The Life in My Years

An anthology of life

A chapter in an occasional series of posts documenting a Spring 2021 road trip. Continued from the post, Route 66: Diners, Twin Arrows And Trading Posts, (link here). The van rocks and bumps as it grinds out of the dirt lot near Twin Arrows, Arizona. Lexi, my canine backseat driver is standing behind me, peering …

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“Sign, sign Everywhere a sign Blockin’ out the scenery Breakin’ my mind Do this, don’t do that Can’t you read the sign?” Songwriter: Les Emmerson Released in 1970 by The Five Man Electrical Band. The Monthly Monochrome for August celebrates the sign, one of the most excellent of photo subjects. Why such high praise for …

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A chapter in an occasional series of posts documenting a Spring 2021 road trip. Today in America time is money and very few have time and money to call their own. If you work, the chances are that work won’t bless you with the time or the money to take the great American road trip. …

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I love sports. But I don’t often write about sports. Maybe that’s because I don’t think my usual core of readers would be interested (That, even though I’ve told my friend Eden that I don’t really care what the fuck they like. I’ll write what I want and take what comes – or doesn’t come). …

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Continued from, Omaha: Landing in Flyover Country. September 10/11. 2021: Carter Lake, Iowa. I’d landed in Omaha but my airport motel was in a little enclave of Iowa called Carter Lake, just a short jet blast away from the Nebraska state line. Carter Lake, the only Iowan outpost located west of the Missouri River maintains …

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A chapter in an occasional series of posts documenting an autumn 2021 road trip through the Midwest. Continued from, Flying to Omaha Without Babette and Yeti. “Flyover country.” It’s the pejorative heaped on anyplace that isn’t within a day’s drive of America’s two coastlines. As someone who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, I …

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A chapter in an occasional series of posts documenting an autumn 2021 road trip through the Midwest. Continued From Purgatory at the OAK Bound for Omaha, baby. The gate agent announces the boarding sequence; special needs passengers, military, first class, and economy. Walking past the proletariat towards the jetway and my first class seat I …

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A chapter in an occasional series of posts documenting an autumn 2021 road trip through the Midwest. September 10, 2021 I’m relaxing, if relaxation is actually possible, in the Delta Airlines boarding area at Oakland International Airport, known in airport-speak as simply, OAK. At the airport, relaxation is an earned and short lived luxury. There’s …

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How many more lives will it take? Well that’s a damn good question. Answers? Anybody? Helloooo! To the surprise of absolutely no one, another American town has adopted the slogan “_______(fill in the town name) strong.” This time it’s Highland Park, Illinois, where, to the surprise of absolutely no one, a mass shooting occurred. In …

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A few days ago my friend and fellow blogger Martin C. Fredricks IV, wrote a piece titled Declaring “Loss of Independence Day,” (click the link), in which he explains why he won’t be flying the American flag this July 4th – Independence Day. Martin writes, “We can no longer, honestly or in good conscience, celebrate …

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