"Plastics, Ben, Plastics" “Plastics” “Plastics.” “Plastics, sir?” “Plastics.” “Plastics.” “Yes, Ben.  Plastics.” This is what I remember from the movie The Graduate. Mr. Robinson is giving young newly-college-graduated Ben advice for Ben’s future in two syllables.  “Plastics.” How our modern culture has taken that “wisdom” to heart! Plastics are everywhere.  One of the major decisions shoppers...

    A Mile High High On the Road Part 4   We finally, after thousands upon thousands of white dotted lines have rolled past our Outback, after hundreds upon hundreds of miles have slithered beneath our tires, after hundreds of times Sentimental Journey has been played on Sirius Radio, we cross the border of the Sunflower State to the Centennial State.  Funny how eastern Colorado...

    Dorothy, We’re Still in Kansas On the Road Part 3   The eastern part of Kansas is hilly, so much so that one believes one can stand on the roof of the car and see clear across the state.  We buckle in, adjust the rear view mirror, pray that the radio or disc player works, floor the pedal, and hunker down to daydreaming driving.  Daydreaming driving begins after a hundred miles...

Rocky Mountain High On the Road, Part 2 We wake up in Terra Haute at a time to coincide with the earliest serving of complementary breakfast at the motel.  We fuel up for the relatively short journey to St. Louis.  Almost every summer in our early years of marriage we made the pilgrimage to the Gateway to the West to visit Polley’s family, and almost every summer the line which...

      Westward Ho!  On the Road Part 1 Travelogue to Colorado Polley and I enjoy visiting Colorado.  Montana and Wyoming and North Dakota are also beautiful, but the state that spawned John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High has become our favorite.  Colorado has the advantage of being wild without being desolate.  In Montana if one river or stream is not productive for fly fishing, I...