Dust, Drought, Depression, and War No. 15
The Bitter Years No.1¹

Taken by itself in a photographic art exhibition with no other information or other related images than what is on the caption card one could assume that this photo is making a statement on race in 1941.

However, in neighboring photographs in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, the picket line is actually a mixture of black and white strikers.  In one photo, a white man carries a sign that says, “Mid City Realty Unfair—Underpays his Workers—Overcharges his Tenants—Support the Strike.” In another photo, a black man carries an identical sign. A number of other photos are available from the Library of Congress.⁴

There is essentially no information online related to these images and the picketing of Mid-City Realty.  Some of the few websites that have any of the images make unfounded assumptions.^{5, 6, 7}

1. The 1962 exhibition, “The Bitter Years 1935-1941,” was Edward Steichen’s last as Director of the Department of Photography at New York’s  Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The images in the exhibition were personally selected by Steichen from 270,000 photos taken for the Farm Security Administration by a team of photographers employed between 1935 and 1941 to document (primarily) rural America during the Great Depression.
2. Poos Françoise. The Bitter Years: Edward Steichen and the Farm Security Administration Photographs. New York: D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, Inc., 2012. page 60.
3. Vachon, John. “Picket Line at Mid-City Realty Company, South Chicago, Illinois.” July 1941. Library of Congress. Accessed September 9, 2021. www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017746824/.
4. Other related photos:
   • Untitled photo, possibly related to: Picket line at Mid-City Realty Company, South Chicago, Illinois
   • Untitled photo, possibly related to: Picket line at Mid-City Realty Company, South Chicago, Illinois
   • Picket line in front of Mid-City Realty Company. Chicago, Illinois
   • Picket line in front of Mid-City Realty Company. South Chicago, Illinois
   • Picket line in front of Mid-City Realty Company. South Chicago, Illinois
   • Untitled photo, possibly related to: Picket line in front of Mid-City Realty Company. South Chicago, Illinois
   • Untitled photo, possibly related to: Picket line in front of Mid-City Realty Company. South Chicago, Illinois
   • Untitled photo, possibly related to: Picket line in front of Mid-City Realty Company. South Chicago, Illinois
   • Girl in picket line. Mid-City Company, South Chicago, Illinois
5. “Picket Line at Mid-City Realty Company in Chicago, Illinois, July 1941.” IDCA, August 27, 2020. https://iowaculture.gov.
   “This photograph shows African Americans standing in a picket line outside a midtown business in Chicago, Illinois, in 1941 protesting the discriminatory wage gap between African Americans and white people in the workforce.”
6. “Support the Strike: 1941.” Shorpy.com. Accessed September 9, 2021. https://www.shorpy.com/node/25349.
   “Girl in picket line. Union picketing for increase of $8 weekly wage. Mid-City Realty Company, South Chicago, Illinois.” The only information that I was able to glean from the photos regarding the wages was that it was too low, $8 a week. Increasing the wage by $8 would be doubling the pay which would be an extremely unlikely demand.
7. “Understanding the Great Migration; Resource Sheet No. 4.” Center for History Education Online Lessons. Accessed September 9, 2021. https://www.umbc.edu/….
   “In ‘the Promised Land’ of Chicago, many black migrants still had to join picket lines to fight for fair wages. Some foremen in various companies discriminated by placing restrictions upon the promotion and advancement of black workers, frequently preventing them from earning higher wages.”

Library of Congress information for the image:

Title: Picket line at Mid-City Realty Company, South Chicago, Illinois
Creator(s): Vachon, John, 1914-1975, photographer
Date Created/Published: 1941 July.
Medium: 1 negative : safety ; 35 mm.
Reproduction Number: LC-USF33-016151-M5 (b&w film neg.) LC-USZ62-130701 (b&w film copy neg. from file print) LC-DIG-fsa-8a33115 (digital file from original neg.)
Rights Advisory: No known restrictions. For information, see U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black & White Photographs
Call Number: LC-USF33- 016151-M5 [P&P] LOT 1073 (Possible associated group of images)
Other Number: F 663
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Notes:
…..Title and other information from caption card.
…..Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.
…..More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsaowi

_____
Mike’s notes:

Image restoration note – This image has been digitally adjusted for one or more of the following:
– fade correction,
– color, contrast, and/or saturation enhancement
– selected spot and/or scratch removal
– cropped for composition and/or to accentuate subject matter
– straighten image

Image restoration is the process of using digital restoration tools to create new digital versions of the images while also improving their quality and repairing damage.

