Memoir Monday, August 25, 1968

 I-and the family-ended this week on New Mexico.  For the next several decades it figured frequently in my life to some degree, often powerfully. I actually lived there at one point, many years later. I love the scenery and generally the climate which is so similar to Arizona but there are some things I never quite cared for, mostly an element of the people....not the long term native ones, though.  I have called it the Land of Disenchantment at times and meant it. I remember back in my young days--like up to 10 or s--, many kinds were very disparaging about New Mexico and considered it an enemy or an evil sibling sort of place. Now I laugh

The last few days in Sacramento passed very fast. Somehow everything that had to be done got done and on August 20, which was a Tuesday, we hit the road. At about 11:00 AM,  our caravan pulled out of Aunt Roxie's drive. Dad drove the Chevy, towing the U-Haiul trailer and Charlie Mike roade with him, I suspect not by choice or happily but that was how it went. Mom drove the Volvo and Alex and I rode with her. We had the imemdiete things in the back--it had a faily commodious trunk space so chage of clothers, needed medications, toiletrries etc were secured there. I know Mom was never a ral happy driver but I think she did take a Driver's Ed class in Sacramwento and got her California license. Charlie Mike was now over sixteen and should have been driving too,, at leeast with a training permit, but I do not think that happened. I still did not have a license but was a reasonably capable driver. 

The first night we reached Barstow, CA. I know we were in a motel but I have little memory of that. By the next night, we were in Flagstaff.  Mom and Alex came to the aprtment with me, which apprently miffed Carolyn to have a 'male' in her space for all Alex was a very quiet and innocent nine year old! Mom and he  used the double bed and Carolyn  had her single that her boyfriend had provided so it was no big deal. I took the couch. Dad and Charlie Mike got a room at the Monte Vista, what number I never knew! 

From there we doubled back slightly to go to Prescott where we got some of the stuff that had been in the Old Green Ford. The folks had some trepidations but there were no problems at all. That night we got into Silver City after taking some back roads and a roundabout route.(not sure why keeping off the Interstates.)That was a very long day. We stayed at The Drifter, then a fairly new motel on the far east side of town. It is still there today but more in the middle of town now. It  seems different from what I noted that first time but memory can be flawed.

We woke there on Friday morning and had to get on with business promptly. By Sunday, August 25, the folks had rented a house in San Lorenzo, whre Dad would be rteaching in their small two room school. It was a decent house although I called it a  "Bryant house" as it was similar to some Charley Bryant and his wife had lived in. However it had electricity, running water--including hot--and a roof that definitelydid not leak. I cannot remember whether there were two or three bedrooms. It sat on a little semi-farm with some out builiings and a small orchard. It was really not a bad place at all. Too bad they did not stay long.

I stayed there until September 8 and did my best to help set up the household and took care of all I could since  both parents went to work almost at once. It seems like school started August 26, or at least their preparations did. Alex would go to the San Lorenzo School while Mom was teaching at the middle school in Bayard and Charlie Mike enrolled in Cobre High as a senior.

Pictures: The first is the place at San Lorenzo viewed from the hill above, some time during later 1968 or early 1969. The next is as it appeared when I detoured past on a trip down to NM and AZ from Colorado about 2014. Last two are The Drifter as it appears fairly recently, about 2015. It is larger and spruced up from what it was in 1968, and I last saw it about 2020; thought I kept a photo but can't seem to locate it!

Memoir Monday August 17, 1968

 The third week of my time away was a jumble. The date of our departure from Sacramento was coming close and there was still a lot to be done, especially by Mom and Dad.  I know Charlie Mike was eager to see that period end. He probably had no real trust that life would be better than it had been before the family's departure from the Verde Valley but since his arrival the prior fall  he had been jerked three ways from peace almost all the time. Aunt Roxie demanded many things and forbade others;  Uncle Dan demanded those and more and had a new plan or advice daily; and when The Boss or The Old Man arrived in January, he was his usual self, especially when he did not think he was witnessed. He had treated his older son like crap for literally years and never backed away from that. Why he seemed almost from the first to resent and dislike his namesake eldest son mystifies me. I never understood.  Alex was still just a "little kid", nine years old and in about fourth grade. For the most part,  he was always a very innocuous and cooperative child,  bright and a bit odd but no trouble... not like Charlie Mike and me!!The faamily had two dark sheep. 

