c. libre

Consider what Kafka wrote about Texas:

My grandfather used to say: “Life is astoundingly short. To me, looking back over it, life seems so foreshortened that I scarcely understand, for instance, how a young man can decide to ride over to the next village without being afraid that - not to mention accidents - even the span of a normal happy life may fall far short of the time needed for such a journey.”

He wasn’t kidding. This place is big. It’s not like Europe or the U.S. east coast. Just getting from one city to the next will take the better part of your natural life. And forget leaving the state. It can’t be done.

Oh, my parents drove it up here from the Bahamas.

Be sure that you go of your own accord.

Houston is only worth visiting if you live in Texas anyway, in which case you should explore its several fine museums, especially the Rothko Chapel and the Menil.

I’ll meet you there.

Like many cities in the American Southwest, the parts of Salt Lake City that I saw looked like they hadn’t changed since about 1964.