Sunday, June 21

On the road


The images, from 1909, are of Alice Ramsey and her travel companions - the first women to drive across the United States. The trip took them 41 days and they made use of 11 spare tires. They also attained “the terrific speed of 42 miles per hour.” For more go to: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-Centennial-of-Alice-Ramseys-Drive.html?c=y&page=2

My friend Kathleen and I (and her cats, Peace, Quiet and Jester) will spend the next several days driving from Northern California to New York state. In contrast to our foremothers, we've only budgeted 7 days for our trip, and have had the spare tire inspected on the off chance that it will be needed.

After deciding to make the trip together, we first began calling ourselves Thelma and Louise, since that is our popular culture reference to "women on a road trip". After reading about the centennial recreation of Alice's trip, (http://aliceramsey.org/) we changed our road names to Alice and Hermine to honor our successful traveling predecessors.

I will take pictures and keep a journal, but since I am not bringing a computer, pictures and extended road stories will be posted upon my return.

I don't plan to be checking email (often) while I'm gone, though I will be posting updates on FB and Twitter (I'm "mizmindmonkey") via my phone.

Phone calls and texts are very welcome, and will be the best way to contact me while I'm gone.

Onward!