I mentioned earlier the folks had the Volvo sedan or coupe. I am not sure if Alex coined the name or Cousin Steve, who had a droll and sly sense of humor,but it was know as "Funny Car." There was also the green Chevy pickup, which was probably a late 1950s model or early 60s at the newest but mechanicaly sound and road worthy. It soon was obvious that those two vehicles would not handle the entire load that needed to go so an arrangment was made to rent a mid-sized U-Haul trailer.  A standard half-ton pickup, I am not sure what size engine the Chevy had but  the load did seem to  tax it a bit. I remember that trailer being pretty well filled. and  a lot of household stuff is heavy as well as often bulky. It was maybe a 12 or 16 foot trailer. Forget the normal sizes. Not huge but not small. Same cube as the smaller standard rental truck, I think.

In planning, the folks did not leave a lot of slack in their schedule. I believe school started in Grant County, New Mexico no later than the day after Labor Day. I am guessing around September 3 but [ossibly earlier.  The trip would take about three days and once there, they had to find a place to rent,  get utilities and other business taken care of. and still manage to be ready to go to work. Thankfully they had adequate finances, the source of which I really do not know.  I suspect the California family were generous there as well. Pay checks did not begin until there was work being done. The generosity and charity of dad's siblings was no small thing but I did not feel dad was nearly as grateful and even humble about it as he should have been. I felt  more than a little guilty  at times and tried to be grateful and courteous to them.  Narcisists with a large ego and arrogance seldom are! (Yes, that is a meow!) Charles McCormack Morgan was not a 'nice' guy although he could fake it very well  when he chose to. 

What was I doing or thinking? I wrote next to nothing so just have to recall myself and how I might have been feeling. I was not in a serious time crunch because the NAU fall smester began on September 15 and I would need only a few days to handle the academic and pesonal details. I already knew most of  that drill pretty well. I had  an estabished home to go back to and was almost guaranteed my funds from the scholarship and grant would be available in a timely manner. Even my small emergency cushion was not seriosuly depleted. Therefor, I planned and expected to spend a week or so in New Mexico to help the rest of the family get organized. I actually returned to Flagstaff on September 8. That little aparment at 17 South Agassiz looked prettyfine! It was to be home to me for a year and ten plus months more.I cherished having it to call 'mine'. 

Pictures of the vehicles. FIrst is at the Port of Sacramento--the Volvo coupe. Then later that fall, me with the green Chevy and still later, the next May, Charlie Mike dressed for High Shcool graduation with the same Chevy. Another picture he wore a white shirt and a tie, not a western shirt, but same jacket. And that was not the hat I gave him but a recently bought Stetson,  New Mexcio style. The last two were very old film developed by Alex in a photography class in the late 90s. so very inferior qualtiy. Imight use AI or somethingn to improve them but--not now.

Memoir Monday, August 10, 1968

Although the event I will relate was just a 24 hour thing, it was one of considerable significance to me.  I had heard of the Tevis Cup Endurance Race a number of years before and was very much intrigued by the idea.  Imagine, a 100 mile ride from the foothills above Sacramento  to Lake Tahoe,  over a big block of the High Sierras. One horse, one rider and 24 hours to make the trek. I had long dreamed of taking it with a mule, maybe the first person to do that. Just like on the Iditarod, there are check points along the route and veterinarians examine each horse before it can go on  and can force them to be rested, withdrawn or get treatment. Most have been conditioned very well, however. The entrants take it seriously to say the least. 

Linda Tellington was one of the founders of the event and now a VIP. Another Northern California Elite member high in finance and real estate etc. was Wendell Robie, who was also an avid horse lover and fan of the endurance idea... My uncle was at least slightly acquaintd with him as Doctor Dan Morgan now fancied himself part of the elite, too. He was doing very well as a trauma surgeon sought by many, They got at very cross purposes a few years later but I am sure it was not over horses or this event. Anyway, need some back story, I had been dreaming of taking a mule on the ride, maybe the first to do so  and was so intrigued by the idea. At the time almost desperate to get away from the Verde Valley,  I had written Ms Tellington and asked about a job. She actually  telegraphed me and said if I could get to her place, which I think was on the eastern side of the Sierras, she would take me on a trial basis. But about that same time the near-sure fact I would be going to NAU emerged  and I never acted on the invitation.  I have often wished I had although I am reasonably sure I made the best decision. 

