauling” or “transporting,” but “logistics.”

What goes logistics mean?  The dictionary defines the term this way:

“The detailed coordination of a complex operation involving many people, facilities, or supplies.”

So, it is accurate.

• On several occasions, cars whipped past me going at least 90 miles per hour.  Where were the cops?

To put a point on it, in all my years of driving, I have never seen a cop pull over a driver who was going so fast over the speed limit.  Sure, seen other pull-overs, but none at high rates of excessive speed.

Where’s the justice in that?

To be sure, there is some solace after 16-plus hours in the car.  When we arrived in La Quinta, California, it was 85 degrees, the sun was out, and the sky was clear.

The next step is golf in the warmth.