Charging up for a long, long drive?

Nothing lasts forever. Not even digital camera batteries. Even if you follow all the recommended ways to preserve their lives, they fade away over time. I am today charging up some brand new ones (2500 mAB) to replace some older and weaker (2100 mAB) ones I have used for the last few years. The problem is that the old ones don't hold their charge very long now; it seems that minutes after I change batteries, I see the dreaded "half battery" icon in the viewfinder.

I have three or four sets of four batteries each--I keep that many so I can have spares ready to go when another set starts wearing down. And I sure use them. When you cover sports for a weekly paper, the camera gets used a lot, and our recent weather (temperatures mostly in the low 40sF--which is about +5C) isn't good for battery life, either.

Once I get back to the office, the sets of batteries go into the charger and get their power zapped back up again.

Gee, maybe there should be a battery charger for people. I could use one, especially on a Monday, when we're putting the paper together. My batteries seem to take less and less time to discharge, too. Hmmm, you don't think?

But the paper is all done, and there's little to do at the moment except wait for page proofs we can check over for mistakes before sending them off to the press. Quiet for now.

I've got to talk to my wife tonight about plans for the summer. We're planning to drive south, to near Madison, Wis., in a few weeks, and we have to hammer out the dates and details.

One big unknown is what happens to my oldest son. He lives in Detroit now but is thinking about a big move--out to California. And one of the complications of such a change is how to get his car out there--it's a good car, and he wants to keep it. But he's not so cool on paying someone $800 (he says) and waiting two weeks to drive it out there.

So, of course, good old dad speaks up and volunteers his services. First, I'd have to drive from the western U.P. to Detroit, which is about 500 miles by itself. Then, the big trip west. 2,000 miles or so? 2,500? The kicker is that while I love to drive, I've never been west of the Mississippi River (for more than an hour at a time, anyway) in my entire life.

So right now, I'm wondering whether that's going to happen. And when. And how I'll handle it. The part I'm not looking forward to is being by myself all that time. It's OK for driving, and I'll probably get across the country faster that way. But I get lonely too easily.

Maybe it won't happen. At this point, there's no reason to worry about it. But I wonder ...

Yeah, I know. Time will tell.