A Friend, A Map, And A Tank Of Gas!
I saw a cute cartoon on Facebook that portrayed Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance (Ethel) in a car. The caption said, “All you need is a great friend and a full tank of gas.”
What a great pair who gave us so many laughs each week with all their shenanigans. Remember “The Chocolate Factory” episode? We certainly miss real comedy!
Seeing that cartoon reminded me of the many trips I took with a friend across the country in past years in pursuit of our art. We would load up and take off to New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, or Colorado. Sometimes we did not have a real plan—just a possible destination. We would make it up as we traveled.
Some of our favorite destinations across the Southwest included Santa Fe and Taos for sure. Of course, we also loved the unique beauty of so many places such as Monument Valley, which is actually located on an Indian reservation. It was also used as a backdrop in several John Wayne movies.
Grand Canyon (north and south rims) has such colorful views, and with the light changing by the hour, it lent itself to some beautiful photo shots. We visited Canyon de Chelly and the Taos Pueblo located near Taos.
Yellowstone is so unique and has beautiful surrounding areas. Of course, you can check out the Grand Teton National Park along the way.
You don’t travel through Tucson without checking out the amazing display of saguaro (cactus) in Sabino Canyon. And, south of Sedona, AZ, there is a rather unfamiliar Indian dwelling, Montezuma Castle National Monument. We enjoyed spending some time there as we traveled through.
I loved my paper map, and even after we started using a GPS, I still carried my paper map. The early GPS’s were not that reliable.
T hrough the years, our pursuit of art also took us all over Texas and Oklahoma. The Southwest is so diverse in its beauty and landscapes; you can never see it all!
My husband really did not enjoy traveling, but he was always very encouraging for me to travel in pursuit of my art and photography. Many women can’t say the same.
During those early traveling days, we probably weren’t as crazy as Lucy and Ethel, but we certainly had some great times exploring the world around us. At that time, it was actually rather safe for two women to travel across the country. In recent years, not so much. Our world has changed— it makes me sad.