Royalty-free images by Mike¹ — No. 153 of over 1200 images

Dead Indian Pass, a metal sculpture commemorating the
1877 flight of the Nez Perce through this area of Wyoming

The Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, a forty-six-mile paved highway in Wyoming, closely follows the path Nez Perce took when they fled the US Army in 1877. While most of the Wyoming 296 route is through a series of open valleys surrounded by tall forested mountains in the Absaroka Range, it also climbs over an 8048-foot high mountain gap named Dead Indian Pass includes numerous twisting ascents and descents of large hills and crosses lower passes.²

The views of the higher peaks of the North Absaroka Mountains are excellent. But just as interesting is the superb view of the deep canyon that the Clarks Fork Yellowstone Flows through—from above it seems that the earth essentially split apart, allowing the river to pass through it.

The Nez Perce are an indigenous people of America who are believed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau for at least 11,500 years.  The first contact with whites likely occurred in the late 18th century when French Canadian fur traders visited the area regularly.  In 1805, the Lewis and Clark expedition encountered the tribe, William Clark referring to them in his journals as the Chopunnish.

In the Treaty of 1855, the Nez Perce ceded 7.5 million acres of land but retained all traditional hunting, fishing, and gathering rights.⁴ Soon afterward, the ceded land was declared open for settlement, and rough-and-tumble miners and land hunters soon poured in, many of whom thought nothing of pillaging and killing Indians. After several other tribes retaliated, the US military responded, with Nez Perce fighting alongside the Americans in two September 1858 battles.  By the summer of 1862, there were nearly 20,000 whites in the area around the new town of Lewiston, named for Meriwether Lewis, with enough political power to demand the removal of the Nez Perce.⁵ The U.S. government initiated another treaty council that would shrink the 1855 reservation by 90%, a reduction of over 5 million acres. The bands living outside the proposed boundaries walked out and refused to endorse the 1863 Treaty.⁶

Where the American government saw one tribe, individual Nez Perce leaders had always regarded their bands as separate and independent.  Every band was self-sufficient, getting their own food from the land, and creating their own tools and clothing.  There was no governing body or chief over all of the tribes. After the 1863 council, the bands whose leaders signed the treaty were known as the “treaty” group. Those who had walked out were the “non-treaty” bands.  The chief of one of the non-treaty bands, Joseph, “was so incensed he tore up his copy of the 1855 treaty and his Gospel of Matthew… before he rode home.”⁷

The 1863 Treaty became known by the Nez Perce  as the “Thief Treaty” or “Steal Treaty.” It created the conditions that would eventually lead to an armed clash between the Nez Perce and the US Army.⁸

Hostilities that had been developing between the non-treaty Nez Perce and settlers became violent in 1877.  In May, after several attacks by the US Army the bands moved from their homelands towards the new reservation. On June 14 and 15, vengeance raids by warriors killed at least eighteen settlers.  The first major engagement with the US Army was at White Bird Canyon, Idaho Territory, on June 17, a lopsided victory for the Nez Perce. Thirty-four U.S. Cavalry were killed, two soldiers and two volunteers were wounded while only three Nez Perce warriors had been wounded. Outnumbered two to one and fighting uphill with inferior weapons, the Nez Perce used their knowledge of the terrain to win.⁹

After the White Bird Canyon battle, the Nez Perce embarked on an arduous trek, crossing Lolo pass into Montana Territory, dipping into and crossing the new Yellowstone National Park and a small portion of Wyoming Territory, and then heading north toward Canada, a roughly 1,170 miles (1,880 km) journey. After seeking the aid of the Crow tribe, they fled further north when refused, hoping to gain sanctuary with Sitting Bull’s Lakota Sioux, who had fled to Canada in May.¹⁰

Nez Perce strength during the 1877 war was estimated at a few hundred warriors. Traveling with many noncombatants, they had no formal military training.  The US Army used several thousand soldiers during the campaign, many with years of military training and experience, commanded by veterans of the Civil War.  By October, winter was approaching and the lack of supplies combined with the long travel over rough terrain had taken its toll.  After a five-day battle, Chief Joseph surrendered his remaining forces.¹¹

______

Origin of the name¹²

There are two accounts of the naming of Dead Indian Pass. The first refers to the Nez Perce flight in 1877. A Nez Perce was reputedly killed near the pass and it acquired the name. The second account states that in 1878 Col. Nelson A. Miles and his soldiers encountered a group of Bannock Indians. The Crow Indian Scouts killed a Bannock and buried him here.

