Our correspondent, last eating pigeon in northern Kuwait, is across the border: Had a crazy time getting in. After a number of unsuccessful and frustrating attempts to slip in with military convoys, beginning at 3:30 a.m., my photographer and I snuck in through a no-man's land shortly after noon. Got into Saywan, the first town inside Iraq, just in time to see the Marines pull down a billboard of Saddam; the Marine driving the Humvee was a reservist who, in normal times, is a counselor at a Christian summer camp. Totally insane. Saw some colorful looting--a woman in chador walking out of the government building with a bedspring balanced on her head.

A long, weird, exhausting day. Basra hasn't fallen yet--we drove part way down the road this afternoon until we saw Iraqi soldiers waving a white flag and trying to surrender to us, which made us realize that perhaps the Marines hadn't been down that road yet, so we turned back to Saywan. We're sleeping in our cars tonight under an overpass guarded by the Marines. A bit like going to bed at a truck stop, with Apaches patrolling 100 feet overhead. But hey, it's safe. There appear to be only eight cars of journalists--mostly photographers--that got over the southern border today, so it's not yet a media circus, which is nice.

More weirdness: my cellphone still works occasionally, because the signals can still reach the Kuwaiti relay towers. Makes for strange phone calls; I got one from the Hertz office in Kuwait City this afternoon, asking me to stop by to sign the new insurance forms they've got. I didn't have have the heart to tell the nice lady that I, and her car, are in Iraq, beyond the land of insurance.