Hey everybody,
Well, I've driven almost from coast to coast and so far my goal of not turning on my air conditioning during the entire trip has been a sweaty success thus far. The United States is a big place, and the road trip has always been one of its great romantic journeys. Now that I've seen a good chunk of it, I have to say that there are huge swaths of this country that are boring as shit. I mean, mind-numbingly boring. The driving itself is usually the highlight as long as the scenery is nice, but man, sometimes you get to a place, look at its "attractions" and "historical sites" and wonder who really gives a crap about this? Most of the bigger cities have some character in their downtown areas but are surrounded by endless concrete sprawl packed with chain stores and fast food restaurants. Ok... this probably isn't making you want to read any further. The U.S. is great! Best country in the world! USA! USA!
When I last left you I was entering Arkansas... The Natural State. Supposedly, it's the only state that would be self-sustaining if you closed its borders. One thing's for sure, if you like trees then you'll love Arkansas. It was so nice to finally see some green after the bleak desolation of Route 66.
I stayed in Little Rock for a couple of days hosted by Aly and Jay who I hadn't seen in about five years but were kind enough to let me use their washer and dryer, though that may have been more out of self-preservation on their part. Aly's an Arkansas native but moved back to Little Rock just under a year ago with Jay, who's originally from Cleveland. She said she's getting used to the environment again, especially the first two questions women are typically asked: What church do you go to and how many kids do you have. Jay... is still adjusting. He is very thankful for their 62-inch TV. Also, thanks buddy for that travel music CD you gave me... it rocks.
I visited the Central High School national historic site as my first bit of tourism in Little Rock. In 1957, this was the first southern high school to defy the Brown vs. Board of Education decision regarding the integration of schools. There's a good picture in my album with text that captures the sequence of events. The Little Rock Nine became national news and this was one of the more significant milestones in the fight for desegregation. After that it was on to the Clinton Library, which was like stepping into a time warp back into the 1990s. There's a lot from his presidency that I either don't remember or I just wasn't paying attention. I'm sure it will be shocking news that the exhibits and timelines were fairly pro-Clinton. There were a couple of brief, apologetic mentions of an "incident" and impeachment, but you're not going to find a navy blue dress behind a glass case.
From Little Rock it was on to Memphis, which is known for music and for barbecue so there was no way I wasn't going to like it. Of course I went to Graceland first, my impression of which is that I think we should all be grateful that Elvis dedicated himself to music rather than interior decorating. If you threw a grenade in a thrift shop and then tried to cover up the damage with shag carpeting, that's more or less what it would look like. You're welcome for saving you $32. Now... Sun Studios, that is definitely a place to visit. First of all, it's the place where the first known recording of distorded electric guitar occurred in 1951 after an amp fell off a truck and they kept the speaker cone in place by stuffing newspaper into it. It's where Elvis Presley recorded his first record, not to mention legends Howling Wolf, Ike Turner, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and where U2 recorded Rattle and Hum. The recording studio is still active. Someday...
Beale Street is where the magic happens at night. It's kind of a Bourbon Street light, and by light I mean smaller and cleaner and with about 57% less drunk people. The live blues is, I dunno... spectacular? These guys could piss on an instrument and it would sound fantastic. There's a band in almost every bar and one that plays outside in a park. I don't usually go to bars alone, but I spent a couple nights hanging out for three or four hours listening to some great jams. One night I couldn't see the stage because I got stuck sitting behind Chris Webber. The next night I got in a conversation with a guy who asked me if I'd been harrassed in my travels because I look ethnically ambiguous.
My highlight in Memphis, by far, was visiting the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel. I usually have about a 90 minute timer with museums before I'm over it, but I spent about 5 hours over the course of two days here. It's a remarkable place. It traces the history of the struggle for civil rights from the early days of slavery to the modern day in a way that is detailed and engaging. There are so many evocative images on display but the one that always, always gets to me is the photos of the striking Memphis sanitation workers wearing the signs that say simply "I Am a Man." That just tears me up every time. The good news is that the narrative of oppression and injustice is always the same. They can be overcome, it's a question of time and determination. There's still a lot of room for improvement but when you look at the fact that 50 years ago we needed a Voting Rights Act... things have come a long way.
