It's a New Year: Reflections Part I

Bonnie & Lew, the Travelers!

The Holidays have passed.  We spent a great Thanksgiving week with long-time friends in Lake St. Louis, another week with friends in Colorado Springs, and finally the weeks leading up to Christmas and New Years with daughter, Erin, and family in Salt Lake City, where we remain for the next few weeks. All in all, a low-key holiday with family and friends that suited us just fine. Of course, there was the quick 3-day trip to Breckenridge over New Years just because we could, but it was still pretty relaxed. Now that the new year has begun – and I have time on my hands – it seems like a good time for reflection: a time to look back on 2019, all  the miles we’ve traveled and all we’ve seen and experienced these past 16 months (yes, I know, a year only has 12 months, but it seemed right to throw in the first four months of our trip as well!).

Our adventure is drawing to a close and as I sit here in the Salt Lake City KOA, looking out on the snow falling gently, I am thinking about what this time on the road has meant to me, to us, and what we can take away from the experience. Throughout our travels, when we tell people what we are up to, we are often met with either envious or horrified surprise, followed by the inevitable question: so, what have you liked the most? Sometimes, it’s a variation on that theme: what’s been your biggest surprise or what would you do differently or how on earth have you managed to stay married??!!

Those questions, and similar ones, deserve our attention, so this and some subsequent posts will attempt to answer such queries. Part I will look at some broad questions – what was most _________? Fill in the blank: memorable, awe inspiring, difficult, beautiful, etc. Part II will focus more on how this experience has affected us – how we might have changed, whether the trip was worthwhile, what we learned along the way, etc. I’ll write Part III, my final blog post, once we return home in April. That one will be an overall summary, a look at places we might want to revisit, how it feels to be back in a house (that doesn’t move), what we would do differently, regrets, etc.  So, here goes.

REFLECTIONS: PART I – WHAT WAS MOST ____________?

Caveat: I must remind you, dear reader, that we have seen and enjoyed wonderful sights all over the country; to choose our “favorite” this or that is subjective and doesn’t diminish any of the other experiences we’ve had or places we’ve visited.  We have addressed many of these places and our reactions to them in other posts. And note that since Lew and I often have different perspectives, I’ve included both of our answers to the question: What was most…?

Awe-inspiring    Bonnie: Arizona desert – all of Navajo country and especially Monument Valley

                           Lew: Canyon de Chelly in Arizona, our October Road Scholar experience

Surprising           Bonnie: Everything about the Midwest. Also, my 50^th college reunion!

                             Lew: That the Fall Foliage Caravan trip worked out so well. 

Emotional           Bonnie: The two weeks spent visiting 3 Presidential Libraries, the museum and site   of the JFK assassination in Dallas, and the Oklahoma City bombing memorial.

                            Lew: D-Day Memorial in Virginia. Also Gettysburg and Arlington. Ditto Bonnie.

Difficult                Bonnie: Lack of people to talk to on a regular basis.

                              Lew: Technological issues – no wifi, no satellite connection for TV, etc

Disappointing    Bonnie: Niagara Falls – I didn’t remember so many people. Also true of Grand Canyon.

                            Lew: Shenandoah National Park – too late for colors, freezing cold temperatures. Timing off! And we are spoiled by mountains in the west!

Beautiful              Bonnie: So many beautiful places, but favorite was fall colors in New England

                             Lew: California and Maine coastlines, as well as Painted Rocks National Seashore on Lake Superior

Frustrating         Bonnie: Lack of counter space to cook and space in general. Always having to shift stuff around to get things done.

                            Lew: The “mechanics” of the Caravan – we learned we are not good herd animals

.

Weird                    Bonnie: House on the Rock in Wisconsin

                             Lew: Ditto

Special                  Bonnie: Reconnecting with friends and family – in California, Arizona, Oklahoma, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Virginia, Colorado, and Utah.

                               Lew: The conversation with the security man (a Belize native) at Arlington who personally thanked me (and who plans to personally shake 5000 hands of other service members) for serving in the U.S. military and for helping make this country was it is.

Interesting          Bonnie: Presidential Libraries – getting a “whole” picture of the man

                            Lew: Newseum in Washington D.C. dedicated to First Amendment freedoms.

Educational        Bonnie: African American History Museum in D.C. and Gettysburg and the contradictions of Jefferson and Madison as displayed at their historic sites in Virginia

                             Lew: African American History Museum. Ditto to Bonnie’s choices. So many educational experiences. We also learned a lot at Oak Ridge, TN.

