| Several days ago I began reading "Good
Morning Everybody, From Cripple Creek to
Samarkand" by Lowell Thomas. In the forward
to his autobiography he cites an old Turkish
proverb that says "books impart knowledge;
only travel imparts wisdom." Initially,
this certainly seems true, but I have a dislike
and mistrust of either/or choices. So I've been
thinking about the important interplay of reading
and traveling.
While talking about his childhood in Victor,
CO Lowell Thomas relates a story about meeting
Vice-President Teddy Roosevelt, who was attending
a luncheon at the Gold Coin Club. This was
"a block long edifice built by the
millionaire Woods brothers and patterned after
the New York Athletic Club."
By itself, this information is very flat on
the page. However, it came to life for me. While
wandering around photographing the semi-ghost
town of Victor (this was before gambling was
legalized there) numerous times, I usually found
myself drawn to the boarded-up shell of the Gold
Coin Club, and often wondered what it must have
been like in its heyday.
Now I can embellish my memories with the story
of Lowell Thomas' memorable first encounter with
Teddy Roosevelt, and also wonder about the Woods
brothers who left this inspirational New York
City replica at almost 9,000 feet in the Colorado
Rockies.
Today I have been entering a number of
families who lived in or near Milford and Wilton,
NH in the 1700's and 1800's. Keying-in
information about them triggers memories of
pleasant summer evenings listening to live music
performances in Milford's town square, enjoyable
time-warp dining experiences in the Wilton Diner,
seeing movies in the old theater on the second
floor above Wilton's town offices and police
station, and many more.
Having experiences in those places adds value
to the recorded history I'm reading, and reading
adds value to both past and future travels.
Just reading or just traveling, without the
benefit of the other, is an unfortunate
compromise. The combination of reading and
traveling is a great example of a situation where
the whole can be much greater than the sum of its
parts.
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