The Great American Road Trip

Today started much like yesterday did. Late start due to me trying to get refunds from New Orleans, and re-routing our trip. The biggest disappointment is that because of work constraints, Deborah will not be joining us at all on this trip. This is the biggest suck in two days of suckiness. It just didn’t make sense for her to try and find other flights – which by now are super expensive. We looked at other cities down the line for her to join us at, but her vacation time had been carved out in a very busy time at work. It was this weekend, or not at all. So, it is as it has been: just the boys and I, trekking across the United States. It is what it is.

No time to be down. We have a LOT of trip left to make. We drove from Jackson, Mississippi, to Selma, Alabama. Our Civil Rights tour was now getting serious. Freedom Marches, Freedom Riders, and some very turbulent times down in the deep south. I very easily gathered that people in this area did not take too kindly to the movement that was threatening their “way of life”. First, you had a lady who refused to give up her seat to a white person in Montgomery, and then you have a bunch of black people begin marching and protesting in order to get equal rights and the vote. Things came to a head in Selma in 1965. Organizers, including future Georgia Congressman John Lewis, attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery – about 50 miles. They didn’t make it very far. Once they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, state and local lawmen attacked with clubs and tear gas. Lewis, then 25 years old, had his skull fractured as he stood, resolute, at the front of the marchers. It would be the televised images of the beat down, later called “Bloody Sunday”, that would eventually bring Martin Luther King and others down to Selma to do a second march. The brutality, of course, would continue throughout the years, but the movement was getting citizens, white and black, riled up into action.

We left Selma, and followed the path of the Freedom Marchers down Highway 80 to Montgomery. The scenery in this region is green and lovely. Hard to imagine the violence which occurred here, on this stretch of road. Freedom Riders being stopped and beaten, their buses set on fire. Viola Liuzzo, a white housewife and mother of five, gunned down while driving fellow protesters home. Hard to believe, as history often is, that this occurred just in the last 60 years.

Montgomery is the home of such civil rights legends as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks, among others. There is so much history here. Our first stop was at the Civil Rights Memorial, just a few blocks from the state capitol. The memorial is run by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It’s main attraction is a black granite wall, with water cascading down over some famous words by MLK Jr. In front of that, a circular sculpture with 40 civil rights heroes and martyrs, also flowing with water. The memorial was designed by Maya Lin, the same woman who designed the Vietnam Wall in D.C. I’m sorry I didn’t take a picture which showed the round water feature, but I did take a picture of the wall of water with King’s words (I believe from his “I Have a Dream” speech) etched into the stone.

Just a block away is the Dexter Street Baptist Church. Dr. King was the pastor here from 1954 to 1960. Like many black churches during this time period, it served as not only church, but as a natural meeting place for those who were planning the civil rights protests and marches. Churches were the one place that black people could congregate at where they wouldn’t arouse suspicion. After Rosa Parks’ arrest, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was planned here.

King was just another leader in the movement prior to the boycotts, but after the 385 day protest, he, the leader of this boycott, was catapulted into the limelight. His natural speaking abilities (no doubt helped by his years as a pastor) made him a natural spokesperson. With this notoriety came instances of violence, such as when his house was firebombed during the days of the boycott. It seemed fitting that, after seeing where he was killed yesterday, today we came to where it all started.

A few random things:

• I’m just going to come out and say it. The worst drivers I have encountered on this trip thus far have come from the south. It started in Arkansas, continued in Mississippi, and still evident in Alabama. I can’t seem to figure them out. Some drive slow, some drive fast, and all of them will do both within a span of one mile. Not only that, but apparently truck drivers can drive at any speed they want. In a lot of states, trucks are required to drive at a slower (and safer) speed. Not so in the south. Speed limit is 70, and I’m doing…over 70, and here comes this semi pulling a full load of who-knows-what, passing me by. They also are ok with just cutting into your lane – no turn signal necessary! Of the three states mentioned above, the worst was in Mississippi. I based that upon science – that state received the highest number of curse words in one day’s time than any other state on this trip.
• To bear this theory out, we have seen two accidents (after they happened) which required ambulances. One in Mississippi (car burned by fire – don’t know if anyone was hurt or killed), and today in Alabama (car flipped upside down – don’t know if anyone was hurt or killed). I also spotted a police vehicle and a tow-truck parked on the side of the road. As I drove by, I saw them looking down in a large ditch – where there was an overturned, burned out car. My guess is that they were wondering how to get that thing out of the ditch
• On this trip, I have often found myself driving alone, with the boys attached to head phones listening to music or watching movies on their electronic devices. Deborah had suggested that I try something like Audible (books on tape, sort of). Now, I am definitely a book snob. Books have always been my treasures in life. They have helped me survive some rough times. I treat my books with reverence (I freak out when someone bends the corner of their page instead of using a bookmark. Animals!). I have been resistant to trying other things. I have a Kindle app, and I have read several books this way, but I still find myself perusing the bookstores for the “real” thing. So, it might not surprise some of you to learn that I have NEVER “listened” to a book instead of reading it. Despite this, Deborah convinced me to give it a try on this trip. She suggested a book which is on my shelf at home by Trevor Noah (host of the Daily Show) called “Born a Crime”. Now she and I saw Trevor Noah do a stand-up routine in Eugene last year, and we are devoted Daily Show watchers from the John Stewart days. So I downloaded the Audible version of his book, and there it sat for the first five days of this trip. Finally, after finding myself becoming bored of just me singing along to my music while being ignored by my distinterested audience beside me, I started the book. It was not an overly horrible experience. It helps that Trevor Noah is a comedian, and his book has some extremely funny stories in it. And so, I am actually going to recommend that you give it a try – at least this once – and listen to Noah’s book. It is hilarious. Or, buy the paper version and read it. That still works, too.

Tomorrow we continue our Civil Rights tour with Birmingham and Atlanta, Georgia. Two days in a row now we have had some nasty thunderstorms. Still pissed about the New Orleans hurricane, but at least we are going to be far away from it…and safe.

Thanks for reading today’s post, and for your positive comments! See you tomorrow!