So meanwhile, Uncle offered to take Dad and me up to where the race started as they assembled,  to observe, take photos or network. I am sure it was a Saturday and quite likely August 10. I am not sure what vehicle we used, probably Uncle's SUV.  I do wish I had kept a record of this day especially. Recalling a month later, I gave no details at all. I am thankful that I at least have photographs. I did see Mr Tellington but she was in the middle of everything and I did not get to speak to her. Not that I could have said anything important by now! I didn''t particularly want to speak to Mr Robie but I think Uncle did; I am not sure about Dad. The riders got to Tahoe early to midday the next day and we did not go up for that but I read about it in the newspaper and later Western Horseman. .

Pictures!! I cannot identify most of the people but note a wide variety of tack was used on the horses and evryone was orderly, excited but very calm and controlled This was not an amatuer hour event! First picture:  The lady with the long braid near the horse's head I think is Ms Tellington. In the 2nd note the officer's version of the McClellan saddle--light gear was an advantage! In the 3rd shot, the very tall guy was the senior veterinarian and the small man to his left I think was Mr Robie. I do not believe he was riding but he may have. It was cool to be there, anyway. 

 

Monday Memoir, August 3, 1968

 August 1968 went up in smoke or sunshine or simply stepping out of  my regular life for a good four plus weeks. My normal--or even semi-normal-- daily record fell by the wayside at this point,  The narrative has to be patched together from memory and the notes I scribed after I got back to Flagstaff. early in September

This first week found me in California, just a little bit sooner than I had planned. I left on July 29th as nearly as I can reconstruct. .I'd  come to a point where there was nothing to gain by waiting and I left several personal issues still up in the air.  I suppose the folks had finally written because  I now knew they planned to go to New Mexico by fall and teach there. July 29 would  have been a Monday. The next journal entry is dated September 8 so I will just wing it for the interim and rely on a mixture of notes covering the period in that belated entry and my often shaky memory!

By this time the San Francisco Chief was a familar journey and I knew the route well. I had photos of several depots and sights. This was actually the last time I made that trip. Other travels to Noerthern California happened in different ways as will be revealed in time. The current schedule saw me into Stockton, the last stop,  fairly early/ The folks were there to meet me in the little white Volvo. I am not sure how everyone was settled in Aunt Roxie's three bedroom house. She still had her room and the boys were at Davis or elsewhere but there was Mom, Dad, Charlie  Mike, Alex and then me.  It worked, one way or another. Maybe a cot or a rollaway to one side? Or someone slept on a couch in the living or family room 

The folks were finishing their summer school classes--mostly necessary stuff to get certification to teach.. I am not sure how California credentials served in New Mexcio but apparently they did. I guess they were all pleased with their cowboy hats. I did get some pictures.  I thought I had one of dad but cannot find. it. Again I read, watched TV and probably ate and slept too much. I did need the rest and it was welcome, though. I happily forgot my school and unsettled issues for awhile.

For the first few days I don't think we did much. I spent time with my brothers and the family talked a little about the future and the planned move . They began to assemble the things needed to start a new household since they had virtually nothing. All the California  Morgans pitched in, Linens and bedding, dishes and cooking utensiles, assorted equipment and furnishings, basic furniture like beds and chairs. They already had the Volvo sedan which Uncle Dan had given to them earlier in the spring,. It was theirs when I went over in June. He also provided an older Chevy pickup which they used for quite a long time in New Mexico. These first few days take me to the second full week which ran from  August 4 through 10. It did hold one major trip or event of interest to me, which I'll talk about next time.

Pictures: Charlie with the new hat behnd the Volvo in Aunt Roxie's drive. Then me in the same spot, hippie-western casual as usual. Finally the front view of the house and then the back yard. The address was 6220 Kiernan Drive in the Sacramento suburb of North Highlands. Last is Alex, sans the hat, with the Volvo on a trip up in the Sierras

 

Monday Memoir, July 27, 1968

  July was sliding away like it was greased. All at once I was not a student for awhile and happy at the temporary 'freedom'. The rainy season began and  I wasted some time on hobbies and creating things, had a mysterious semi-sick spell, and  took stock of where I was.

July 21, 1968 Sunday

The time sure does get away. Here it is Sunday again already. For the time being,  I'm not a student and I think that is lovely. I've got 85 semester hours now, not counting the incomplete DaPr course which I will be dropping. I just can't get that project done. Not bad for two years when most people do well to have 60! Though I 'cheated' with summer sessions! It is all with a GPA that is nothing to be ashamed of though not as perfect. as I might like.

