05 October 2009

Kindred Spirits (Time Travel Edition)

Thanks to Ken Burns' new documentary The National Parks, I've discovered another person whom I intend to befriend once I have my time machine up and running. Her name was Margaret Gurkey (I'm not sure about that spelling of her last name), and she and her husband traveled around the U.S. visiting National Parks nearly every year of their marriage, beginning in 1915 and continuing into the 30's and 40's. They began by taking the train, but quickly moved on to car travel and camping. Along with a succession of dogs, they criss-crossed the nation, taking in the scenery from Maine to California. Margaret's goal was always to get away from the crowds and experience what she referred to as the silence of the woods. At times this required a certain amount of adventure- rough roads, no easy access to supplies or assistance in an emergency, being at the mercy of the weather- and Margaret admitted that at times their decisions weren't exactly in line with common sense, but in her words, "to be sensible is to be commonplace, and to be commonplace is unpardonable."

2 comments:

Paige said...

"To be sensible one might have stayed at Somerstreet."

E.M. Forster

:)

Unknown said...

I fell in love with that quote and Margaret Gerkes' spirit and fearlessness when watching the documentary too! She was so ahead of the times...