"A historian has said that Henry Ford freed common people from the limitations of their geography. The automobile created mobility on a scale never known before, and the total effect on living habits and social customs is endless." History of the Automobile

It's something that has been sneaking up for a long time: my admission that times have changed.

I know that sounds rather trite; however, I realized how much I really enjoyed the era of the automobile, it's part in my life, the freedom and power it gave to my life.

Join me on this podcast as I bid farewell to my nostalgic nemesis and move on.

(At least I hope so...)


Route 66, and the spirit of adventure, is being remembered all over the world! 
From Left to Right - Clock for Sale in Bad Godesburg, Germany; Sign hanging on a concrete wall in Hong Kong; photo of sign through a rainy pub window, Dingle, Kerry County, Ireland

Having received a postcard yesterday and enjoying that my friends are having a wonderful vacation in Italy, I realized that the rain I am experiencing each day is not allowed to appear in postcards. Of course that led to the conclusion that no agony or suffering or bad weather condition is shown in postcards. There is some kind of unwritten code that prevents a store owner from displaying objectionable or non-beautiful scenes in his window or on a display rack.
So do we ever see life as it really is: A balance of the grey, dark skies with the cold and wet shivers contrasted against the pleasant relaxing warm sun on our skin, safe and relaxed? Postcards are a prisoner of their creators.


The "Postcard's Pledge of Allegiance"

I am the photographer, equipment in hand, waiting for the perfect sunset. 
(I only need to get close to the perfect capture of light - my photo software can fix anything.)
I am the publisher, gloomy sales are not what I appreciate. More color, more depth, more creativity in presentation - that's what I want.
I am the retailer, all happy with smiles for my endless stream of tourists, each spinning the display rack looking for that special picture moment which they have not experienced.
I am the rack who faithfully holds the postcards, gazing dizzily from within, peering from between the cards, adoring the accents of all the languages, playing 'guess the next favorite card' chosen, bearing with sorrow the unchosen.
I am the traveler who wishes to capture a memory of the places I've been, to see and hold a memory captured in a season, to believe that I have been there when the postcard arrives.
I am the postal carrier who for a brief moment glances at the blue, orange, green, white, brown, warm, embracing, welcoming tones and says, "Someday..."

Eating lunch on Univ of Arizona campus, 50 years ago. Pict is at Univ of Bonn, Germany