(dc -> houston - fast day 11) travelling?

it was a bit unclear whether i am exempt from the fast today or not. travellers are exempt, but the definition of a "journey" is 9 hours or more by the clock. so is that 9 hours from origin to destination? or is that 9 hours for the whole return trip? just in case, i decided to fast, but then in my grogginess accidentally ate a plate of fruit and half a bowl of special-k before remembering that i was fasting. this must have been due to staying up all night trying to finish taxes. in the end, i realized that it was still before sunrise in texas, so i just fasted on texas time. so it all worked out, and perhaps my soul is safe. we won't really know till it's too late to do anything about it, though.

isn't it odd that certain words can be spelled correctly more than one way? volcanoes/volcanos. traveler/traveller. whatever suits your fancy. i like my l's to have company.