At least one reader has hit all 50 states

The Promised Land always lies on the other side of a Wilderness.

- Henry Ellis

When I asked if anyone had been to all 50 states, Betty Beman, of Martinez, was quick to call.

She said she and husband Hal had used a variety of travel opportunities to touch down on them all, with the last one - for Hal, anyway - being North Dakota.

She said the highlight was probably in 1980, when they almost caught Mount St. Helens' volcanic eruption in Washington state.

POUND BUTTONS: A new study indicates the South is a haven for heavyweights, and Georgia ranks No. 12 when it comes to obesity.

We even included front-page instructions so you could figure out your obesity level at home, which, I admit, I tried to do.

After a couple of minutes I gave up, coming to the conclusion that Georgia probably doesn't rank very high in math comprehension.

I blame that metric stuff.

DON'T BE FUEL-ISH: I don't like paying so much for gasoline, but let's seek some perspective. The Sacramento Bee looked at gasoline prices of the past century, adjusted for inflation and determined that American drivers in 1922 paid the equivalent of almost $2.85 a gallon; in 1981, gasoline sold for nearly $2.87, the highest inflation-adjusted price ever.

TODAY'S JOKE: Here's one from George Dean.

A lion was spoiling for a fight. He grabbed a tiger and roared, "Who's the KING of the jungle?"

The tiger said, "You are, king."

"Don't you forget it," snarled the lion.

Next he grabbed a monkey. Same question - same answer - same response.

And so it went, until he grabbed an elephant.

"Who's the king of the jungle?" he roared.

The elephant didn't say a word. He simply reached down with his trunk, picked up the roaring lion, spun him around two or three times and slammed him against a tree.

Bleeding and broken, the lion looked up and said, "Just 'cause you don't know the answer doesn't mean you have to get violent."