Our out-of-town scoreboard

One again, I had a reason (however dubious) to go to Tracy. Once again, I found a historical marker in the vicinity that we could cross off our list.

California Historical Marker #777 is in a fairly remote location surrounded by farmland. I guess that explains why someone (or some individuals) felt they could steal the historical marker without being caught. Marker #437, which was also misappropriated, was off on its own as well, if I remember correctly.

After trekking down the road 500 feet to get a photograph of the sign indicating where the marker was supposed to be, I started to wonder how much progress I had actually made in my quest to visit every marker. (And after seeing some nasty roadkill along the path, I wondered if this was all worth it.)

Looking mostly here at the blog I have determined that Amelia, Diana and I have now visited about 18 historical markers. I say "about" because the girls slept through one visit, and I have driven by at least one strange looking marker that I did not photograph. But let's not quibble over the fine print and simply say that so far we have visited 18 markers.

According to information available on the Office of Historical Preservation website, there are more than 1,070 historical landmarks in California. I guess that means we still have to visit another 1,052 (or so) landmarks if we want to see all of them. And we're reaching a point where the landmarks are getting further and further away, making the task a bit more challenging.

But of the landmarks we have seen thus far:

two plaques were missing and presumed stolen,
one was "tagged" with graffiti,
one was blocked by a pick-up truck,
and two of the locations did not have actual historical plaques of any kind

Still, despite the stolen and vandalized markers, the creepy roadkill, and who-knows-what-else we may have to face, I still think this is a worth-while endeavor.

I wonder if a near complete collection of California Historical Markers would be enough to convince someone, somewhere, to give me admission to a graduate program in California history...

Lisa