June 1, 2017
Corrections, Amplifications, Apologies, Final Thoughts
Apologies
Since establishing this blog I have been deluged with spam in the comments section. As a result I could not read the comments to find the real ones; for every real comment from a friend were a hundred junk messages, some running on for pages. Only now that I am home have I been able, with guidance from Zach my technical advisor, to sort out the wheat from the chaff. So I apologize for not acknowledging any comments en route.
I don’t have to apologize for anything else (at least as far as this blog is concerned) except for these errors of fact.
Corrections
- The Christmas parade in Albuquerque is the Twinkle Parade, not the Sparkle Parade. (Thanks to DH in ABQ)
- The open mike night at Fogata’s restaurant in Los Barilles is Thursday night not Wednesday night as stated.
- I claimed that Pancho Villa’s raid on the Arizona border was the last incursion of an armed foreign force on American soil. Reader CB has called my attention to the Japanese occupation of the Aleutian Islands in WWII. CB has been setting me straight on matters factual and analytical since we were teenagers. I imagine I could justify my claim about Villa’s raid with the addition of another modifier. “American mainland?” “Last incursion which resulted in loss of life.”
Final Thoughts
There is a lot of open land in the US. Even in Florida and California.
The recurrent presences in our travels, the names that cropped up in the most places—Civilian Conservation Corps and Geronimo.
Most affecting aspect of the trip—awareness of the breadth and depth of Native American culture before European arrival.
As I’ve had occasion to say several times, we were not inconvenienced by the weather for most of our trip. The last two months we went through a lot of rain but most of that time we were staying with friends or family. If it had rained continuously the first two weeks of our trip I think we would have turned back.
Mexico was the best part of our trip, of course. It had the advantage of being exotic and allowed us to think we were being adventurous. It was inexpensive, beautiful, the people were nice, the weather reliable. It helped that we managed to hook up with excellent traveling companions which allowed us to venture into remote places comfortably.
Cost? I honestly don’t know. More than I budgeted, I’m pretty sure. Somewhere between 8 and 10 thousand over what we would have spent had we stayed home, I think.
So with that, I’m signing off. Thanks for your encouragements.