Post Endnotes

1. I am sharing some of my public domain images in periodic blog posts.
2. “The Chief Joseph Scenic Byway in Wyoming: Information, Photos and Maps.” Big Sky Fishing.Com. Accessed September 8, 2021. https://www.bigskyfishing.com….
3. “Nez Perce.” Wikipedia, most recent edit September 5, 2021. Accessed September 8, 2021. https://en.wikipedia…Nez_Perce.
4. “Treaty of 1855.” National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. Accessed September 8, 2021. https://www.nps.gov…1855.htm.
5. “Aftermath of 1855 Treaty.” National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. Accessed September 8, 2021. https://www.nps.gov…aftermath-of-1855-treaty.
6. “The Treaty Period.” National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. Accessed September 8, 2021. https://www.nps.gov….the-treaty-era.htm.
7. “Treaty of 1863.” National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. Accessed September 8, 2021. https://www.nps.gov…treaty-of-1863.htm.
8. “The Treaty Period.”
9. “Battle of White Bird Canyon.” Wikipedia, most recent edit June 18, 2021. Accessed September 8, 2021. https://en.wiki…White_Bird_Canyon.
10. “Nez Perce War.” Wikipedia, most recent edit August 9, 2021. Accessed September 8, 2021. https://en.wikipedia…Nez_Perce_War.
11. Kennaly, David. “The Nez Perce War of 1877.” U.S. Army, October 1, 2009. https://www.army.mil….
12. “Dead Indian Pass.” Wikipedia, May 25, 2021. https://en.wikipedia….Dead_Indian_Pass.

Series Notes:

• This image is also shared as public domain on Pixabay, Flickr, and Pinterest.
• Images are being shared in the sequence they were accepted by Pixabay, a royalty-free image-sharing site.
• Only images specifically identified as such are public domain or creative commons on our pages.
• All other images are copyright protected by me, creative commons, or used under the provisions of fair use.

Royalty-free images by Mike¹ — No. 152 of over 1200 images

Autumn Teton Thimbleberry, Along Cascade Canyon Trail;
Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, September 19, 2007

Rubus parviflorus²

Rubus parviflorus, commonly called thimbleberry, (also known as redcaps) is a species of Rubus native to northern temperate regions of North America. It bears edible red fruit similar in appearance to a raspberry, but shorter, almost hemispherical. Because the fruit does not hold together well, it has not been commercially developed for the retail berry market, but is cultivated for landscapes. The plant has large hairy leaves and no thorns.

Rubus parviflorus is native to western North America from Alaska south as far as California, New Mexico, Chihuahua, and San Luis Potosí. Its range extends east to the Rocky Mountains and discontinuously to the Great Lakes Region. It grows from sea level in the north, up to elevations of 10,000 ft. (3,000 m) in the south.

Thimbleberry fruits are flatter and softer (more fragile) than raspberries, but similarly have many small seeds. Because the fruit is so soft, it does not pack or ship well, so thimbleberries are rarely cultivated commercially.

However, wild thimbleberries can be eaten raw or dried (the water content of ripe thimbleberries is quite variable), and can be made into a jam which is sold as a local delicacy in some parts of their range, notably in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan. Thimbleberry jam is commonly made by combining equal volumes of berries and sugar and boiling the mixture for two minutes before packing it into jars. Without sugar, the cooked berries, with a distinguishing sweet-sour taste, keep for a few days in the refrigerator.

Post Endnotes

1. I am sharing some of my public domain images in periodic blog posts.
2. “Rubus Parviflorus.” Wikipedia, most recent revision July 27, 2021. Accessed September 8, 2021. https://en.wikipedia….Rubus_parviflorus.

Series Notes:

• This image is also shared as public domain on Pixabay, Flickr, and Pinterest.
• Images are being shared in the sequence they were accepted by Pixabay, a royalty-free image-sharing site.
• Only images specifically identified as such are public domain or creative commons on our pages.
• All other images are copyright protected by me, creative commons, or used under the provisions of fair use.

I first released this video 5 years ago, with the title “September 11 – Remembering after 15 years.” This version replaces the introduction with a title screen saying “Remembering September 11, 2001” so that it’s not tied to any other time other than the original events.