After Memphis it was on to Clarksdale, Mississippi: home of the delta blues. There's a pretty good Delta Blues museum there that highlights many of the old-school blues artists and whose whole rear section is pretty much a shrine to Muddy Waters. That night I was at a blues club near the museum minding my own business when I was approached by a Japanese guy who said he saw me at Sun Studios and on Beale street and now here so he felt like he had to introduce himself. Hideki (from Japan) was traveling with his girlfriend Beth Ann (from North Carolina) and decided that we had to meet since we had seen each other so many times. I tried to picture what it was like from his end seeing me pop up in random places like some bald, bearded Where's Waldo. It was open mic night at the Ground Zero Blues Club and he brought his guitar and would really like it if I hung out to listen to him play a couple of original songs. There aren't too many sure things in life, but I can say with some certainty that this was the first time that a Japanese guy played original, acoustic J-Pop at an open mic in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He sort of blew people's minds. Here's a recording of some random blues plus Hideki as the big finish: http://youtu.be/ZVGAmR8b16w
From there it was on to Vicksburg where the Union layed siege to the city for over two months in order to clear the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. I drove through the military park which was more a graveyard than anything. There were hundreds of memorials to the fallen, all of which were organized by state. Then I spent the night in Jackson, an urban sprawl-ridden city inexplicably featured in a Johnny Cash song. I had my first Jerry Springer moment here in the back parking lot of a Motel 6 where I walked in on a family quarrel... some toothless woman was yelling at a guy with tattoos all over his face about sleeping with a whore when he has a woman at home, then he says that she's not a whore and he turns to me and says it's ok that's his mom, then she starts yelling at me that he's having babies left and right. Oh please, please let my car start.
On to Alabama where the first stop was Selma. There isn't a ton to see in this small town but it was cool to cross over the Edmund Pettus bridge and take the same route on Hwy 80 to Montgomery as Martin Luther King. There are highway markers on the side of the road commemorating where the marchers camped out each night but of course the one thing I'll always remember about this drive is seeing Wallace's Sports Bar and Grill along the same road. I don't know if this is coincidental or what but... come on. Once you get to Montgomery you can see almost all the historically significant sites within a couple of city blocks of each other: The Civil Rights Memorial, the Alabama State capitol (which also served as the first capitol of the Confederacy), the Dexter Avenue Baptist church from where the bus boycott was organized, and the white house of the Confederacy. And yes, it's weird that so much Confederate and Civil Rights history is so close but that's the south I guess.
I'll always remember Montgomery though as the first place in all of my travels where I escaped my motel. Yeah, okay, maybe I shouldn't have chosen the motel under the freeway. Or maybe the signal should've been the rock thrown through the sign, or the busted air conditioners, or the wrecked up cars in the parking lot, or the guy out on the balconies grilling up his dinner on a hibachi. Then I got into the room and it had a deadbolt plus a chain and a sign on the door that said "Door chain is provided for your safety. Put it on before opening door." But I'm a stubborn man... I had already paid, I figured it was just for one night, plus it had HBO. Then when I got back from picking up dinner a woman intercepted me on the stairway and started insistently waving at me to come upstairs to talk to her. I mean... she really wanted me to come upstairs. I asked her what for and she just kept on waving. So I politely declined, got in my room, packed up my shit, and got the hell out of there.
Then it was on through to Georgia, from Columbus to Macon. The drive was pleasant but the cities themselves were unremarkable. Macon was holding the Georgia state fair whose highlights were carnival rides, pig races and fried snickers bars.
So... the south. It's a lot more green and foresty than I expected. People are generally friendly, it's hot, and tamales are surprisingly popular. The radio stations play a lot of Jesus, a lot of country, some rock, and an unusual amount of Phil Collins. It's almost impossible to travel through the south without thinking about race. You pretty much get smacked in the face with civil rights history, though in all fairness I went looking for it. I can't really make any fair observations about it after only a week or so of traveling. It's pretty easy to make fun of the south considering its history. It is weird to see people driving around with Confederate flags on their cars, or on their clothes, or around their necks, never mind that it's still on Mississippi's state flag. I always wonder if you're black and live in the south how it feels when you see that stuff. To be fair, though, we're still a pretty racially divided country overall and you can see it in the south or if you look around in San Francisco or Chicago or New York. There's still a ways to go pretty much everywhere.
