I’m walking Nola through Russell Springs KOA, a park reviewed on Google as “not bad for what it is.” We drove down from my cousin’s in Paris, Kentucky, attracted by the website description. “It's water, water everywhere when you stay at this campground right next to Lake Cumberland!” But the campsite map notes, “No access to lake from KOA.” However, the showers are clean and there's 24-hour laundry. Not bad for what it is.

Sitting in the 109 degree heat in the desert, contemplating my own mortality in the wake of climate change, civil unrest, the looming economic cesspool, and, oh yeah, a pandemic causes me to gaze hard into the abyss of my soul. I find it wanting of less to be against and more to be for.