Looks like the rainy season is here. It has rained two afternoons in a row now in the usual pattern. I felt a little tough today with cramps but anaged to get my laundry done, hike the railyard, bake a casserole for dinner and make a dress. Yesterday I baked a cake and also made a dress. I think both sewing projects came out pretty cute or will be when I finsh a few details. I am now quite tired and waiting up for Carolyn and possibly her friend Karen, Hobby's girl. I may wind up sleeping right here on the couch if she does show up. Tomorrow Karen will move to Wilson Hall anyway. Remember last summer there...and not fond of that end of campus. Seems too far from everyhting. 

I bought hats, three of them, in fact. There was a littile one that looked about Alex's size and two matching ones for Pop and Charlie Mike. I hope they will be pleased. I'm taking my General Math and Biogenetics books to Mom and probably a couple of dresses so I'll have presents for everyone. although I don't think that is necesasry for me to be welcome from what they haev said. Anyway I have a couple of weeks to "make merry" before time to go. Some merrymaking --a trip to the dentist, for example. Oh well, que sera, sera.  Mayhap I can get a few things done anyway. I'll wear out the sewing kick pretty soon and then I'll have to try to write a bit. I'm in kind of a quandry about Cindy 2 but maybe I can go with Pony and the Dark Horse for a while. 

Dear old Dale has disappeared again. If Greyhund had hostesses, I'd say that is what but he probably picked up some little trollop in Phoenix or El Paso or Los Angeles. So maybe I'm well rid of him. He served a purpose, I guess, and helped me through the spring a bit easier than I might have done alone. And I served him well, too. He'd be Skid Row Sam by now or almost there if it were not for me. Think I will go shower and  turn in for the night,My left earlobe  is giving me trouble. I must have ripped the piercing hole accidentally or something. Fudge.

July 24, 1968  Wednesday

Carolyn dropped a bomb on me at dinner last night. Now that Karen is back, she wants to live with her next fall. For a minute I literally pushed the old panic button, but although I got a bad case of indigestion from my thinking. I came up with some ideas. First I am writing to JoAnn Kedndall to see if she would like to live with me. Second, I am writing to Dean Falk about an assistant resident job. And last but not least, I really could stay here alone and pay my rent but only if I took 16 hours or less a semester and got a part time job. It would be 'easier' and I could almost live in luxury! Twenty dollars a week at $1.00 an hour would pay my rent and electricity. So it is really not the end of the world like it seemed that first half hour or so.

This morning I will close my VNB savings into my checking account so I can pay for August and September rent as they come due. Then I'll take my AzBk account to buy my ticket (to CA) ad have a  litle cash. Carolyn will probably move before I return so that adds several small chores to my list of  must do's before the 2nd of August.  Really I am not too unhappy about the turn of events when seen in the light of day. Depending on the outcome, I may sort of have my fate decided for me.  Like if JoAnn comes, I'll go back to the rodeo club and  devote the year to having a good time. If I get an assistant job I'll have to turn over a new leaf and be prim and proper like I was BD--before Dusty--or Dale LOL, maybe even more-so.  If I stay here alone, I'll probably work as a waitress or something, dye my hair red and swing. No matter what, I think I'll only take 15-16 semester hours. I can't finish in the next year unless I take a super heavy load, although 17 hours each smester would let me finish with only one final summer session. We'll see. And also about changing my major. If I stay here alone, I may not--just get on through and try to hire on with Santa Fe or some other company as soon as I have my degree, Just be bullheaded and run my own show!!

I'l go ahead and go over to visit the folks and bear my gifts and be a cheerful little pussycat for a month or so but come September it's back to Flag for me and somebody will have to pay my way although I think I'll only pay the landlady (Mrs Warner) $50 on August 20 so that I'll have my return transportation if needed. No telling really what the folks are gong to do. They are doing a damn poor job of keeping me informed, but that can be a two-faced coin, by golly!

July 26, 1968  Friday

Friday already and one week of my lazy days has flown. Well, I've done a thing or two, made two dresses and a bathing suit. I think they came out quite nice, really. The dresses fit well and the bathing suit is really sexy. I sure haven't felt well though. I know I am the #1 hypochondriac because every day is a different misery. Maybe it will do me good to get away for awhile even iif it is just to be with the folks. What I really need is a genuine honest-to-golly hombre muy macho. But they aren't hiding under ever bush I pass. Actually I'd better learn to live with myself before I try to tackle living with anyone else. For awhile I was doing pretty good but somewhere along the line, something just sort of slipped. Maybe I was just kidding myself. 