Anyhow, I'm off to Savannah today which has been billed as the Paris of the south. I've been to the Paris of Siberia and the Paris of France so now I can complete the loop. A warning to anybody who sends me text messages... I keep my phone off most of the time and when I turn it on I sometimes only get partial texts or none at all so if I'm not responding it's that. Or I don't feel like talking to you. Here are the pictures...
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NzwbT7GCJKWNQ99n7
Take 'er easy,
Dave
Well, I've driven almost from coast to coast and so far my goal of not turning on my air conditioning during the entire trip has been a sweaty success thus far. The United States is a big place, and the road trip has always been one of its great romantic journeys. Now that I've seen a good chunk of it, I have to say that there are huge swaths of this country that are boring as shit. I mean, mind-numbingly boring. The driving itself is usually the highlight as long as the scenery is nice, but man, sometimes you get to a place, look at its "attractions" and "historical sites" and wonder who really gives a crap about this? Most of the bigger cities have some character in their downtown areas but are surrounded by endless concrete sprawl packed with chain stores and fast food restaurants. Ok... this probably isn't making you want to read any further. The U.S. is great! Best country in the world! USA! USA!
When I last left you I was entering Arkansas... The Natural State. Supposedly, it's the only state that would be self-sustaining if you closed its borders. One thing's for sure, if you like trees then you'll love Arkansas. It was so nice to finally see some green after the bleak desolation of Route 66.
I stayed in Little Rock for a couple of days hosted by Aly and Jay who I hadn't seen in about five years but were kind enough to let me use their washer and dryer, though that may have been more out of self-preservation on their part. Aly's an Arkansas native but moved back to Little Rock just under a year ago with Jay, who's originally from Cleveland. She said she's getting used to the environment again, especially the first two questions women are typically asked: What church do you go to and how many kids do you have. Jay... is still adjusting. He is very thankful for their 62-inch TV. Also, thanks buddy for that travel music CD you gave me... it rocks.
Beale Street is where the magic happens at night. It's kind of a Bourbon Street light, and by light I mean smaller and cleaner and with about 57% less drunk people. The live blues is, I dunno... spectacular? These guys could piss on an instrument and it would sound fantastic. There's a band in almost every bar and one that plays outside in a park. I don't usually go to bars alone, but I spent a couple nights hanging out for three or four hours listening to some great jams. One night I couldn't see the stage because I got stuck sitting behind Chris Webber. The next night I got in a conversation with a guy who asked me if I'd been harrassed in my travels because I look ethnically ambiguous.
My highlight in Memphis, by far, was visiting the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel. I usually have about a 90 minute timer with museums before I'm over it, but I spent about 5 hours over the course of two days here. It's a remarkable place. It traces the history of the struggle for civil rights from the early days of slavery to the modern day in a way that is detailed and engaging. There are so many evocative images on display but the one that always, always gets to me is the photos of the striking Memphis sanitation workers wearing the signs that say simply "I Am a Man." That just tears me up every time. The good news is that the narrative of oppression and injustice is always the same. They can be overcome, it's a question of time and determination. There's still a lot of room for improvement but when you look at the fact that 50 years ago we needed a Voting Rights Act... things have come a long way.
