Thank you for this ... it brings up happy memories. When my brother and I were driving out from Ohio to Oregon a few years ago, we spotted a buckeye tree in the Little America parking lot. We eventually both made the move to Oregon, and now, if either one of us is crossing Wyoming, we stop and check on the tree. Its size reminds of us how long we've been out west!
There were places where the Interstate wasn’t finished and it was still U.S. 30 when I first visited Little America, having family in Idaho and Nebraska and occupying a generously proportioned back seat in my mom’s Chevy Impala. That was a long time ago. I’m happy the penguin is still holding up. As much as I enjoyed your Ohio report on Bluesky today, this strikes an even more responsive chord with me. Well done.
That stretch of I-80 through Wyoming is some of the most desolate yet beautiful land in the country. You can see for miles. I remember I especially liked watching a train move through in the distance at dusk but I couldn't tell you how far away it was. I've been taking my daughter on road trips whenever we have an extra few days and an extra few dollars. We did a section of the 127 yard sale this weekend. Be safe and report back!
I love the feel/mood of this bit of your writing. There's a longing here that is absolutely valid and worth acknowledging. Thanks. Keep up the good work. May God keep you safe as you travel and observe, ponder and write. The world needs people like you, doing what you do.
Sweet story, Laura. When you take that section of road at 5 or 6 a.m., you'll see antelope jumping the fences into safety from the highway. I love that great wide open. I lived in Ethete on the Wind River Rez back in the 70s. It was culture and environment shock, coming from the green dairy country of upstate New York, but I grew to love it. You brought back memories, even though I'd never been to Little America. Been to places like it...
I wanted to read the story you're referring to, but the only one with that name that I could find is by Hemingway. It is a very beautiful story though: https://share.google/abOBhnewxuu5BF9aZ
Oh my god, I've had the author wrong for 25 years. Thank you for this, gonna fix and annotate. It DOES explain why I was never able to find it again...
Happy, safe, redolent and so memorable travels (and travails of da road...)
Here's a free catch of a typo in the splendid piece you've published above. I'm guessing given the quality of your writing, this kinda typo would bug ya....Would bug me even though I'm not the writer you are, LJ, I'm just OCD'd....
"Flannery O'Connell had a short story entitled "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" and things don't work out so well for people in that story and yet this is what they wanted...."
Guessing you know Flannery O'Connor, whose writing like yours holds up very well over passages of time cuz of how well constructed it is, in addition to usually have stuff to say that needs to be said.
Keep on doing!
Someday someone will hire me again
and I'll be able to pay for the privilege of reading yer stuff. The way Lit things were meant to be from back in Saturday Evening Post land to the left of Wyoming.
Warmly, with summery breezes movin' back through here in PoTown, Ore area you left from (if you are to be believed in yer own published pieces...)
Oh jeez, that's what I get for typing a post on my phone and then publishing without triple checking for autocorrect shenanigans. Thank you!!!! Fixed, and godspeed
And that feeling is found only in a clean, well lit place featuring a 90 year old Novelty Carcas. Just a bit more thought causes one to realize that this feeling dwells within us and only requires summoning.
I agree that it is possible to sit alone in a dark room, close one's eyes, and conjure up any emotion one might like. But I think it's OK to feel nostalgia at a stuffed penguin also
Thank you for going the extra mile and staying awake the extra hour to write this. (Good to hear from you!)
Looking forward to what you have to say about your experiences in Ohio at the "Patriot" games. Stay safe and rock on.
Thank you for this ... it brings up happy memories. When my brother and I were driving out from Ohio to Oregon a few years ago, we spotted a buckeye tree in the Little America parking lot. We eventually both made the move to Oregon, and now, if either one of us is crossing Wyoming, we stop and check on the tree. Its size reminds of us how long we've been out west!
There were places where the Interstate wasn’t finished and it was still U.S. 30 when I first visited Little America, having family in Idaho and Nebraska and occupying a generously proportioned back seat in my mom’s Chevy Impala. That was a long time ago. I’m happy the penguin is still holding up. As much as I enjoyed your Ohio report on Bluesky today, this strikes an even more responsive chord with me. Well done.
Safe travels and thanks for Little America.
That stretch of I-80 through Wyoming is some of the most desolate yet beautiful land in the country. You can see for miles. I remember I especially liked watching a train move through in the distance at dusk but I couldn't tell you how far away it was. I've been taking my daughter on road trips whenever we have an extra few days and an extra few dollars. We did a section of the 127 yard sale this weekend. Be safe and report back!
I love the feel/mood of this bit of your writing. There's a longing here that is absolutely valid and worth acknowledging. Thanks. Keep up the good work. May God keep you safe as you travel and observe, ponder and write. The world needs people like you, doing what you do.
Sweet story, Laura. When you take that section of road at 5 or 6 a.m., you'll see antelope jumping the fences into safety from the highway. I love that great wide open. I lived in Ethete on the Wind River Rez back in the 70s. It was culture and environment shock, coming from the green dairy country of upstate New York, but I grew to love it. You brought back memories, even though I'd never been to Little America. Been to places like it...
I wanted to read the story you're referring to, but the only one with that name that I could find is by Hemingway. It is a very beautiful story though: https://share.google/abOBhnewxuu5BF9aZ
Oh my god, I've had the author wrong for 25 years. Thank you for this, gonna fix and annotate. It DOES explain why I was never able to find it again...
Travel safely, thanks for writing.
Happy, safe, redolent and so memorable travels (and travails of da road...)
Here's a free catch of a typo in the splendid piece you've published above. I'm guessing given the quality of your writing, this kinda typo would bug ya....Would bug me even though I'm not the writer you are, LJ, I'm just OCD'd....
"Flannery O'Connell had a short story entitled "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" and things don't work out so well for people in that story and yet this is what they wanted...."
Guessing you know Flannery O'Connor, whose writing like yours holds up very well over passages of time cuz of how well constructed it is, in addition to usually have stuff to say that needs to be said.
Keep on doing!
Someday someone will hire me again
and I'll be able to pay for the privilege of reading yer stuff. The way Lit things were meant to be from back in Saturday Evening Post land to the left of Wyoming.
Warmly, with summery breezes movin' back through here in PoTown, Ore area you left from (if you are to be believed in yer own published pieces...)
Tio Mitchito
TM
Mitch Ritter
Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of A-tone-ment Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee\Hearsay
(fade-out on this piece from the muses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyledbfTpBc
"Drifter's Life" J.J. (John Welden) Cale.......Tulsa, OK)
Oh jeez, that's what I get for typing a post on my phone and then publishing without triple checking for autocorrect shenanigans. Thank you!!!! Fixed, and godspeed
And that feeling is found only in a clean, well lit place featuring a 90 year old Novelty Carcas. Just a bit more thought causes one to realize that this feeling dwells within us and only requires summoning.
I agree that it is possible to sit alone in a dark room, close one's eyes, and conjure up any emotion one might like. But I think it's OK to feel nostalgia at a stuffed penguin also