Fountains of Youth

Day 86: Thursday, September 30, 2010
Drive from Tupelo, MS to Little Rock, AR
Hot Springs National Park
“Nothing but a row of bathhouses”--that was how we had heard the smallest national park described. And indeed, Hot Springs National Park is simply one side of the downtown street, nothing more than a collection of buildings in which tourists bathe. Bizarre? Oh yes.To be fair, the architecture of the bathhouses is quite interesting. Even the names themselves are quite curious. But what dominated my mind was the sheer lavishness of a building and an entire process of bathing, massaging, and pampering. I suppose these places preceded the current spa and therefore for some are not so outlandish.As for the supposed healing qualities of the water from the springs? That aspect angered me greatly. Falsely marketing water as magical in some way, preying on the sickly and wealthy—that seems unconscionable. But perhaps I am oversimplifying the issue.A quick poke around was all we needed to get an idea of the national park. The most interesting part for me was chatting with the cute park ranger, Mr. Madison, who revealed to us that he is single and looking, but that the National Park Service sadly has the second highest divorce rate of any federal agency, right behind the CIA. He also proved himself not to be ageist and bestowed upon me a Junior Park Ranger badge.

Upon the advice of the ranger, we stopped by Happy Hollow Spring to fill up. The water was pure, if different, largely due to its unique mineral content. People came from all over with great assortments of water containers to fill up from the spring free of charge. The National Park Service assures us that it is indeed our park and therefore our water, and we are encouraged to benefit from the springs. But how much longer will this resource last, I wonder. The premise for Urinetown comes to mind.

A blast of country music and some more Tolkien ushered us into Tulsa, Oklahoma as the sun began to set. We were so pressed for time that we had bypassed Little Rock altogether (though sadly not its traffic) and therefore were unable to visit Little Rock's Central High, home of the Little Rock Nine, the nine African American students that began the integration process in the South. Initially the state governor ordered in his troops to prevent the students from entering the building, supported by a riotous mob of indignant white folks. The federal government finally intervened, and the students were flanked by the National Guard, overruling the local government once more. Those images of those incredibly courageous young teens break my heart every time I see them. What unfathomable bravery. What unfailing character. What incredible forgiveness.

It was late and lest we completely disrupt the sleeping schedule of the friends we were to meet, we opted for spending the night in yet another delightful state park: Tombigbee State Park. Really. Tombigbee.

An Education

Day 85: Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Oak Mountain State Park; Birmingham Civil Rights Institute; 16th Street Baptist; Kelly Ingram Park; Drive into Mississippi; Tombigbee State Park Now I received a perfectly adequate, above-average education through high school; this I freely admit. I knew the atrocities committed against the African Americans in the South, both through custom and the Jim Crow laws, and the rallying movement surrounding Civil Rights, featuring the beloved Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., the Freedom Riders, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and the other nameless martyrs. I knew all about Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. the Board of Education, the grandfather clause, poll taxes, and literacy tests. I thought I knew all about it, when in fact I just knew names and facts—and that I recognize is a lot more than what others know.But this, my friends, was an education. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is a fabulous resource and a testament to our slow and reluctant move towards confronting the truth of our past.To begin, the city of Birmingham had relegated the African Americans to a mere three blocks in each direction. Besides the expected extreme segregation in the South, first by custom then by the outrageously specific and paranoid (as well as humiliating) Jim Crow laws, were stark differences in economic opportunities, housing options, and employment opportunities. The African Americans labored next to the immigrants in manual labor, such as building railroads, and prison labor was frequent and taken for granted. And that was only the beginning.There were the bombings, the lynchings, the murders, the beatings, the riots, and the malice that permeated the South. These we have heard about.

Today Kelly Ingram Park is a peaceful, manicured, and unassuming patch of green in the middle of Birmingham. As we walked through it, we saw a young couple in scrubs giggling and flirting by its central fountain. Nothing about its initial appearance would suggest that it was the scene of some of the worst atrocities of police brutality and violent racism. If one did not already know it, one would never guess that upon that lush green grass, policemen turned high-powered hoses and bloodthirsty dogs on the demonstrating African Americans, attacking them relentlessly, reducing them to lumps on the ground. This was the place where the hard-hitting footage of such blatant inhumanity riled the national and international scene, placing pressure on the local and state governments.

Across the street is the 16^th Baptist Church—the site of a bombing that murdered four adolescent girls and the murders of two more young boys later that same day. Churches in the African American community in Birmingham of the 60s were much more than centers of worship; they were epicenters of everyday life, offering economic guidance, educational help, community support, and a rallying ground for the civil rights movement. Is it any wonder that the orators on the forefront were ministers and pastors? Like Kelly Ingram Park, the church is peaceful and innocent today, repaired and gentrified so that the only witness to the deaths is a simple bronze plaque by its side.

Popeye's once more, where we met a handsome African American cop with whom we shared about New Day for Children. And then into Mississippi we careened!

Stubbornly Hot Alabama

Day 84: Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Drive to Birmingham

I awoke the following morning with a cheery Alabama sun blinding my eyes. We rushed to get the tent rolled and bagged, the car loaded and organized, the bags packed and stowed, so we could amble off and explore the place in which we had spent the night.