I do hate not knowing aboutthings. That is the ugly part. Maybe before next Friday I will have made some decisions on the basis of things I find out between now and then. I really would hate to go back to the dorm now as it has been so nice to have my own little hidey hole here. Perhaps that is what ticks off Carolyn --it is more mine than hers and she and Karen are almost like sisters anyway. Que sera. Maybe JoAnn will come and I think we'd be okay except I think she is awfully innocent, but pehaps that is really good. I'm pretty sure I can get along easy with her. 

July 27, Saturday

Have sure been bitched up today. My left shoulder and side ache like a sore tooth and a dozen knives stab into me with every breath and twist. I haven't really done much--wrote a few letters and hiked the railyard this morning. For awhile during the afternoon I was tempted to throw a few things in my suitcase, try to cash a check, and just catch train 1(SF Chief) but I realized that was impracticaL. The folks still have not written aye or nay. I fancy they are mad at my delays etc. but then I tell myself I am just being morbid and they are busy wth finals etc. Perhaps I'll hear on Monday. I did hear from Judy, anyway, a good long letter. and from Kit Lewis the other day. She and Richie are such nice people. I have kind of adopted them as honorary grandparents . I really will try to get down to see them in the fall and perhaps get in a little riding. Would Lyno remember me?

 I've taken six Excedrin since lunch. They dull the pain a little but not much. A heating pad makes it worse. It is weird. I can't figure out what has caused it except possibly lifting and tugging when I moved all the furniture on Tuesday. It was the next day that I began feeling ill. Perhaps the worry and strain combined to produce some especially potent effects. I wrote a short story last night. I am getting rady to type it so I can send the carbon to Judy along with a ten page letter I finished before supper. 

I am striving not to be hostile to Carolyn. I've been semi-consciously blaming her for all my discomfort but she is going home on Wednesday for two weeks so probably won't be together any more after that. Have to admit I'm a bit fed up on her. She probably is with me too. I haven't been easy to live with the past year, I might even have clashed with Mary if she had been here. Haven't heard from her in ages, by the way. Guess I'll have to write her again and remind her. I've written to all my other pals alraady to let them know I am going to California for a month etc. Damn this weather. I am sure it isn't helping me any. I am almost tempted to go to New Mexico with the folks but I've got to hang on to my independence. I will lose it forever if I give it  up now. "I'll never have that recipe again."

Carolyn is the only roommate I had no picture of. Well, no;  none of the first Carol either nor of Lynn and Colleen--all were "short termers".  It is odd that the roomates I had the longest time were Carol and Mary and then again,,Mary and Carol (this comes later)  It is  almost like me and Jims--way too many of them. Do names have a certain vibration or energy that creates some sort of magnetic attraction? Five Jims and two each Mary and Carol. Charles too, though most of them were relatives.

Pictures--Just the house that was my home from June 1968 through July 1970. Taken in all, I had good times there and it truly was "home" for that time. I know I lucked out! These pix were in 2013. I hit Flag on a trip tp the MUSH reunion.  The first is a street view and the other shows two window of my actual apartment. Nostalgia...

Memoir Monday, July 20, 1968

 Another one-post week. So very little seemed to be happening, really. I was not bored, per se, but just plugging along on auto-pilot much of the time and existing rather than living. What is there to write about in that? Why did everything become so meaningless, hard but also too easy?

July 14, 1968  Sunday

The weeks slide by like boxcars on a fast moving freight. I manage to keep reasonably busy and fairly out of trouble. I did write to Jim M and he did not answer. I also wrote to Dusty but then did not mail it, thinking maybe I'd go over there instead but could not make up my mind, much less do it.

Today I fixed myself a big old fashioned breakfast and hiked out to mile 34 (ATSF track  mile) and took some picture . Came back and got the boxes stacked in the storage room and cleaned up the living room.  I fixed tuna salad for dinner and have spent the evening writing letters to three NM colleges--just out of curiosity, also studying Busienss Law and even got a bath and washed my hair this afternoon. I am proud of myself for all those accomplishments LOL. I decided to buy The Boss a hat at Goodwill since his are all gone. I have to break my $20 tomorrow.  No sweat.. What is money for except spending?  

No news or thrills or anything like that. Life, in fact, plods on rather dully. Only one more week of school thrn none for awhile. I've got to take a break.  I guess I will go back to California but not right away...

