Forty Years Across America

              In 1978, Bruce and I arrived in Boulder, Colorado.               We were low on funds and needed to find some income. So on the morning of October 19, 1978, we bought a paper and looked for jobs. But not before we picked up a hitchhiker:               Went to Neo-Data to be mail sorters. There we met Brenda, an 18-year-old ex-con who had hot wired a van to transport 200 lbs. of cocaine. She was into dogs, mountains, travel, chugging vodka, and jokes. She asked the woman interviewer for her job, for as it turned out, there were no mail sorter positions left.               We went on with Brenda, the irrepressible hitchhiker, to Wendy’s. Branda gave the manager shit for not seeing us soon enough, so we left there. We dropped Brenda off at her home; she invited...

Monument Valley Upon leaving the Grand Canyon with Bruce in’78, my journal made passing reference to our surroundings: Drove through desert, some intense flatlands, with jagged rock rising mysteriously.  This stretch of northern Arizona to southeastern Utah. featuring sandstone buttes as tall as 1000 feet, is called “Monument Valley.” It has been used as a location film for so many movies, that it defines what many people imagine when they think of the old West.               Photos from 1978: And from 2018, starting at sunrise: Mindblowing juxtaposition of rock styles!            Much of this area sits in Navajo Nation, and it is common to see vast expanses of land against breathtaking backdrops, on which sits a wooden shack or a small camper. Many Navajo sell jewelry and other items along the road side, also in rustic wooden structures that may or may not be att...

              After leaving Las Vegas, Bruce and I arrived at Grand Canyon Village at 9 PM.               We went to a nearly abandoned bar and went into the adjoining rec center. We played some pinball, a little ping-pong, and I played chess with a guy named Mark and got whupped, but he told me about some cool hikes we could take the next day. We camped out on a cold, clear night in Mather Campground, for free.               Looking back on the entire 1978 journey, Bruce and I skipped over so many National Parks and other natural sites with nary a mention, including Glacier, Yosemite, the Redwoods, and Joshua Tree. Fortunately, we visited Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon; but it was apparent we did not have a plan on entering either. For example, we did not even start thinking about hiking the Canyon until we awoke.    ...