Which brother?

A daily feature on my Nook E Reader is Steve King’s Daybook.  Professor King’s topic today was Counting Kerouac.  He references Jack Kerouac’s The Town and City which was published in 1950, several years prior to On The Road.   

While I haven’t read The Town and the City I was struck by the paths referred to by Professor King and think that these three pretty much categorize the paths of almost everyone.

One brother chooses town (to be a farmer near home),

one brother chooses city (to be a Sorbonne student)

and one brother…was on the road again, traveling the continent westward, going off to further and further years, alone by the waters of life, alone, looking towards the lights of the river’s cape, toward tapers burning warmly in the towns, looking down along the shore in remembrance of the dearness of his father and of all life…he put up the collar of his jacket, and bowed his head, and hurried along.

I have friends and family who have chosen to live their lives very close to where they were born.  I have friends and family who chose to leave (many as soon as possible after high school) to the city and/or university and, then there are those who take to the road like the third brother. 

I grew up in one house, attended grade school, junior high and high school on the same block, went across town to college in my home town. . . so I must be the “chooses town” sibling, right?

Then, I married a California guy, moved to the Los Angeles area in California,  had a family, career, finished my Bachelor’s degree. . .so, I must be the “chooses city” sibling, right?

Don’t think so. . .even before we went on the road as full-time RVers we were off traveling every chance we got.  One of my three, maybe Russ, once said that we “dragged them all over this country when we were growing up.”  Since going on the road full time nineteen years ago we have “traveled the continent” to all 50 states, Canada and even a bit into Mexico.

My 5th wheel home at home on the Mississippi River.

I love to “put up the collar of my jacket, bow my head, and hurry along”. . .the third sibling I am!

Which are you?

In search of Bonnie & Clyde. . .

But their run from the law ended on May 23, 1934 when they were ambushed by law enforcement near Gibsland, Louisiana.  Ted “Boots” Hinton Jr., curator and host of the Ambush Museum in the little town of Gibsland, was the son of Ted Hinton, one of the six officers who finally tracked them down.  After two days of waiting on the lonely gravel road (now paved LA Highway 154) and about fifteen minutes before they were to give up on their vigil, Bonnie & Clyde came roaring down the road in their stolen 1934 Ford and the officers opened fire.  Both Bonnie & Clyde took at least 50 gunshots thus ending their life of crime and murder. Why didn’t the officers attempt to capture the pair? Bonnie & Clyde and their associates were masters of shooting their way out of a situation; eleven of the 12-14 people they murdered were law enforcement officers!
Photographs are not allowed in the museum which in 1934 was Ma Canfield’s restaurant where Bonnie & Clyde bought two sandwiches just moments before they met their end. (Only two bites were taken from the sandwiches.)   We watched a video which features footage commonly seen on the History Channel and also a segment featuring “Boots.” 
Even more than going through the Ambush Museum we enjoyed talking to Boots, a retired U.S. Customs Agent, about his father’s (he refers to him as Ted) role in Bonnie & Clyde’s end.  Stories abound in newspapers, books, newsreels and magazines about what actually took place the day of the ambush.  The six officers involved in the shooting made a pact that none would tell their story as long as any of the others were still alive.  Ted Hinton was the last survivor but waited until 1977 to tell the story and, with the help of L. Grove,  wrote Ambush (The Real Story of Bonnie and Clyde).  It was published in 1979 after his death. 

The marker located at the ambush site has been vandalized and

marked with graffiti.  Why do people think it is OK for them to take “just a little piece” of a historical marker?




Next month in Dallas, where they are both buried, we will have to continue our “In search of Bonnie & Clyde. . .”