jan 18, 2012

January  18, 2012

Drumming rain with an erratic light show and accompanying sound effects,  escourted us into deep sleep last night.  Falling temperatures sent Junnie scurrying onto the bed and I felt his frantic digging at my back, trying to get under the covers.  Failing to accomplish that, he curled up behind my knees as I slept on my side, only groggily aware he had joined us.  Fickle, cold weather cat!

As we left this morning, we were surprised to see azaleas in bloom, tulip trees waving their lavender and white blossoms, and the red buds trees along the road we were traveling.  Has spring really come to Mobile already or is this Mother Nature’s wishful thinking?

We’re heading north on I-65 from Mobile to Montgomery, Alabama.  For sure the 18-wheelers love this road.  It must be one of their most favorite avenues for fast transportation of goods.  We could certainly understand why because it is a well maintained and clean road.  After two hours traveling the road, we had not seen a single dead specimen of anything.  There are long stretches without exits…even rest areas, and most unusual, the absence of birds.  We saw none flying, none roosting, none congregating on the ground.  Strange.  Of course, as soon as we mentioned the lack of rest areas, we came upon one after we had stopped to give Junnie his morning break. 

The minister at the first church we visited was correct.  We were driving through pine forests and there was a little bit of sky that we could see above.  It seems so normal to us, but it must be so different to persons from the mid-west and beyond.  From what we saw, their sky is a huge dome visible at all times.  Often we just have patches of sky.  The minister had said that what he remembered most of being around Duke, was the tall forests and tiny bit of sky.  Perception is often all we have.

Alabama red clay is home to millions and millions of fire ant hills.   Once in Goldsboro I stepped on a fire ant hill.  Because of the lack of sensation in my extremities, I did not know they were all over my feet until I looked down and saw them.  Immediately I “ran” to the water spigot and washed my feet.  Dan counted over thirty bites on one foot and at least 14 on the other foot.  Did you realize that it takes over a year for the little red freckle from each bite to disappear?  Isn’t learning new things fun?  I had no bad reaction from these bites, but I am extremely careful not to step on those little critters’ homes!

Drat!  I missed taking a picture of the dead tree with two big birds.  The birds were either buzzards or vultures.  It’s hard to tell what they are when you’re riding down the road at 60 MPH and you’re looking up.  They were surveying their kingdom from a great lookout point.  It would have been a super shot!

As we moved along I was struck by the stark beauty each deciduous tree skeleton made.  Some trees were draped in Spanish Moss; some sported mistletoe growths.  Other trees were calmly waiting to don spring green.  When the leaves are gone the structure, the bark, and the branches have a beauty of their own.

We reached the Southern Montgomery RV Park and set up in time to have lunch before heading to  The Rosa Park Museum and Library, housed on the campus of Troy University located in Mobile.  The museum is at the place where Mrs. Parks was removed from the bus and arrested.   It is a well thought out museum.  You enter a theater where a brief history of Mobile (really the south) is given from both blacks and whites, then the doors open into a room that contains a bus with holograms of blacks and white passengers entering the bus and sitting.  You hear conversations on the bus and then, as the bus takes on more people, the driver demands Rosa give up her seat.   The drives leave the bus and you hear him call his boss who tells him to call the police.  We watch and listen as the police  enter the bus and escort  Mrs. Parks off.     We then move to another room where there is a step-by-step progression of what happened within the next three days that led to the almost 15 month boycott on Mobile’s bus company; the rise of a young minister named Martin Luther King, Jr. and his non-violent  resistance movement.  The exhibit ended with a commentary about Mrs. Parks, the awards  and accolades she has received from all countries around the world.

It has been a good day.

Blessings to one and all,

Three Thankful Travelers