Much has happened in the years since the planes flew into the World Trade Center. The world seems far different, with terror attacks occurring all too frequently around the world, terror attacks that gain little or nothing for those who plot and plan them.

The first several images are from several years to a month before the attack. They simply show New York City with the twin towers still standing.

The music track used is “September 11, 2001 – Theme from the Last Castle” by Jerry Goldsmith. According to YouTube, videos using this track are viewable everywhere except Germany.

Image used in this video are public domain, accessed from the Library of Congress or the U.S. National Archives. Images are viewable in a Flickr album at https://www.flickr.com/photos/exit78/albums/72157672313859131

Dust, Drought, Depression, and War No. 14¹

The Shavano, a local mountain route narrow-gauge train in Colorado, operated round-trip daily for 3 1/2 years, ending on November 24, 1940.  It ran from Salida [7,083 ft (2,159 m)] over Marshall Pass [10,842 ft (3,305 m)] to Gunnison [7,703 ft (2,347 m)] in the morning, returning in the evening. Today, a gravel road still follows the old railroad route over Marshall Pass but is closed to wheeled vehicles during the winter.²

The train’s name came from Mount Shavano, a 14,231-foot (4,338m) summit located in San Isabel National Forest.  It lies just east of the Continental Divide and west of the Arkansas River rising 7,200 feet above Salida.  The mountain was named for Ute Chief Shavano.³

War chief of the Uncompahgre (Tabeguache) band of Southern Utes and a close friend of Chief Ouray, Shavano had a deep mistrust of white people and the government.  A violent temper and propensity for hard-drinking led government administrators to block Shavano from becoming chief after Ouray’s death. Serving as one of the medicine men for the tribe, in 1885, Shavano was shot twice in the back by Sarrup, the father of two sick boys Shavano had failed to save. Someone had told Sarrup that Shavano had poisoned the boys. Shavano died three days later.^4,5

Call Number: OP-8479
Title: D&RGW train (Narrow Gauge), engine number 479, engine type 2-8-2
Credit: Denver Public Library Special Collections
Alternate Title: Denver & Rio Grande Western train (Narrow Gauge), engine number 479, engine type 2-8-2
Creator: Perry, Otto, 1894-1970
Date: 1940
Summary: Train #315, The Shavano; 4 cars, snow, and steam effect. Photographed above Mears Junction, Colo., November 17, 1940.
Description: 1 photonegative ; 9 x 14 cm; 1 photoprint (postcard) : silver gelatin, black and white ; 8 x 13 cm
Part Of: Otto C. Perry memorial collection of railroad photographs
Type of Material: Film photonegatives; Photographic postcards; Silver gelatin photoprints
Subject: Locomotives; Railroads–Trains–Pictorial works; Narrow gauge railroads; Railroad locomotives–Colorado–Mears Junction; Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway Company; Railroads, Narrow-gage.
Format-Medium: Photograph

Denver Public Library Digital Collections item permalink.

_____________________

Mike’s notes:

Image restoration note – This image has been digitally adjusted for one or more of the following:
– fade correction,
– color, contrast, and/or saturation enhancement
– selected spot and/or scratch removal
– cropped for composition and/or to accentuate subject matter
– straighten image

Image restoration is the process of using digital restoration tools to create new digital versions of the images while also improving their quality and repairing damage.

1. While the main theme of this project is the bitter times between the 1929 crash of the stock market and the end of World War II, some of the items covered will be other interesting and historical material from the period.
2. “Shavano (Train).” Wikipedia, last edited May 11, 2021. Accessed September 7, 2021. https://en.wikipedia…Shavano_(train).
3. “Mount Shavano.” Wikipedia, January 28, 2021. Accessed September 7, 2021. https://en.wikipedia….Mount_Shavano.
4. Morreale, Don. “Menu.” YourHub, December 3, 2020. https://yourhub.denverpost.com/blog/2020/12/a-colorado-panorama-chief-shavano-and-josephine-speer/270819/.
5. Hogue, Una. “An Indian Chronicle & a Sketch on the Life OF Shavano: …” Salida Regional Library, 1920. Accessed September 7, 2021. http://salidaarchive.info…Life-of-Shavano.pdf.