Unique                 Bonnie: Lowell National Historic Park – I think of National Parks as those in the west, natural wonders. The “urban” parks we visited in the east were quite unique.

                              Lew: Lowell – where the American industrial revolution began.

Favorite National Park   Bonnie: Death Valley, because it was so different. Starkly beautiful

                                         Lew: Big Bend – loved the diversity and the hiking                                            

Memorable        Bonnie: For me it is not one thing, but a sense of how incredibly varied this country is, how much beauty there is everywhere (not just where I happen to live), and how much history there is to drink in. I could understand why people loved where they lived.

                                Lew: You think you’ve seen a lot and then you discover there is so much more to see and learn.

                               

Tennessee and Kentucky

November 16-25

Leaving Virginia, we drove through the mountains into Tennessee, primarily to visit the Manhattan Project National Historic Park in Oak Ridge. We arrived on Saturday and settled into our campground at the base of the hills and waited until Monday morning when we could take the tour of the site.

On Sunday we attended the UU church in Oak Ridge, where another of Lew's UU Board friends was minister, joined members for a chili cook-off lunch, and then, while Lew attended a meeting, I was treated to a driving tour of the city by one of the church members. She was particularly interested in showing me the "architecture" of the city. Oak Ridge was a "government town" that sprang up out of nothing, almost overnight, once the project was authorized in 1942 and as such, it had typical government housing - five different models of varying sizes. Whole communities were built with a mix of houses, stores, schools, etc. The old models are still recognizable despite the fact that in the late 1950s people were allowed to purchase the homes and remodel them. Some have remained relatively unchanged for 75 years! I was very appreciative of my guide's knowledge and effort.

Later that afternoon we drove up into the hills to the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, a large maximum security prison established in 1896 and operated until 2009. One notable recent inmate was James Earl Ray! Now it's the site of the Warden's Table Restaurant, ghost tours, a museum, concerts, and (since it's the last place a prisoner wanted to find himself) the End of the Lind Distillery! That, of course, was our reason for going.

 We arrived early Monday morning at the American Museum of Science and Energy to be assured a spot on the bus tour. Some observations on our tour:

1. The Manhattan Project was a HUGE research and development operation - more than 75,000 people built and operated the complex at Oak Ridge, one of 3 primary sites in the country. They started with 60,000 acres, but it grew beyond that.

2. The Oak Ridge operation consisted of three separate areas - the X-10 graphite reactor which produced small quantities of plutonium; the Y-12 complex home to the electromagnetic separation process used in Uranium enrichment; the K-25 site where gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment technology was pioneered.

3. What was accomplished in a mere couple of years IN COMPLETE SECRECY at multiple sites was incredible. There was so much the scientists had to learn about nuclear energy and they had to learn it fast! And only a few actually knew what they were really trying to accomplish.

4. We learned that building Oak Ridge involved displacing families who had lived in the area for generations, sometimes with little notice. Just as in creating Shenandoah National Park and Great Smokey National Park, the government wasn't always kind in its handling of the situation. One of the few structures left standing was the New Bethel Baptist Church, which proved useful for meetings/conferences. Now it is a museum created by descendants of people evicted.

5. We experienced an almost visceral reaction to the site and the museum. We were awed by the accomplishments and what it took in terms of man (and woman) power, brains, creativity, determination, and luck. But we were also overwhelmed by what they were actually doing - building a bomb, ushering the world into the atomic age and all its potential for destruction (as even some of the leading scientists would come to conclude).

6. Having learned the history, we were impressed by the continuing research that takes place at Oak Ridge - nuclear research in such fields as medicine, alternative energy sources, national security, the storage and reuse of spent nuclear fuels, nanotechnology and environmental restoration. One large section of the original site is being restored and will someday be usable property for another business.

 Friendship Bell Plaza

7. Our final stop in Oak Ridge was at the Friendship Bell; a memorial built for contemplation, interpretation, and interaction, its creators wanted a symbol to remind people that Oak Ridge is more than just a place where Uranium was enriched to build the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.  "Born of War, Living for Peace, Growing through Science." That is the legacy of the Manhattan Project.

