Bill Kirby: Travel log is Missing the M's – Might Many of you Mail in a Missing Missive?
"There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go."
– Tennessee Williams
We have a month left before the Labor Day deadline of our summer vacation project – collecting a visit to all 50 states. The list is shrinking gradually, but we continue to be plagued by "Missing M's" – Minnesota, Mississippi, Massachusetts, Maryland and Maine.
There's still hope we'll get all 50! Just send in a postcard to 725 Broad St. or e-mail an image to bkirby@augustachronicle.com.
While we wait, Gibby Garrard sent a picture from Jacksonville Beach. Although it looks bad, he reports: "This ominous sky came out of nowhere and didn’t rain a drop."
BUS TRIPS: A recent column about bus travel brought a number of responses.
"We lived in Wilmington, N.C., during WWII," wrote Larry Williams. "Dad worked at a shipyard, and at 6 years old I would get on a bus by myself and go downtown to see a movie and get on bus back home. Never could do that now."
Jack Burke agrees: "Took the bus without fear under 10 years of age to downtown Buffalo to first-run theaters for movies. Different age and century."
And Jeanne Turner, of Harlem, offers this: "As a freshman at Georgia in 1966, the only way I could get home to Grovetown was to ride the bus.
(At that time freshmen could not only not have a car at Georgia, they could not drive a car in Clarke County!)
"Most were boring bus trips home. One, however, was quite memorable.
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"The plan was to be dropped off in Washington, Ga., at the bus station, a sidewalk in front of some building, and my boyfriend (future husband) who lived in Harlem would pick me up there and we would go to the Washington-Wilkes/Harlem football game.
"His brother came also and convinced my future hubby to take a shortcut on I-20 which was under construction at that time. While I waited for them in the dark on a sidewalk in Washington, they were playing 'Teeter-totter' (stuck) on a big mound of dirt.
"Finally, an unhappy bulldozer driver pushed them off and they were able to pick me up.
"Funny, I don’t remember who won the game, but obviously all was forgiven in the end!"
TODAY'S TRAVEL JOKE: A couple passing through south Georgia motored through the Grady County town of Cairo. They began to argue over how the town's name was pronounced. The husband said, "KAY-ro" like the syrup. The wife said, "KYE-roe" like the famed city of Egypt.
From the Chronicle archive: We have reasons for pronunciations of our place names
Irritated, the husband said, "I'll settle this," and pulled into a fast-food drive-thru lane. He pulled up to the window, looked at the young woman standing there, and asked, "Ma'am, would you slowly pronounce the name of this place? My wife and I cannot agree."
The girl looked at them for a moment, then leaned forward and said slowly but distinctly, "BURG-er KING."
Bill Kirby has reported, photographed and commented on life in Augusta and Georgia for 45 years.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Bill Kirby: Summer travel log is missing states with M's; can you help?
