Only Moment Alone

Obviously I’ve been away from this blog for while. I’ve been away from work, obligations, and a good many other things for a while too and let met tell you, IT’S BEEN SO GOOD. I left last Tuesday to take a road trip with Craig, a very overdue roadtrip at that. I left my car in Toledo and drove with Craig down to Nashville.

From Nashville we set out in his xB with a very loose agenda towards the state of Alabama. The only thing we knew for certain was that I had set up a few couches that we would surf, and that we wanted to spend the weekend in New Orleans. We really had no idea what to expect or what was in store but we were both extremely ready to get “away” for a while. We are both also very poor, but we weren’t going to let that stop us

From the random sleazy rest-stop in Alabama at the start of the trip to yesterday’s final drive from the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis back to Nashville, it was a memorable trip.

We went photo-treasure-hunting in the backroads of Mississippi, walked a crusty beach in Gulfport, explored the bayous and tattered coast of Louisiana, stumbled upon cozy little towns like Arkadelphia, AR, went thrifting in Arkansas at the mother of all Salvation Army’s in Texarkana and her evil sister in Little Rock. We choose the “scenic route” whenever possible including a drive through DeSoto National Forest.

We spent a fair amount of time trying to find places where we could steal wireless internet to plan out our stops, destinations and coffeehouses as we went along. Also in Texarkana we were nailed by a pretty ridiculous thunderstorm, and it was also one of the only two nights on the trip that we spent sleeping in the car. The rest of the nights we were spared the discomfort and had the opportunity to meet new people and crash at their homes, trailers, and apartments.

The highlight of the trip was an amazing weekend spent in New Orleans. There in New Orleans we met some amazing people, especially a girl named Paige at whose place we stayed for the weekend.

Her place in and of itself was pretty great, a shotgun style unit with hardwood floors and super high ceilings and large windows in the top of a building right on Magazine Street. Paige along with her sister and all of her many friends introduced us to New Orleans.

Among other things in our weekend tour, we bummed around Loyola, saw the “tree of life,” rode the streetcar and spent an afternoon shopping, eating, and taking in the sights and sounds of the French Quarter, we enjoyed late night coffee and beignets from the world famous Cafe Du Monde while sitting by the river and each night we stayed out late going to shows at local venues by local bands as part of the New Orleans Indie Rock fest. Craig and I both fell in love with the city.

I couldn’t get over the sheer amount of historic, amazing homes, and the antiquated awesomeness of the city in general, especially the absolutely ancient huge trees right in the middle of the city. We didn’t get to see the now infamous ninth ward or any of the hurricane damage and the ‘tent city’ of homeless people living near the Superdome had been recently shut down, so we understood that we had a bit of an imbalanced look at the city, but even so, it was just WOW. It has so much character and its own unique flavor, I am excited to go back there someday.

The other highlight of the trip was our excursion to the National Civil Rights Museum in downtown Memphis yesterday.

I had always wanted to visit and I finally was able. The National Civil Rights Museum is located at the Lorraine Motel, the site at which Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed back in 1968. The back half of the motel has been turned into a museum that details the entire American civil rights movement and also the life and death of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the museum also includes the building across the street from which James Earl Ray fired his infamous shot.

I have always been intrigued by King, who was such an amazing and influential figure and the museum was equally incredible, both extremely interesting and powerful. It occurred to me inside that this was a great time to visit in light of the upcoming election and its, let’s say, ‘possibilities.’

The trip was great but it’s also good to be back. I’ve got a renewed sense of hope. I’m at peace. I’m excited. Basically, I feel like the trip along with some of the inspiring people I’ve met lately and also some circumstances in the last two months including the start of my volunteering with the Jr. High students at Mars Hill has me completely renewed and excited. Stay tuned, because this blog is going to be better too. Like more updates (hopefully).