It was simply beautiful. We had stumbled into Wind Creek State Park the previous night quite by accident, by a recommendation from our trusty AAA CampBook, thinking it was a cheap place to set up camp. In the blackness of the night it seemed lackluster, but the morning sun bathed the lake and the trees and the fish and the shorelines in a warm glow. A few sweet gum trees were already turning festive reds and oranges and yellows, peppering the green banks with spots of color, sneak peeks of the foliage display to come. Everything was so still, so untainted by humans. Above us, half a dozen turkey vultures bobbled unsteadily on the air currents, on the prowl for prey or simply enjoying the view.

We lazily dragged our feet through the water, reveling in the swirls of silt that were stirred up by our movements. Auntie Cindy loved the sunshine, Matthew the crabs and fish, and myself the diversity of rocks.

Then off we were to Birmingham. The trip was quite long, but listening to the recording of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings sure made the time fly. Tolkien truly was a master wordsmith.

Our drive was punctuated by a stop at Popeye's that suddenly appeared by the freeway exit we had just taken. Godsend.

The next few hours were spent at the library, a truly beautiful place that put even the Lafayette library to shame and gave the Wellesley Free Library a run for its millions of dollars. We sure do love our books in this family.

Georgia on our Minds

Days 74-83: Saturday, September 18, 2010 - Monday, September 27, 2010

After a day of tubing outside the Great Smokies, we finally pulled into Grandpa and Grandma Swanson's home in northeast Georgia. Was it good to see them! While Matthew and I have seen them during our visits to Minnesota, it was our first visit to their house in Gainesville in several years. It was also the first time they'd seen Lisa since she was eight!

While we were there, Dad took us out on the pontoon on beautiful Lake Lanier (the lake with the most shoreline in the US) and we went swimming off one of the small islands in the lake, Matthew whooped Grandpa in chess, and Mom (aka Grandma) outdid herself in cooking (including her famous potato salad). We also got to attend Dad's Sunday School class and hear the master teacher at work. And we got together several times with Matthew's cousin, Jenae, born 5 days after him, and her parents—my sister, Julie, and her husband, Dave. (Jenae whooped Matthew in chess.) We also drove down to Atlanta and visited Emory University and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum one day (be still my heart!).

The Carter Museum chronicled Carter's life from boyhood to the present. And what a life it's been! From working on the farm as a young boy through a career in the navy, running the family farm, state senator, state governorship, presidency, and his work through the Carter Center, the man has been unafraid of hard work. Through a failed bid at governship (losing to an outspoken racist, no less), to a failed second run for presidency, he has known failure and yet not withdrawn into retirement.

Instead, he and Rosalynn together have boosted recognition for Habitat for Humanity, and established the Carter Center with a three-fold goal of eliminating the most common tropical diseases, supporting democracy and human rights, and negotiating peaceful settlements. Any one of those efforts would be a worthy effort! No wonder the Nobel Committee chose to give him the Nobel Peace Prize! The Carter Center has worked in over 70 countries thus far. Some of it's accomplishments have been the near elimination of the excruciating guinea worm disease, the monitoring of countless elections in sensitive political situations, and the negotiation of multiple ceasefires and peace agreements. Carter has won the trust of leaders with whom others have been unable to negotiate because they know he is committed to the peace process. He is also able to negotiate as a representative of the Carter Center rather than the US government, saving face the parties involved. The recent release of the US hostage by North Korea is merely the most recent example. Rosalynn, too, has been involved in much of this as well as her own work promoting mental health care.

The highlight of our time in Georgia was getting to visit Plains, Georgia with my parents and attend Carter's Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church. Yes, we got to see and hear him teach! There were 300 visitors that day which filled the sanctuary. After the Sunday School class and the church service, Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter were gracious enough to pose outside the church for photos with each of the visitors that day. What humility! Can you imagine any other head of state posing for photos with hundreds of ordinary visitors? Several times a month?! So we got a group photo of our family with President & Mrs. Carter which we will treasure forever. Not because he was once the president but because he/they are two of our greatest heroes.

We concluded our time in Georgia with a tour through the Habitat for Humanity Global Village in Americus—their international headquarters. Americus is next to Plains, also in southwest Georgia. The Global Village is a brilliantly conceived opportunity to experience different types of housing around the world. First, the slums, shacks, and shantys in which millions of the world's poor live. Walking through the slum housing & imagining living in it certainly brings the poverty home. Then, you get to walk through homes from different countries of the world—homes that Habitat for Humanity builds in those countries. Mauritania, South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Haiti, Sri Lanka, and more: each home is constructed of different materials with the cost given. It was fascinating to see the different styles of homes that each country has.

Overall, Georgia will probably be my favorite state we'll have visited. The national parks have been breathtaking. But we got to see President Carter.

Day 99?!

Alright folks, it's Wednesday, October 13, 2010--Day 99 and we are still on the road, not even close to coming back to the Bay (We're in Colorado?!).

It is a very long story and we are woefully far behind on the blog, but we promise to update as soon as we can. It has been so fabulous we have opted to extend the trip and will be returning in early November, much to the dismay of my college applications. Ah well.

Again, fear not! We are still mindful of the blog! Updates to come when we are less sleep-deprived and cold. Stay tuned. As Frankie croons, The best is yet to come.