History and Headlines

 

The title of this blog was inspired/copied from author, John Steinbeck’s book, “Travels With Charley”; an account of a road trip, across the United States, taken by Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, in the 1960’s. At the outset of the book, Steinbeck writes that his motivation for the odyssey is to “know my own country,” having realized that after a quarter century settled in New York he knew the country “only from books and newspapers.”

In similar fashion to Steinbeck’s “urge to be someplace else,”Mark and I wander around the United States, with our little dog, to try and know and understand our country a little better, too. Ironically, we use books and newspapers all the time as we travel. We try to pick up a local newspaper, in every big or small town we pass through, to know what’s going on around us. We also travel with a few volumes of the old WPA “Guides to the States” books Steinbeck  referenced on his 1960 road trip. In his words, “these books comprise the most comprehensive account and history of the United States ever gotten together.” The WPA (Works Progress Administration) was a project from the 1930’s that tried to capture the country in print while putting unemployed writers, editors and photographers to work during the depression. 

We’ve been in San Angelo, Texas, for the week and without the help of Google, but referencing a book from the 1930’s, I can tell you that the first cattlemen in this region had to drive bison from the range to make room for sheep, goats and cattle. When the Texas & Pacific Railway built south from Abilene in the 1880’s, the settlement of San Angelo became permanent and would later become the “Wool Capital of the World.”  

According to the Standard-Times newspaper, the State of Texas Longhorn Exhibit Herd resides in San Angelo State Park, where we are camped. Also, a local teen made history last week when her champion steer was sold for a record breaking $440,000 at the 2023 Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo! 

Maybe it’s just me but I feel like history and headlines can combine to show us who Americans used to be and still partly are.