We left Tennessee behind and drove some winding back roads through the hills into Kentucky and on to our next stop at Mammoth Cave National Park. There were only a few of us braving the cold in the campground during the last week it was open. We reserved a couple of cave tours for the next two days, wandered a bit through the visitor's center, and took an afternoon hike. Mammoth Cave was not at all what we had expected. Having visited Carlsbad Caverns in the past and Luray Caverns in Virginia recently, we thought it would be more of the same.

Luray Caverns, VA. Reflections

But Mammoth Caves are just that - mammoth. Few stalactites and stalagmites, but hundreds of miles of stark caves carved out by flowing water over the past several million years. This part of Kentucky is interesting geologically because the underlying limestone layer (which is where the caves form due to erosion) is capped by a 50 ft layer of sandstone which keeps the water from seeping into the softer limestone below and forming the typical stalactite formations we are used to seeing in caves. But these are the longest caves in the world and they've been used by humans for thousands of years; the two tours we took into two very distinct parts of the cave system were very interesting - and full of lots of stairs!

Mammoth Caves, Frozen Niagara

Mammoth Cave Entrance

Mammoth Cave

From Mammoth Cave National Park we headed north to Louisville and the Bourbon trail where we visited  three distilleries and two wineries and thoroughly enjoyed our time!

Willett Distillery on the Bourbon Trail

Makers' Mark Distillery

Note the historic still at the Willett Distillery rather different from the shiny polished brass still at Makers' Mark Distillery.  Both of the distilleries started with stills like the one in the Willett picture and both have moved on to much more modern equipment, but Willett has chosen to preserve the history.

Then we moved on the Lake St. Louis, MO to join friends for Thanksgiving.

Virginia

Virginia Civil Rights Memorial

27 November 2019

We spent two weeks in Virginia; we needed two months! We didn’t even attempt to see the coast or any of the Revolutionary War or Civil War sights – that will have to wait for another trip. Instead, we limited ourselves to Richmond, Charlottesville, Shenandoah National Park, and points southwest on our way to Tennessee. The weather hampered our plans as well when a massive cold front with record low temperatures descended on the east during the second week of November, so a trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway was abandoned in favor of the interstate. Nevertheless, we got a good feel for the enigma that is Virginia.

Here is a state that is the birthplace of eight US Presidents, four of the first five, including the author of the Declaration of Independence and the Father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Yet it was the juxtaposition of that idealism against the backdrop of slavery that most intrigued us. Primed by previous visits to Gettysburg, Harper’s Ferry, and the African American History museum in Washington D.C., we were assaulted by the reality of Virginia’s immersion in the politics and economics of racism, past and present.

Robert E. Lee Memorial

Arthur Ashe Memorial

As noted in my last blog, we stayed in the driveway of the minister of the Richmond UU Church, a friend from Lew’s time serving on the UUA Board of Trustees. The primary social action focus of her church is anti-racism, which seemed totally appropriate to us given the legacy of slavery in Virginia, and the south. But it was not only here that we confronted that legacy. On Monument Avenue – a National Historic District, renowned for its residential architecture – at each intersection we encountered large statues on huge pedestals commemorating selected Confederate Civil War heroes, including Robert E. Lee, Jeb Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis. Although these monuments were erected during the reactionary Jim Crow period (late 19^th, early 20^th century), they are still a stark reminder of the vestiges of white supremacy that even a smaller monument to tennis star, Arthur Ashe, at the end of the Avenue cannot erase. 400 years of slavery, thousands of lives lost in a war to protect that institution, years of continual inhumane treatment, degradation, and exclusion of Black Americans…and, still, we glorify those people who proudly represent the foundation of a white supremacist culture. It was a heady experience. 

 Lew was most affected by the realization that the institution of slavery and the economies of both the north and the south were intimately intertwined before the civil war. Complain as they might about slavery,  many smug northerners were getting rich off the institution in the early 1800s. They may not have owned slaves themselves, but they clearly benefited from cheap raw materials for their factories. This is the legacy faced by many northerners.

Monticello

Montpelier

What we saw in Richmond, however, was only the beginning. Our next stop was Charlottesville and the homes of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Here the paradox of words vs deeds was even more pronounced and it is a credit to the National Park Service and the respective Presidential Foundations that the slavery question is no longer glossed over. Monticello, as we remembered from our first visits some 50+ years ago, is inspiring. I don’t tire of being reminded of the words of the Declaration of Independence penned by Thomas Jefferson: a beautiful and thought-provoking place. Thought provoking, not only about the meaning of those prophetic words and their relevance today, but also about Jefferson’s slave owning legacy. We took a guided tour of Jefferson’s home AND one of the slave quarters, complete with stories and descriptions of REAL people who happened to be slaves at Monticello.

