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[ Line of Sight ]
DATE: June 27, 2002

Rocks in the Rain

It was pouring rain. The road seemed to get narrower and narrower as we approached the site in our rental car. We wanted to see the Neolithic cemetery known as Carrowkeel, and it was deep in the hills of County Sligo in Ireland.

The road eventually became simply two ruts in the ground -- like wagon tracks rather than a road. Only room for one car, and a small one at that. The rain turned the track into a sluice of mud. I was really worried that we would get stuck, or hit a slick spot and go right off the road. I had no idea what we'd do if another car came from the other direction (although in this area, that seemed unlikely). Finally, we got to a sharp bend in the road, where there was a sign. We figured we finally had reached it.

The sign told us that Carrowkeel was 1 kilometer away, but that we should be wary because from here, the road got treacherous.

Now it got treacherous? What had it been up until now?

We never got to Carrowkeel.

Sue and I spent the last two weeks of May in Ireland. We had a great time, although as you might guess from the anecdote, it rained a bit. Every day, in fact. We went to Ireland to see castles, old medieval cathedrals and buildings, Neolithic sites (standing stones and tombs, mostly), and interesting scenic spots like the Marble Arch Cave and the Cliffs of Moher.

In other words, we went to see a lot of rocks.

Thus, this vacation became the 2002 Rocks in the Rain Tour.

Ireland was wonderful, and inspiring for the creative mind. It is a country with a very interesting history and some great myths and stories. Sue, being a big fan of Irish myth, regaled me with tales of Queen Maeve, Cuchulain, and Finn MacCool throughout our trip (as well as a few real life historical figures as well).

Of course, being foreigners, some things struck us as odd, or at least different. Most of it was no big deal, but I've got to say something about the roads. And no, I'm not going to talk about driving on the left. That's actually not a difficult switch. But something we, in the U.S., would call a one-lane road (one lane going both ways), in Ireland would be dubbed a superhighway. Everyone drives small cars, because there's simply no room for large cars. Even between fairly large cities, there often was just barely space for a car to go in either direction at the same time (in more remote places, that is not true, and the road is truly one lane). And it's not like you can just pull off to the side of the road. Either side, more often than not, is marked by tall stone walls or thick hedges -- which often conceal stone walls. I saw some crazy Americans on a major road outside of Dublin driving a big mobile home they had obviously shipped over (the license plates were American). Where were these people going in that vehicle? There's probably only about three roads in the country that could accommodate it. Being small-car owners ourselves, however, we didn't really mind the lack of SUVs, actually.

I suppose I could go on, about the shortage of road signs, or the nerve-wracking roundabouts, or the fact that all the road maps we had were slightly different from each other (and all of them had only a passing resemblance to reality), but I don't want to seem like an ugly American.

The people we met were all really wonderful and friendly. We got a chance, now and again, to talk to some Irish people as we traveled (often the folks who owned the B&B's we stayed at), and we enjoyed that very much. On our last night, we even met up with some Irish gamers, who had heard we were coming to Dublin and lined up a date to have dinner. Drew and Nina Shiel and Kathy Farmar were great fun to talk to. By the end of the two weeks, I was really beat and probably not great company, but we had a nice time and found out all about the Dublin gaming scene, the real story behind the World Cup, and even what they found strange when they visited the U.S. (Apparently, we like things in large servings here. Did you know that? Hmm. Now where's that Big Gulp I was drinking...?)

If you get the chance, I highly recommend going there. And if you go, tell them I said "hello." But not while you're driving, because you'll miss your turn and end up on the road to Carrowkeel.

And we'll never hear from you again.

Hey, if you'd like to see some photos from the trip, check out Sue's online gallery for Week 1 and Week 2.

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