My tour of duty in Waco, where the press corps is staying while he vacations in nearby Crawford, started this week. He’s spoken with reporters while out golfing and on short trips during his monthlong “working vacation.” But even traveling on Air Force One is no guarantee reporters will get a chance to speak with the president. He almost never comes back to talk with us on the plane as he did during the campaign. My colleagues, especially those who work in television, argue that everything the president of the United States does has to be on the record. If he were to come back, they would insist on turning on their cameras. I see their point, but I think we learn the most about the man in informal settings, which are increasingly rare.

So it is during stolen moments on the road that I get the most insight into Bush. Yesterday, the chance to interact with him came at a Target store outside Kansas City, Mo. He was on a day-and-a-half jaunt as part of his “Home to the Heartland” tour, as the White House is billing Bush’s vacation. After making a speech on the budget, he stopped briefly for an unscheduled stop. Of course, these stops aren’t totally unscheduled, they are just not on our schedules. It’s supposed to give the illusion of spontaneity and keep the site secure (if no one knows he’s going there, it’s hard to plant a bomb).

Whether Bush answers reporters questions while he tours a factory or visits a school depends on his mood–and, of course, the question. Invariably, reporters shout them out over the din of the humming machines or while he is trying to talk to a third grader. It helps if you have a low booming voice like CBS’s Mark Knoller or stand 6 foot 5 like NBC’s David Gregory. But even they get waved off at times.

At the Harley-Davidson plant we visited Monday outside Milwaukee, Bush seemed annoyed with a reporter who threw him a question about the Middle East. “Every time I talk to you all, you ask me about the Middle East. Nothing has changed,” he responded sharply, then went into a belabored response similar to the one he had given last week.

Bush seems to miss the rapport and banter he had with reporters during the campaign. He likes to tease us–lately about our complaints that his chosen vacation spot is hot and boring. “Everybody enjoying themselves in Waco?” Bush said with his famous little “gotcha” smile on Monday. “Love it,” we chimed back with gleeful sarcasm. “That’s the spirit,” he replied.

Yesterday, in the aisles of Target, Bush was chatty. He had come to illustrate the effect of his tax cut. One family told him that they spent their $600 rebate check on back-to-school supplies and clothes. It helped cover about half the cost. What did the president do with his tax rebate, I thought to ask. Had he even received it, another reporter chimed in (double teaming often works best). He looked at us blankly for a second, then looked over at his adviser, Karen Hughes, who also drew a blank. Then he said playfully, “Not to my knowledge.” He explained that when it did arrive he was going to spend it on charity, but didn’t know which one yet. Why charity?

“It’s something people ought to do.”

Unless they need the money to buy new school clothes, that is, and help prop up the flagging economy. Bush has spent a lot of his vacation not just drilling us with the point that he’s from Texas ,not Washington, but that he’s a regular guy, not a typical politician. We went to two hallmarks of America this week: Harley-Davidson and Target. But how regular can a president be when he doesn’t even balance his own checkbook?

His aides, however, are more like average Americans. Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said he’d be using his check when it came to pay his American Express bill. And Karen Hughes said she wouldn’t be getting her rebate for awhile because she still hasn’t done her taxes; she was so busy last year on the campaign that she filed for an extension. She’s got less than two weeks to do them before Bush and Congress come back from vacation and turn to the nation’s finances.