March 22 Vincit Qui Primum Gerit

The last time I passed through on the way to work at the rock shop, I detoured alongside the freeway and The University of Texas, as its campus feels like it straddles the concrete juggernaut that runs from Laredo to Minneapolis, I think. Big road.

Lots of concrete. Some years ago, I worked, albeit briefly, renting apartments and managing a property for a buddy. Part-time gig, interesting as I got exposed to what I already knew, and fleshed out new ideas. Old student barrio, that was along Manor Road, pronounced, “MAY-nor.” Back in the days of yore? If I recall, $295 for a student studio. That’s the current daily rate, I think. But it al brought back a memory.

4103 North IH-35 Austin, Texas 78722
Store phone: 512-472-5015
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM

That remembrance, triggered by the sight of students trudging their way towards campus brought back another reflection.

Most of the students had book bags, a backpack looking affair, with a single strap slung over a shoulder. Ambling in the wan March sun, heading towards the library, or classrooms, lectures, I’m not sure. But the book bags?

I have a saddlebag. Originally, it was custom-made by a saddle-maker, as he branched out into luggage, briefly, and it was a pricey piece of equipment in 1987-ish. I recall one woman, fellow student, looking at me with scorn, and calling it a purse.

Names stick around. In the ensuing years, I’ve been through a number of purses for travel and work, and now that the schedule is trimmed to just a few afternoons in a month? Like at Nature’s Treasures in Austin?

That “purse” works well. It’s perfect. When I ordered the custom bag, what I wanted was a simple briefcase with a shoulder strap. Fact that it’s heavy cowhide, and made by a saddle-maker of lineage and repute? Just that much cooler. That it might be more than 30 years old? Cooler still.

Seeing students with books bags slung over shoulders, I glanced in the back seat, and I could see my old book bag, still in use, years later.

astrofish.net/travel for details

Often in Austin — “It’s really him.”

March 22 Vincit Qui Primum Gerit

See listing for details — astrofish.net/travel.

March 22 Vincit Qui Primum Gerit

“First to arrive gets the best deal.”