Pondering an M&D road trip...

[Guy Ian Scott Pursey]

For a few years, I've been thinking about actually travelling to the
U.S. to make this trip - I'm from the UK but am fascinated by American
history, society, etc. I would love to do a postgraduate degree in
America on M&D but know very little about the U.S. higher education
system... If anyone has any advice/information, I'd really appreciate
it!

As for my own "story" - well, it's not much of one: I was reading M&D
for the first time and as I was coming to the end, I was asked to attend
a conference in Durham. I read some of the book on the train and, as we
were pulling into Durham, that's where the book's action moved to. I
walked down to look at the River Wear and actually finished the book
during my stay there.

Now, whenever I'm asked to attend or speak at a conference, I take a
Pynchon book with me - both as a kind of strange "comfort" and in case
any little connections come up, leading me onto some bigger or better
perspective on the world...

Guy x


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On
Behalf Of Henry
Sent: 13 July 2008 15:43
To: Pynchon Liste
Subject: RE: Pondering an M&D road trip...

Great story, Laura!

A few of us rebs met up 
with some of the NY Yankee P-Listers in Newark, uh,
Delaware, and we drove around 
Until we found a marker
Not long before it started to get darker.

The ground was too muddy for one of the women, 
but none of the cow-men knew her!  (It really was muddy, but all were
valiant!)

I still have the pics that we took, one of a few inside 
and one whole-sick-crew-shot outside 
of the tavern where we stopped for libations.  

I remember that when we had an end-of-the-night desert at a diner, 
the waitress had never heard of having cheddar with your apple pie.
Oh, my!


HENRY MUSIKAR
Information, Media, and Technology Consultant

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/henrymu 

-----Original Message-----
From: Laura Kelber

It sounds like a fun thing to do.  Before I started lurking on this list
(back in 2003?) I think that a couple of p-listers actually made a
pilgrimage to some of the stone markers (maybe during the group read of
M&D?).  My own experience was more modest, but certainly unforgettable.
I had just finished reading M&D and we (me, my husband and our three
kids) were visiting friends in Maryland, from whence we were going to
visit friends in Harrisburg, PA.  So naturally, I suggested we look for
the Mason-Dixon line.  We found a website http://www.mdlpp.org/
(unfortunately it's under construction at the moment, but there must be
others) which gave us the locations of the stone markers that were still
there and instructions for finding them.

We headed for one that was in the general area where we'd be crossing
the border.  It was located in a privately owned field, but the website
said the owners didn't mind people stopping to look.  We were a little
uncertain about the whole thing but stopped in at a local historical
society, about a mile from the Maryland-Pennsylvania border.  The nice
people there had heard of the Mason-Dixon line but were pretty sure it
was located somewhere in the Deep South.  We drove a mile to the border,
located the field, hopped out of the car and found ourselves (all 5 of
us) shin deep in freshly spread cow manure.  With little option, we
pressed on and found the marker.  It was actually really exciting to
find as it was in good condition and the M and P were very legible.

After that, it was a sad story.  We had to discard our shoes and socks.
We drove around the Gettysburg area desperately looking
for a shoe store.  People kept directing us to stores that sold antique
boots for Civil War reenactments.  Finally, we found a soulless,
suburban shoe emporium that was understaffed enough so that no one threw
us out when we all walked in barefoot.  It's a history lesson my kids
will never forget.

Have fun and tell us all about it!

Laura