After Memphis it was on to Clarksdale, Mississippi: home of the delta blues. There's a pretty good Delta Blues museum there that highlights many of the old-school blues artists and whose whole rear section is pretty much a shrine to Muddy Waters. That night I was at a blues club near the museum minding my own business when I was approached by a Japanese guy who said he saw me at Sun Studios and on Beale street and now here so he felt like he had to introduce himself. Hideki (from Japan) was traveling with his girlfriend Beth Ann (from North Carolina) and decided that we had to meet since we had seen each other so many times. I tried to picture what it was like from his end seeing me pop up in random places like some bald, bearded Where's Waldo. It was open mic night at the Ground Zero Blues Club and he brought his guitar and would really like it if I hung out to listen to him play a couple of original songs. There aren't too many sure things in life, but I can say with some certainty that this was the first time that a Japanese guy played original, acoustic J-Pop at an open mic in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He sort of blew people's minds. Here's a recording of some random blues plus Hideki as the big finish: http://youtu.be/ZVGAmR8b16w
From there it was on to Vicksburg where the Union layed siege to the city for over two months in order to clear the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. I drove through the military park which was more a graveyard than anything. There were hundreds of memorials to the fallen, all of which were organized by state. Then I spent the night in Jackson, an urban sprawl-ridden city inexplicably featured in a Johnny Cash song. I had my first Jerry Springer moment here in the back parking lot of a Motel 6 where I walked in on a family quarrel... some toothless woman was yelling at a guy with tattoos all over his face about sleeping with a whore when he has a woman at home, then he says that she's not a whore and he turns to me and says it's ok that's his mom, then she starts yelling at me that he's having babies left and right. Oh please, please let my car start.
On to Alabama where the first stop was Selma. There isn't a ton to see in this small town but it was cool to cross over the Edmund Pettus bridge and take the same route on Hwy 80 to Montgomery as Martin Luther King. There are highway markers on the side of the road commemorating where the marchers camped out each night but of course the one thing I'll always remember about this drive is seeing Wallace's Sports Bar and Grill along the same road. I don't know if this is coincidental or what but... come on. Once you get to Montgomery you can see almost all the historically significant sites within a couple of city blocks of each other: The Civil Rights Memorial, the Alabama State capitol (which also served as the first capitol of the Confederacy), the Dexter Avenue Baptist church from where the bus boycott was organized, and the white house of the Confederacy. And yes, it's weird that so much Confederate and Civil Rights history is so close but that's the south I guess.
I'll always remember Montgomery though as the first place in all of my travels where I escaped my motel. Yeah, okay, maybe I shouldn't have chosen the motel under the freeway. Or maybe the signal should've been the rock thrown through the sign, or the busted air conditioners, or the wrecked up cars in the parking lot, or the guy out on the balconies grilling up his dinner on a hibachi. Then I got into the room and it had a deadbolt plus a chain and a sign on the door that said "Door chain is provided for your safety. Put it on before opening door." But I'm a stubborn man... I had already paid, I figured it was just for one night, plus it had HBO. Then when I got back from picking up dinner a woman intercepted me on the stairway and started insistently waving at me to come upstairs to talk to her. I mean... she really wanted me to come upstairs. I asked her what for and she just kept on waving. So I politely declined, got in my room, packed up my shit, and got the hell out of there.Then it was on through to Georgia, from Columbus to Macon. The drive was pleasant but the cities themselves were unremarkable. Macon was holding the Georgia state fair whose highlights were carnival rides, pig races and fried snickers bars.
So... the south. It's a lot more green and foresty than I expected. People are generally friendly, it's hot, and tamales are surprisingly popular. The radio stations play a lot of Jesus, a lot of country, some rock, and an unusual amount of Phil Collins. It's almost impossible to travel through the south without thinking about race. You pretty much get smacked in the face with civil rights history, though in all fairness I went looking for it. I can't really make any fair observations about it after only a week or so of traveling. It's pretty easy to make fun of the south considering its history. It is weird to see people driving around with Confederate flags on their cars, or on their clothes, or around their necks, never mind that it's still on Mississippi's state flag. I always wonder if you're black and live in the south how it feels when you see that stuff. To be fair, though, we're still a pretty racially divided country overall and you can see it in the south or if you look around in San Francisco or Chicago or New York. There's still a ways to go pretty much everywhere.
Anyhow, I'm off to Savannah today which has been billed as the Paris of the south. I've been to the Paris of Siberia and the Paris of France so now I can complete the loop. A warning to anybody who sends me text messages... I keep my phone off most of the time and when I turn it on I sometimes only get partial texts or none at all so if I'm not responding it's that. Or I don't feel like talking to you. Here are the pictures...
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NzwbT7GCJKWNQ99n7
Take 'er easy,
Dave
