Post Card Journal: California to Texas and Back

Chapters in this Post Card Journal were written on the road and mailed in card sized bits. 
The collection is bound in glacine envelopes with a bulldog clip. 

I had always wondered if a post card series could be a stand in for a travel journal. When we took a road trip to the American Museum Conference held at Fort Worth I decided to give it a shot. Dad grew up in Texas, so I knew he would be interested in the trip. Besides I knew I could probably find all the cards later on his fridge. I was right. Having visited Texas a couple of different times over the years, I find that the journeys have melded into a Texas memory mush...which is what happens to memory over time. Reading back over this collection of postcards vividly recalls the details of this particular trip. I had forgotten all the places we visited across the South West, how hot it was in May, the cool dark, inside of the Alamo and the breezy River Walk of San Antonio, the long wait in Moab Utah as we waited for a fix on our trusty Izusu Trooper. Now reading  all those forgotten details I see it  all. It's  in the cards.

On Holiday with the Kids: (No children were along.) First Stop Camp Moabi. Car camping on the shore of the Colorado River near Needles, California.

Dateland Arizona: “driest landscape this side of the lunar surface.” (We brake for curio shops… an air-conditioned break from the scorching heat.)

Organ Pipe National Park: Overnight camping at Organ Pipe, then  onto Algodones Dunes. (Algodones means cotton in Spanish.) Scorching white sand and dune buggy madness. Observed: Down the road egrets and Ibis wading in desert ponds edged with greenest grass. Startling sight.





Another Sightseeing Jackass:
After swimming in the lovely Balmorea Springs..hot dusty drive of 13 hours from El Paso to Fort Worth. Odessa, Midland Texas mark some of the most desolate and depressing landscapes in USA.

Howdy from Dallas:
It’s showtime. Five days of the annual American Museum Conference including standing all
day, line dancing and watching mechanical 
bull riding at Billy Bob's at night, sampling
some of the great Texas museums. 

The backs of the cards tell their own stories.
The post marks and the dates show lags between writing and mailing. Sometimes they have cartoons, or maps, or commentary. 

Sixth Floor Museum:"You can stand in the exact spot where Lee Harvey Oswald shouldered his rifle and assassinated JFK. Watch the film clip again and again and leave convinced civilization is only an idea.”

LBJ Ranch: Shows over and we drive the Texas backroads awash with wildflower medians. We visit Lady Bird Johnson’s wildflower center and learn she did a lot to put Texas wildflowers back on the map.

Texas Ranger Museum:
Hello from Waco, Texas. For the Ranger sometimes brains were deadlier than bullets. He was a resouceful man. He had to be."
The museum houses a lot of guns and self congratulations.
  

The Alamo:
“Dad, remember Alamo 1956? It is still small dark, full of tourists and guns. San Antonio 
is a warm and festive city”



“Show us your horns” at “the world famous Buckhorn Museum and Saloon.” See the word’s biggest collection of stuffed animals in San Antonio. Proof guys that hunt kill for respect.

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument New Mexico:
Even the vertigo impaired get a shot at climbing the ladders into the cliffs. It’s warm, cool, dry raining, windy calm, cloudy and clear. Last night lighting for a bit of variety.


Las Cruces Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum:
Howdy. Crossed the border from Texas into New Mexico.


City of Rocks New Mexico: Best camping ever. Where you can sling a hammock from monumental stones. Drive into Silver City, a great little art town and breakfast on some of the best eggs and bisquits in America. 

First Mesa Arizona:“Touring first, second and third Mesa’s of the Hopi lands. It is sizzling hot and the Hopi appear to be annoyed with everyone not Hopi. What you are not seeing (in the card) are the piles of junk and old cars. Suppose if you inhabit the same neighborhood for centuries, junk happens.”

Monument Valley:
“It’s big, wide-open, even monumental, except for an occasional sheep surprise.” Here we are on Navajo time... which actually means, no time like the present.

Petrified Forest National Park:
"Dad, Petrified wood is not that memorable. Did I imagine we visited when I was a child?"



Grand Canyon National Park:
“We toasted the sunset tonight with French, Russian, German, Floridian fellow travelers. Way too crowded for your taste.”

Slick Rock Mountain Bikers:

“This is the heart of get-out-and-go-for-it-land. Hike, bike, jeep raft, climb. Moab Utah is home to the Gonzo Hotel and the Mondo Cafe. Gotta be young and fit to flourish here. Fool hardy helps too.”

Jailhouse Cafe: Best breakfast ever! Sit outside and admire the muscle tone of the outdoor types.



Edge of Adventure:
Our Trooper is in the shop waiting for parts. Renting a Jeep and exploring Canyonlands. Terrifying roads with certain death cliffs. Extreme thunder and lightening storm added to the drama. A white knuckle day.

Arches National Park:
“The rocks are red, the shapes amazing. Car is fixed and fingers crossed as we test drive towards Nevada.

Painted Desert:
“Ya Ta Hey. (Hello in Navajo), Not only is it painted, its exuberantly painted in more colors than you can imagine. My kind of place.

a:

"Back in California and Alliswell. Zipped across Utah. Camping aside bubbling creeks at 7,500 feet in Great Basin National Park, Nevada. Clear air, snowy peaks, Highway 50 across the delightfully empty silver state. See you soon.”