1/23/10--Breeching the Wall

Well, shortly after 10am I passed over into that foreign country known as Dixie. As soon as you cross the Maryland/Virginia line on the Eastern Peninsula you meet your first rebel flag, right beside the Welcome to Virginia sign. Oh,how joyful it must be to be a person of color in this land. Virginia and NC actually voted for Obama? I know, it's not about slavery, it's about their heritage. Reminds me of our trip down the Natchez Trace to Natchez MS during the week in the Spring when they open the fancy plantation houses to visitors. We actually stayed at one that was a B and B. A very nice, elderly woman who had married a NJ physician and lived in the north for decades before he died owned it. She gave us directions that included "turn left at the church". So we came upon this very nice and tidy little church and turned left and got hopelessly lost. So we called the lady and described the church to her and she said "Oh, my, that's the colored church! I wouldn't have meant that!" Stupid us.

Coming down the Peninsula I turned left off the main highway and wended my way down the narrow country byways (and they are very narrow) to the repeated refrain of "recalculating". A lot of farmland interspersed with the occasional southern mcmansion, a lot of old trailors and "shotgun" houses.The genteel and the dirt poor apparently intermingle thru here. Nice, but no place to winter.

The pictures are of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnels. You may wonder why I always pose Wallie in the driver's seat. Well first because he is in the driver's seat and second because I haven't figured how to pose him otherwise without him running off. I suppose I could actually speak to other people and make friends and have them hold gthe leash.....No...

One of my themes on this trip is AM Radio. I really don't like FM. I can never find a station with music I like. And most of the talk shows (which I do like) are on AM, plus Johnny Cash/Waylon Jennings era country (vs the modern trash), and golden oldies. So I'm listening to nothing but AM. Oh, and also lots of gospel music, both "White" gospel and "Black". I got to tell you, Black gospel has it all over White. White gospel is stern and forbidding; Black is joyous and uplifting. I love it.

I'm in Greenville, NC tonight. Nothing special. It's off the list. But tomorrow I go to Myrtle Beach SC where I've got a room just off the beach for $41.80 and no pet fee. You can't beat that with a stick.

For those following me down south a piece of advice. You have to try the chicken fried steak. Or is it steak fried chicken? Anyway, it is to die for. I mean it. You will die if you eat it more than once. It's like grits, you have to experience it just to know how bad it is.