We made it to Halifax/South Boston, Virginia!
It was an interesting and mostly uneventful journey. Since we hardly stopped and did virtually no site-seeing due to COVID-19 (and time constraints) we really noticed the many, sometimes subtle, changes in landscape along the way.
It was pretty amazing to think of all the people who especially love, and feel at home in, different landscapes.
Our biggest challenges were car related – like when the bed we had tied to the top of the car raised on the luggage rack had shifted itself and all-of-a sudden started banging on the roof so loudly and suddenly that the dog peed in his crate and I almost drove off the road. It was like being at a rock concert. My husband and I had to yell to hear each other.
After a couple of false starts, a stop at Walmart for some duct tape and two three-dollar pillows, we got it to stop – for a couple of days. Then more duct tape and an ingenious use of a pot holder and we made it the rest of the way with our hearing intact.
Also, the “check engine” and a few other emergency lights came on and stayed on for several hours. It was Thanksgiving Day, so car dealers and repair shops weren’t open. We skipped the one bit of sight seeing we’d planned (to drive through the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona) and hoped that we’d make it to Amarillo Texas as planned. We did. In fact, we ended up making it all the way here.
The good thing was that because of all the scary lights we decided to check the oil. We were for real almost totally out. We didn’t realize how much oil my 2007 car could run through crossing the Midwest. We put in four quarts and checked regularly for the rest of the trip.
Good reminder that challenges that we think we’d rather avoid, often have gifts hidden inside of them.
The weather was incredible – cold in many places, but sunny and dry. The dog-friendly airbnbs and hotels we’d set up were great – especially in Little Rock, AK where it turned out we were a 3 minute walk from Central High School and just a couple minutes’ drive from the HBCU Philander Smith. Our friend Jeff James, author of Giving Up Whiteness, hosted us when we hit the Nashville area which was great on many levels. We hadn’t found anything there that was appealing and affordable and we also had a great time talking about leadership and racism and how the heck we’re going to be part of the changes needed among white folx (especially Christians) so that our world becomes more just, safe and equitable for all people. Also, I found out that Rachel Rogers’ coming book We Should All Be Millionaires is being published by Harper Colling Leadership – where he is VP and Publisher. She’s a really successful coach and entrepreneur I respect and have been following for years. How fun is that?
It was also sobering to see lots of Trump signs, along with some of the biggest crosses I’ve ever seen in my life, a few confederate flags – one really large one on a flagpole atop a cliff.
I felt slightly afraid at every stop, both because people often weren’t wearing face coverings and because I wasn’t sure how safe it was for a Black man and his white wife.
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