Civil War Era Photographic Portraiture No. 3
Originally Published in American Civil War Chronicles

Sold at auction June 2015 for $6,875. Heritage Auctions description:

“Confederate Soldier Quarter Plate Tintype. Stunning 1861 Melainotype of a Confederate officer. Really, for quality, condition and content one of the finest Confederate images we’ve ever offered. Plate with embossed Melainotype patent information embossed along bottom edge, unquestionably dating the image to 1861. Officer wears gray frock coat with high standup collar, black flashing on edges of pocket on each breast and the shoulder straps appear to have black centers, possibly denoting North Carolina. Wears rather narrow brimmed slouch hat with one side turned up. Holds five ball pillow pommel sword over his shoulder, the sword dating to circa 1825. Interestingly wearing what appears to be two watch chains. Classic Confederate wide leather belt with two leather tabs and two horseshoe shaped iron buckles for closure. Superb quality and condition, with cheeks skillfully tinted pink. A great Confederate image.”

historical.ha.com/itm/photography/tintypes/confederate-so…

Dust, Drought, Depression, and War No. 13
Early Color Photography No. 1

“Negro boy near Cincinnati, Oho.”
John Vachon, 1942 or 1943¹

This photo has long been a favorite of mine.  I first shared it online about 16 years ago.

John Vachon²

The man who took this picture, John Vachon, became a photographer almost by accident. In 1936, he had been looking for a job for several months after attending graduate school at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.  The first job opening that came up through the patronage channels associated with the University was an opening for a messenger at the Resettlement Administration. “I went to the office I was told to go to and was interviewed by a guy named Roy Stryker. He told me that it was a temporary job, for a month only, to replace somebody who was going back to Montana, or something. I remember the title of the job was “Messenger,” but the duties Roy explained to me that day, telling me that they were going to be very dull, would be to write captions on the back of 8 x l0 photographs, the captions being on file cards which I would copy. So I did that for a month, and occasionally would turn the picture over and look at it. And then at the end of the month I was let go, and I was again unemployed in June.”

About 6 weeks later, Vachon was back at work doing the same job, captioning and cataloging pictures, even though the job title was “messenger.” After a few months, he had become interested in the pictures, started to be able to identify “one photographer’s work from the other, and admire certain pictures. It was in the spring of the next year, ’37, when I asked Stryker if I could use a camera just to see what I could do with it, which I had never in my life done or wanted to do. So I borrowed a camera and took pictures around Washington for most of that summer, you know, on my own.”

Vachon became more involved with the files, being elevated to “assistant clerk,” and gradually became responsible for their organization and classifications. Stryker also started sending him out on photo assignments, sometimes with others from the office.  It wasn’t until 1938 that he had his first long assignment, a month in Nebraska in the winter of 1938.  In 1941 he was classified as a photographer and, from then on, all he did was photography.

Vachon continued to work as a photographer including for Life for 2 years and Look for over 25.

The title of the photo.³

This photo was shared on Flickr in January 2008 by the Library of Congress.

While many comments are full of praise for the image, from the beginning there were comments regarding the title, including some who thought it was derogatory.

is it necessary to label the photo “Negro boy?” surly “boy” will do or if needed to make reference to his race for historical context: surly African American.

Fantastic portrait. But not diggin’ the title. Cheers.

Great photo but like others have said, the title diminishes the image.

Fix the title. What year are we living in again?

Terrible title…….You may be posting using the original archived title but why use it on Flickr ?

I read about 2 years’ worth of comments.  Most who comment on the title had no problem with it for a variety of reasons.  Several mentioned that the names of the NAACP⁴ and UNCF⁵ haven’t been changed, so why the fuss over the title of this photo?

Title: Negro boy near Cincinnati, Ohio
Creator(s): Vachon, John, 1914-1975, photographer
Date Created/Published: [1942 or 1943]
Medium: 1 slide : color.
Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-fsac-1a34281 (digital file from original slide) LC-USF351-276 (color film copy slide)
Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.
Call Number: LC-USF35-276 [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Notes:
…..Transfer from U.S. Office of War Information, 1944.
…..General information about the FSA/OWI Color Photographs is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsac
…..Title from FSA or OWI agency caption.
…..Additional information about this photograph might be available through the Flickr Commons project at http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179172498

1. Vachon, John. “Negro Boy near Cincinnati, Ohio.” Library of Congress, [1942 or 1943]. Accessed August 26, 2021. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017877922/.
2. Doud, Richard. “Oral History Interview with John Vachon, 1964 April 28.” Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Accessed August 26, 2021. https://www.aaa.si.edu/…john-vachon.
3. The Library of Congress. “Negro Boy near Cincinnati, OHIO (LOC).” Flickr, January 8, 2008. https://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress….
4. NAACP—National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
5. UNCF— United Negro College Fund (A mind is a terrible thing to waste)

Royalty-free images by Mike¹ — No. 151 of over 1200 images

American Flamingo, Henry Vilas Zoo, Madison, Wisconsin, June 11, 2007

Henry Vilas Zoo²

Henry Vilas Zoo is a 28-acre (11 ha) public zoo in Madison, Wisconsin, United States, that is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Owned by Dane County, the zoo charges no admission or parking fees. It receives over 750,000 visitors annually.

