17 August 2014
The Long and Winding Road
17/08/14 05:53
Marsha and I like to drive. We’ve been on some epic drives, to Minnesota, around the West, and we plan to cross Canada by car someday. We’ve come to refer to ourselves as The Iron Bladder Brigade. With the Prius it’s not uncommon for leaps of four or five hours without stopping. A couple of years ago we went non stop from Alturas, California to Madras, Oregon. Another time we went from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Custer, South Dakota with, I believe, only one stop. The last time we drove to Minnesota on the way back we put in a thousand mile day, (actually it was closer to 1100 miles by the time we found a town with a hotel). We like driving. I like the things we see on the way, Vader Road in Washington for example. (Not named for Darth. Rather I believe it’s named for his brother Steve Vader. He was a used car salesman and the family never could decide which one was the evil brother.)
In our travels, one of the things I’ve been intrigued with is the little one gas station towns you see along the highway. You know the kind of place. It isn’t a destination, there’s little if anything to see or do there. A lot of times they aren't even actual incorporated towns. It exists to provide food, gas, and sometimes a bed for travellers. There are thousands of these little towns all across North America. When we’re driving I’ll sometimes look off the road and see these islands of civilization. There will be a couple of businesses, a few houses, kids toys in the back yards, sometimes a line of laundry and a snowmobile on a trailer. People live there, raise their kids there, but it’s easy to agree with Gertrude Stein who said, “There is no there, there.” She was talking of Oakland, but you could be forgiven if you thought the quote applies far better to these tiny towns along the highway. They are tiny, and somewhat desolate, but they are somebodies home town. Someone grew up there with the noise of trucks on the highway always nearby. Kids grew up knowing they’d likely move somewhere else as soon as they could. People spend their lives there reading of what happens in big cities far away, but staying because its home. I have a bit of a soft spot for these towns. Maybe because I grew up on the edge of Alvadore, Oregon, a tiny town off the beaten path that most people never even notice. Maybe because my mother grew up in Jarbidge, Nevada, a town that doesn’t even exist any more. The last USGS and aircraft sectional maps just show “ruins” where it used to be. Whatever the reason, I was pleased to find that Ross Douglas, a voice actor and musician from Vancouver BC, wrote a song about these places.
Town for Tired People Passing Through.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VSSuuSDb5ds
I like it a lot.
One of the road trips Marsha and I have talked about is going down to Seattle to see a Mariners game. In particular one of the games where the Mariners play the Twins. Now, in my letter last week I made some disparaging remarks about baseball. My comment might have been misconstrued to imply that I found baseball boring. Well, to be honest, I do, and it wasn’t helped by the record setting 19 inning six hour marathon the Toronto Blue Jays played this week. However, something else happened this week at a San Diego Padre’s game that might just make me change my mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wighvyxg5d8
If this sort of thing catches on I might need to change my tune. Anything is better with dinosaurs.
And finally, Robin Williams passed this week. Everyone talks about his comedy, and he was brilliant. I do comedy but I just would stand in awe of the mile a minute, all over the map, tight rope without a net improv that he did. There was more though. Find a copy of What Dreams May Come to he how good a dramatic actor he was. It is a stunningly beautiful film. It’s the kind of a film I want to do someday. In the movie William’s character delivers the following eulogy, but it could apply just as well to himself:
"He’s the type of guy that men want to be around, because he has integrity, you know?
He has character. You can’t fake that.
And he’s a guy women want to be around too, because there’s a tenderness in him.
Respect, and loyalty, and courage, and women respond to that.
Makes him a terrific husband, this guy. I see him as a father. … "
In the film Williams played a man who literally travels to hell to save the woman he loves who succumbed to depression and killed herself. The tragedy is that, in the end, he couldn’t save himself from the same illness.
RIP Robin Williams. Your journey ended too soon.
PIX: Even though we weren’t able to do anything with the garden this year, we still have a crop of apples. You can always count on apples to come through for you. There’s hope in apples.
In our travels, one of the things I’ve been intrigued with is the little one gas station towns you see along the highway. You know the kind of place. It isn’t a destination, there’s little if anything to see or do there. A lot of times they aren't even actual incorporated towns. It exists to provide food, gas, and sometimes a bed for travellers. There are thousands of these little towns all across North America. When we’re driving I’ll sometimes look off the road and see these islands of civilization. There will be a couple of businesses, a few houses, kids toys in the back yards, sometimes a line of laundry and a snowmobile on a trailer. People live there, raise their kids there, but it’s easy to agree with Gertrude Stein who said, “There is no there, there.” She was talking of Oakland, but you could be forgiven if you thought the quote applies far better to these tiny towns along the highway. They are tiny, and somewhat desolate, but they are somebodies home town. Someone grew up there with the noise of trucks on the highway always nearby. Kids grew up knowing they’d likely move somewhere else as soon as they could. People spend their lives there reading of what happens in big cities far away, but staying because its home. I have a bit of a soft spot for these towns. Maybe because I grew up on the edge of Alvadore, Oregon, a tiny town off the beaten path that most people never even notice. Maybe because my mother grew up in Jarbidge, Nevada, a town that doesn’t even exist any more. The last USGS and aircraft sectional maps just show “ruins” where it used to be. Whatever the reason, I was pleased to find that Ross Douglas, a voice actor and musician from Vancouver BC, wrote a song about these places.
Town for Tired People Passing Through.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VSSuuSDb5ds
I like it a lot.
One of the road trips Marsha and I have talked about is going down to Seattle to see a Mariners game. In particular one of the games where the Mariners play the Twins. Now, in my letter last week I made some disparaging remarks about baseball. My comment might have been misconstrued to imply that I found baseball boring. Well, to be honest, I do, and it wasn’t helped by the record setting 19 inning six hour marathon the Toronto Blue Jays played this week. However, something else happened this week at a San Diego Padre’s game that might just make me change my mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wighvyxg5d8
If this sort of thing catches on I might need to change my tune. Anything is better with dinosaurs.
And finally, Robin Williams passed this week. Everyone talks about his comedy, and he was brilliant. I do comedy but I just would stand in awe of the mile a minute, all over the map, tight rope without a net improv that he did. There was more though. Find a copy of What Dreams May Come to he how good a dramatic actor he was. It is a stunningly beautiful film. It’s the kind of a film I want to do someday. In the movie William’s character delivers the following eulogy, but it could apply just as well to himself:
"He’s the type of guy that men want to be around, because he has integrity, you know?
He has character. You can’t fake that.
And he’s a guy women want to be around too, because there’s a tenderness in him.
Respect, and loyalty, and courage, and women respond to that.
Makes him a terrific husband, this guy. I see him as a father. … "
In the film Williams played a man who literally travels to hell to save the woman he loves who succumbed to depression and killed herself. The tragedy is that, in the end, he couldn’t save himself from the same illness.
RIP Robin Williams. Your journey ended too soon.
PIX: Even though we weren’t able to do anything with the garden this year, we still have a crop of apples. You can always count on apples to come through for you. There’s hope in apples.