returning to Houghton, day 2

When there are only 5 people in a plane that seats 30, the pilots, "for reasons of weight during takeoff and landing," have you all move to the back of the plane. The move should inspire some of that "jeez, we live in small towns" camaraderie, but because the back of the plane is where riders feel more of the movements of the plane through cloudy and windy nights, especially when the plane is light, it tends instead to inspire quiet moments of hoping that the flight is smooth. Which it was -- all 26 minutes of it from Eau Claire, WI, to Rhinelander, WI. The flight attendant pulled off a beverage service, too.

We are, now, in the Comfort Inn of Rhinelander, looking out into an inch or two of snow covering the parking lot of the Home Depot, across which front -- in this cloudy night -- there is a huge shadow of a small American flag waving in a big light and small flurries. The ingredient on Iron Chef America is lentils, and I have Richard Powers's The Echo Maker to finish, having left it in the car at the airport because it was too big to carry in my backpack.

One more time zone to go.