The Henry Vilas Zoo is one of ten remaining free zoos in North America.³

American flamingo⁴

The American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) is a large species of flamingo closely related to the greater flamingo and Chilean flamingo. It was formerly considered conspecific with the greater flamingo, but that treatment is now widely viewed (e.g. by the American and British Ornithologists’ Unions) as incorrect due to a lack of evidence. It is also known as the Caribbean flamingo, although it is also present in the Galápagos Islands. It is the only flamingo that naturally inhabits North America.

Flamingos or flamingoes /fləˈmɪŋɡoʊz/ are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, the only bird family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. Four flamingo species are distributed throughout the Americas, including the Caribbean, and two species are native to Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Post Endnotes

1. I am sharing some of my public domain images in periodic blog posts.
2. “Henry Vilas Zoo.” Wikipedia, most recent edit, May 9, 2021. Accessed August 26, 2021 https://en.wikipedia.org…Henry_Vilas_Zoo.
3. “Welcome to Henry Vilas ZOO: Madison, Wisconsin.” Henry Vilas Zoo, last update, August 23, 2021. Accessed August 26, 2021.  https://www.henryvilaszoo.gov/.
4. “American Flamingo.” Wikipedia, most recent edit, August 19, 2021. Accessed August 24, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org…flamingo.

Series Notes:

• This image is also shared as public domain on Pixabay,  Flickr, and Pinterest.
• Images are being shared in the sequence they were accepted by Pixabay, a royalty-free image-sharing site.
• Only images specifically identified as such are public domain or creative commons on our pages.
• All other images are copyright protected by me, creative commons, or used under the provisions of fair use.

I noticed it at least twice Saturday night coming home from our daughter’s place.

First, a little history.

Our first vehicle with cruise control was an International Scout Traveler that we bought in 1977.  I really liked that feature.  Without it, since I did most of the driving, driving long distances could literally be a pain with constantly having to control the engine throttle with your foot.

Our next car, a Dodge Colt, didn’t have it.  When we bought a second vehicle in 1982, I actually installed cruise control—and it worked!

On one of our first long interstate trips in it, we noticed we would see the same vehicles over and over again.  That used to be pretty normal back when cruise control wasn’t common, but for some reason, on this trip, since our speed was very constant, it was more apparent.  Some of the vehicles would blast past us and, a few miles down the road, would come upon them dawdling along only to have them blast past us again at some point later on.

Rinse and repeat. Over and over.

I took to calling them hurry-up-go-slows.

We haven’t seen that so much in recent years since most vehicles now have cruise control.  With near-constant speed, once you pass a car or truck or it passes you on the interstate, they’re gone and forgotten.

Usually.

Saturday night, there were two of them on I40, both trucks, one soon after we got on the interstate, the other later.  We would pass them and then, shortly after, there they were again.

One of them for way too long matched my speed, sitting on my left in my blind spot.  I slowed down to let him get a ways ahead before resuming on the speed control.  Not long afterward, there he was again going quite a bit slower.  As I passed him, he sped up and paced us a couple of car lengths back in the right lane for several miles until he came up behind another car going a bit slower, where he stayed, pacing them, I guess.

The second one was a left-lane hog.  Even though it is now against the law to drive in the leftmost lane except for passing or where the road surface is bad in the right lane(s)¹, a lot of people still tend to stay in the left lane, though most will move over when a faster vehicle approaches from the rear. This one didn’t so I passed on the right.  Of course, a while later, here he came again.  A few minutes, there he was again, this time going slower in the right lane.  After repeating this a time or two more, I dropped our speed a couple of miles an hour.  Didn’t see him again after I resumed speed.

Hurry up, go slow.

1. This is a very new law.  Previously, the law required that drivers move to the right to allow faster traffic to pass.  Now it supposedly prohibits travel in the left-most lane of a multi-lane highway except to pass.