Travel

Indyheimer: The Archaeologist and the Physicist
23-27 August 2023
Miles Walked: 19.9
MINI Cooper S Miles per Gallon: 40.5

Chapters:   Indyheimer  •  Bhagavad-gita  •  The Secret City  •  Antonito  •  Great Sand Dunes  •  Orisons

Logline: Barbenheimer created a cultural moment that blew up the movie box office after a brutal extended war of audience attrition in the aftermath of the pandemic. But, lost in the rather superficial pop culture discussions of patriarchs and matriarchs was something more exciting. Enter Indyheimer and the historical overlaps between J. Robert Oppenheimer and Indiana Jones.

Working Titles: Indiana Jones and the Secret City; Indiana Jones and the Destroyer of Worlds; Indiana Jones and the Gadget; Indyheimer: The Entanglements of Indiana Jones and J. Robert Oppenheimer

“I am become death, destroyer of worlds.”
Irina Spalko
(quoting J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was paraphrasing the original Sanskrit version of the Bhagavad-gita, in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)

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The Road Trip Itinerary

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The Indyheimer Story

I started putting together a weekend road trip as soon as I found out the Indiana Jones Bed & Breakfast existed in Antonito, Colo. It’s where Steven Spielberg filmed scenes of Indiana Jones’ childhood home (with River Phoenix as young Indy) in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Nearby is the train line used for the circus train scenes.

But something even more magnificent started to gel in my mind as I went back to the theatre many times to see both Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Oppenheimer.

That’s when I realized an extra day and a few hundred more miles would yield a terrific “Indyheimer” weekend adventure. Barbenheimer was entertaining. But Indyheimer? That’s exciting.

Coincidentally, I’ve spent the past year dealing with a “hat issue.” Frequently a wearer of baseball caps, I always felt like I couldn’t pull of the look of the brimmed hat, like the fedora. I considered it merely a fashion item. Last year, I made an impromptu leap to a bucket hat while in Anaheim, Calif. I liked it, but I also realized I didn”t want to travel around the world wearing a camouflage bucket hat with the Anaheim Angels logo on it.

I found the Tilley. But it was still a little too goofy for use across a wide range of travel and social environments.

I researched hats.

I learned about the utilitarianism of the hat.

I learned about the nuances of felt and fur felt. Crushable or not crushable.

I learned about how hats should fit and how the material, the design and the color can all impact comfort, particularly in hot weather.

I learned about the fashion trends and the social and technological influences that led to brimmed hats largely going out of style.

The double whammy of seeing so many fashionable hats on so many beautiful heads in Dial of Destiny and Oppenheimer pushed me to keep shopping.

I picked up a few Dorfman Pacific hats from their Indiana Jones line.

And then I stumbled on “the hat.” It’s the Akubra Traveller. Sand color.

It fits me absolutely perfectly. It’s “sorta” crushable.

And, as a hat that is neither a traditional fedora or a porkpie, but somewhere in between, I affectionately call it the “Indyheimer.”

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