Travel stereotypes or - "We haven’t seen any cowboys in the West"

Yesterday at an overlook at Canyon de Chelly we overheard two younger European women talking to an older couple. Here on the Navajo reservation they had obviously seen many Indians, but they were saying how disappointed they were in not seeing cowboys!

Their picture of the West obviously included cowboys and Indians. They probably passed quite a few teepees at trading posts along I-40 but where were the cowboys riding their horses? The older man informed them that he and his wife had horses and he was a cowboy, but alas, without the hat and boots (and probably the horse), he didn’t suffice. And it’s not just foreign visitors who are expecting cowboys and Indians. Last summer at a campground potluck in the Midwest, we met an older couple who asked us if you could see Indians if you came to Arizona.

Have you ever had a picture of what an area would be like and found it to be quite different when you actually arrived? My best example is Kansas and Nebraska. I pictured one big, flat cornfield. Yet driving through I found it much more diverse and quite fascinating. At one time Kansas was the "West." Cattle drives ended here for shipping to the east. I thought this area was a place to drive through to get somewhere else. Between the sights and the history, I could spend several weeks exploring.

How about cities? Do you have a fear of them or avoid them? Los Angeles is one city most RVers would like to bypass. Yet get off the interstates and many of the areas that make up L.A. are beautiful. I could see living in some neighborhoods quite happily if I didn’t have to drive through traffic. And there is excellent hiking plus tons to do in the metropolitan area.

Our ideas about other countries and even our own country are shaped by what we have seen, heard and read. Is it any wonder that two young women were hoping to see the wild west? Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak