[The title is an insider's reference to Clint Eastwood, his greatest film, "The Outlaw Josey Wales" being based on a book, "Gone to Texas" by one Forest Carter. It's a good book, to which the film is fairly faithful. (I've started, so I'll finish) Forest Carter has a fascinating bit of history. He subsequently wrote a really wonderful book called "The Education of Little Tree", about a young Native American brought up by his grandfather. He wrote it as a part-Cherokee story teller, about his own history. It was much-lauded by the intelligensia, adding to Native American culture. His name should have been a bit of a giveaway: he was named for a Civil War Confederate General. It turned out that this Forest Carter had been a speechwriter for the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan: embarassment all round. But, and I repeat, but, it was a very good book. Makes you grateful the Hitler was a lousy painter, doesn't it? Imagine he had been good. Would his paintings have been sought after "for their own sake"? Mind you, if he'd been a good painter, he might not have destroyed most of Europe.]
I have been collecting law enforcement shoulder patches on my trip. It all started in Montana, when the Police Chief said "come round, I'll give you a shoulder patch." Ever since, I just go and ask. Well, actually, I agonise over asking, because, if it was me, I would refuse. And I hate worrying or puzzling people with guns.
In the Montgomery County Courthouse, in the front office of the Sheriff's department, there was only one man without a gun, and he asked me how he could help. I said I wanted to talk to someone about a shoulder patch, and he said that would be him. And he gave me one.
At the same time, in the courthouse, I saw a map which said that Glasgow was actually in Pottstown Borough. So I thought I'd better go back to Pottstown (it's only 20 miles) and ask them for one too. This is a city police department. I got to talk to a young dispatcher, armed, it looked like, to the teeth, through artillery-proof glass. He thought my project "awesome" (that probably tells you something about his age). He wanted ID, and took down my address. He said they would send it to me.
Because it's Thanksgiving tomorrow, and I don't know what'll be open, I stop at a supermarket on the way back, to buy some provisions. I can't find something I'm looking for. There is a young lady checking the shelves, and ticking boxes on a list. I ask her where I might find what I'm looking for. "Oh", she says, "I don't work here. I've never been in this shop before". So what could she have been doing? Had she misunderstood 'virtual shopping', and instead of going to virtual shops to buy real goods, she was going to real shops and buying virtual goods? It would certainly save her a lot of money: retail therapy at low cost.
So I wandered on, and found a young man filling shelves. This had to be a better bet. But he claimed not to work there either. Perhaps nobody works there. Perhaps the checkout is really a bank branch, and the suppliers just leave things on the shelves for some accountant to work out payment.
Later that night, I got my last quarter. Just in case you were still wondering how Texas got into it, the quarter coin comes in many editions, with the states on the obverse. I have been collecting them, just by checking my normal change. And for some time now, I have only been missing Texas. And, finally, Texas turned up. So I now have the full set. Well, actually, I don't, because there are also editions for the overseas territories (Puerto Rica, etc) and there are two mints, with a small mark on the front, 'D' for Denver and 'P' for Philladelphia. But I'm not going to get caught up in that. The next thing I'd be looking for proof coins, then I'd be trading and so on. I'm collecting Glasgows, not coins.
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