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"I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth."

-Steve McQueen

I got asked in an interview what was the most interesting thing that happened during the motorcycle portion of the recent tour, and it wasn't hard to come up with it. After finishing an event in Sunriver, OR, I had a day off and decided I'd hot-foot it down through Lakeview, swing north through the Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge, do the loop at Steens Mountain, and then head south to Winnemucca and a Basque dinner at the St. Martin's Hotel (more on that, later).

So, for some strange reason, I decided to seek out and explore the part of Oregon and Nevada that was almost identical to Wyoming-maybe I was homesick. I'd eaten lunch at the French Glen Hotel (population 11-I told you it was like Wyoming) and had a family style lunch with one other man, who was a park ranger. I told him what I was doing, and he thought I was nuts. "That's eight hours on dirt and gravel roads." I nodded as he continued spooning beef stew into his mouth, "Well it's your rear-end, not mine."

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I'm often asked how we determine the ratings that appear in my annual Movie Guide. We give **** to the best of the best, and make our way down the ladder half-a-star at a time; below *1/2 we use the term BOMB. (There are some readers who tell me they deliberately try to see as many BOMBs as possible; to each his own!)

Those ratings aren't based on any quantifiable measurement; they represent a gut reaction to the movie in question.
Even so, a problem does arise. If I've seen a movie in a theater or at a press screening at the height of anticipation over its release, I'm likely to have a different response than someone who watches it months, or even years, later on a laptop during an airplane ride, or on an iPhone while commuting to work in half-hour increments.

Not long ago, I visited someone in the hospital and along with him, got involved in a movie I'd seen before that was playing on the TV set in his room. It was interrupted by commercials and snipped to save time (and avoid four-letter words), but it entertained us both and helped to pass the time. I know I was much more judgmental when I saw the film the first time around in a theater.

Does that mean we should cut every movie some slack because eventually it will become "fodder" for a less demanding (and more grateful) audience down the road than the one that greets it on its theatrical debut?