As the saying goes, that's all she wrote. I apparently got through the last week of SS #1 and had already decided I needed to take some time off and be sure what way I wanted to go as the fall term came around. I was not quite flat broke but getting close. I probably should have seriously looked for a job but I was really fried after two intense years of  'higher education' entertwined with family drama and a bit of rumspringa or heel-kicking  when I realized I actually was totally alone and on my own. That wore off rather quickly but I did hang onto Dale for awhile since there were no other ready options. I would often consider trying to find and reach Dusty but was not sure how to actually do that and in some ways not wanting to have the final 'bad news' ending set in cement. My second year's grades were not as good as I felt they should be but my average was still well above a "2" and  I was in no danger of losing my scholarship, much less the grant--which was not linked to performance other than not failing out. I was basically okay for two more years. What would happen then?  I pulled a Scarlet O'Hara and decided I would think about it later. I mean look how much had changed in just half of that potential total four years? so much was unknown. 

The photos--Until the end of the current classes,  I had only been to a few in this building, Liberal Arts, then and still.. For the next two years it was one of my 'homes away from home' as almost of the history classes were held here as were some of the humanities and other peripheal disciplines  that were part of my second two years of studi, eventually stretched to included my graduate courses. FWIW, this building still stands very little changed although the landscaping is not as austere with more shrubbery and such. Where did I misplace that photo?  Ok, well, not the one I had in mind but lifted off the internet--not today but probably 2000 or so. Street was closed recently and now onlywalk or bike there, NAU has changed so much but it has been 58 years since I left!

Memoir Monday, July 13, 1968

 Somehow life seemed to go on. I was often on auto-pilot and fighting my way out of what felt like a nearly bottomless pit. The summer seemed very long, often almost blank yet in a few ways it flew by and finally morphed into a new semester and some new patterns.The trick was surviving to get there.

July 7, 1968, Sunday

It is the last evening of my little holiday already. I did quite a bit in the last twenty four hours. I finished my brown/gold/calico square dance outfit--it consists of a tiered skirt, a peasant blouse, a wing-collared pull over top and a pair of bloomers. I baked a cake-mix cake and this afternoon took up a couple of hems and did a large batch of ironing. And now since dunner I read three chapters of Business Law and feel pretty self-righteous. 

I am shaking off the black depression that has been dragging me down again. The virus of self-destruction is stil in me but it is gradualy losing out, I think--hope. One of these days I'll be one of the living again rather than a zombie, and a better and more real person becasue of all I've gone through. You aren't real until you've truly suffered, not just the puppy love growing pains but a white hot soul-searing anguish that melts you down to the very edge of nothingness. It is a long slow process to build back but if  you survive, you're somebody. You may not be good or great but you are somebody. Sympathy is more than a concept, love is more than a word or tangled limbs on a bed. Not that sex doesn't have its place but sex disguised as "luv" has become a pacifier for a generation of overgrown children.  Yes, me too. 

I light up a longhorn (Marlboro) and say you have to have some crutches to lean on during that long phase of regrowth. It is recognizing them and learning to stand without them that is the hard part. This particular coffin nail happens to be the last in a sixth pack of my first and only carton and it's been sitting around for some while. People are mostly kind of shocked to find I smoke at all..Mabye that is why I do it!

Will I write to Jim or Dusty? I've been feeling thus urge to turn over some old rocks but maybe I can resist. I probably should and yet there's a little doubt that lingers and that builds wondering. I walked out the railyard  this morning and sat by Babbitt's warehouse on the ramp for awhile. I hadn't been there since March or so, just passed by a time or two. I've even thought of going down to the valley and spending a day prowling around but I have to remember I haven't got anything to ride anymore and I wasn't really cut out for the infantry bit so no foot soldiering. I guess I'd best skip that. Maybe Jerome though? If Cottonwood is $5.05, Jerome should be under $6.00. And I have wanted to take some scenics and do a little exploring there.  But I even resisted the temptation to go up to the Powwow and see if Stacy Newton was there. Look how good I am getting (smirk). Maybe I will write Sir James a letter--just out of curiosity and then perhaps I'll go in a week or two and do some photography and sketching and possibly drop by to say hello if the fancy moves me. Though he is not likely even there.

I guess I did not do any of that because the next time I wrote anything was a week later, July 14.. July 8-through 13 must have been very not-notable. You think? That was a good sample or example of the summer of 1968! I was getting philosophical or something, at least.

Pictures? Maybe the two men I was thinking of and wondering about; both had taken themselves out of my life and at that time I did not know why. Well, I did some in one case because for Jim M it was the political poison nowencasing the Morgan Family after their sudden disgrace and destruction. But I was sure Dusty would not feel the same about that.. He never cared much about my folks except for Charlie Mike. So they were part of my "hard time" in the summer of 1968. And how different they were, really, as these portaits show. Yet both from New York at once early point in life...