Mapping The Journey
written by: Carl “Papa” Palmer
The year-old 1980 Rand McNally United States Road Atlas
Mom bought us, 142 pages of maps in a leatherette cover
marked $3.65 from the bookstore discount bin for only $2,
was her gift for our drive from Virginia to Washington state.
Forty-two years later my 12-year-old grandson finds it in
our car seat pocket, “What kind of a book is this, Papa?”
Cars today contain GPS navigation with display and voice.
Every smart phone has a map app to plot your every route,
but in our day we used paper road maps to find our way.
The first atlas map is the United States. With his finger
on Omaha, mine on Seattle, we read the states between:
Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington
From his house he traces lines, different colors and widths
for roads and interstates, over the Rocky Mountains, past
the Great Salt Lake and Mt Rainer on the way to my house.
Above each map are the state nickname, flower and bird.
We quiz state capitals back and forth until I smile and ask,
What four capitals start with the same letter as their state?
None start with S. Can you name the six capitals that do?
the same two questions
I asked my 12-year-old son
thirty-five years ago
PAPA’s MOTTO: Long Weekends Forever!
- Trigger Tree - October 29, 2025
- Mapping The Journey - September 28, 2025
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