NANCY'S NOTES
It’s time to go home
Since January 23, you have traveled with me on a big Stockton U.S.A. Road Trip as I have taken us on a tour to 11 other Stocktons. In November, we went west to Stocktons in California and Utah. A few of these we learned are not even real towns— they are actually unincorporated “towns” or “vilages” or “communities.” One of the Stocktons was in the middle of an intersection out in the country. But one way or another, we have connected with all other Stocktons in the U.S., locating their pin-drop on GoogleMaps and then “traveling there” via satellite.
Yes, that’s right... satellite.
I am somewhat flattered to learn that I have managed to trick some of my precious readers into thinking that I was physically on the road, driving to each of these locations. But in truth, this was just one mouse click after another at my computer.
I travel this way a lot. In fact, just last night I was on the white sand at the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. And just a few minutes ago I was standing at the reflecting pool in front of the Taj Mahal in Dhamapuri, India. Talk about a distraction from the coronavirus! In our present environment of travel restrictions, you can travel anywhere in the world on GoogleMaps (or other mapping software you might use) and get beautiful, 360-degree street views from people who actually have been to these places, and aerial views provided by satellite eyesin-the-sky. It’s really cool. And kind of intimidating, even scary.
I remember writing about satellite images a few years ago when I had been on GoogleMaps, zoomed in on North First Street where I live in Stockton, and saw myself riding bike to work.
So yes, you’ve been duped into thinking that I have been traveling around the country for real when in reality, I never left the farm.
The really neat thing is that, from these Stockton trips, I have “seen” many places that I would love to visit, for real. For instance, Stockton, Maryland is just a stone’s throw from the Atlantic Ocean, and then, from there, to get to Stockton, Georgia, there is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel where you drive long lengths of bridge across the bay and then duck down into a mile-long tunnel system at two different places where you drive under the bay. Then the Cabins at Stockton Lake, Missouri, look wonderful and inviting. Many times, when there was not much to the “town” of Stockton, the drive to get there, or the drive to get to the next Stockton on the list, was fantastic. Whether following the Mississippi River to get to Stockton, Minnesota, or alongside Lake Erie, to get to Stockton, New York, the drive inbetween looks beautiful. These are places I would really love to visit.
This has truly been an enjoyable experience, and it actually developed into something far more than I imagined when I began. And while the stories took up a lot of “column inches” in the paper, I’m happy the Sentinel has not cut me off or begged me to stop. The downside, for me, is that, for the last 11 weeks, I didn’t have to wonder what to write about as I had an outline I was following. Now, in finishing this project, I’m fresh out of outline and must get back to thinking about that again.
But, wait... there are Stocktons all around the world, and wouldn’t it be fun to go find them? There are two in Australia, one in New Zealand, and 11 in the United Kingdom!
Thanks for being my travel companions. All the mouse-click traveling aside, there’s truly no place like home, and Stockton, Kansas, is the best Stockton of all.