Slave Quarters Montpelier

The slave experience was personalized; in one case our guide described the differing experiences of two boys on the plantation – one, white, who grew up to become the President of the United States, and the other, black, who remained a slave the rest of his life. The story of the Hemings family (including Sally Hemings and her children by Jefferson) was also an important part of the history. What was NOT a part of the history was the story of the “field slaves” who shall always remain nameless. Only those who were house slaves or skilled laborers have names and histories attached – and even that information has taken a great deal of time and research to uncover.

On a plantation a day’s horseback ride away (1 hour by car) was the home of James Madison – Montpelier. There the foundation has done an even better job of sharing the legacy of slavery that haunts Madison like it does Jefferson. It’s the great American disconnect – a country founded on the principles of liberty and equality, but built on the backs of human property! Like Jefferson, Madison was aware of this contradiction, but political expediency prevailed. One display at Montpelier does an excellent job of pointing out the sections of the Constitution that are at odds with the founding
principles. In another the lives of several slave families and their descendants are profiled. Archaeologists have uncovered a great many artifacts that have helped to piece together the lives of the enslaved people who lived at Montpelier and much of it is shared with the visitor. Again, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the genius of Madison - a genius whose ideas helped to shape this nation - and, at the same time, perplexed and saddened by the inhumanity of slavery. I’m aware that it was the nature of the times (equality didn’t seem to apply to Blacks, Native Americans, women, the poor, etc) and times have changed – or have they? The attempt to deny men, women, and children their basic humanity still resonates with us today and is the root of many of our societal problems.

1940s NP Sign

Shenandoah NP

Besides visiting a few of the nearby wineries (yes, there are wineries here, too), our next stop was Shenandoah National Park, where we managed to take a couple of hikes and enjoy what was left of the fall colors despite the unusually cold weather. But even here, the legacy of the southern attitude toward racial segregation was surprisingly apparent. When the park was transferred from Jim Crow Virginia to the federal government, Virginia attempted to ban blacks from the park, but settled for segregation. The early private facilities were for whites only and remained so when the area officially became a national park in 1937; eventually a separate (inferior) campground, lodge, and picnic area for blacks was created in 1939. Not until 1950 were the park’s facilities fully integrated. I found this astonishing.

UVA Rotunda

Before leaving the Charlottesville area, we toured what Jefferson called one of his greatest achievements – the University of Virginia – which he designed and founded with a library, not a church, at the center of the school. Yet, once again, we were invited to think about the contradictions of that time. Slavery was central to the project of designing, building, funding, and maintaining the University. White students, we learned, routinely abused the slaves who catered to their needs and no one intervened. Two centuries later (in April, 2020), UVA plans to dedicate a memorial to the enslaved laborers (estimated at perhaps 5,000) who built and sustained the University - a place to reflect, acknowledge, and honor those individuals. This is Progress.

D-Day Memorial, Flags of Allied Militaries

National D-Day Memorial

Heading southwest on the interstate, to avoid ice and closures on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we stopped near Roanoke to visit two more interesting historical sites. One was the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Va (chosen because that town lost more men, per capita, during the invasion than any other). Like the monuments in D.C. honoring the victims of war, this one was sobering, reminding us once again of the sacrifice that many have made to protect the freedoms we enjoy in this country. Or that some of us have enjoyed, because the next visit was to the Booker T Washington National Historic Park.

Booker T. Washington NM

Born a slave, just prior to the start of the Civil War, and going on to become one of the most influential Black leaders of his time, his story is one of hope and perseverance. He thirsted for knowledge and once slavery was abolished, he was able to satisfy his craving and go on to educate other men and women of his race. It was a difficult journey. His story saddens me, however, because I am reminded of all the brain power lost because slaves were denied the right to read and learn. What was not invented? What ideas were never heard? What books remained unwritten? This is our Shame.

So our brief sojourn in the south has been an interesting one, giving us pause and time to reflect.  If Virginia is like other southern states, a concerted effort is being made here to acknowledge the past and recognize the injustices while still honoring the great contributions of people like Jefferson and Madison and Washington. How can we in the 21^st century undo a legacy of white privledge that has been around for more than four centuries? How can we truly live into the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution?