On long drives my mind wanders. I tend to think about connections between people and places. I wonder what my kids learned or what I would tell my 5th graders about this particular place. I wish I could have scooped up my class and brought them to Gettysburg. 

If you're a regular to this blog, I hope you've noticed that I try to be self-effacing rather than philosophical. This post may buck that trend. If you are new, this blog is normally about me making mistakes while trying to renovate an old junky airstream. Go back to the beginning and start there. This is not the end, but it is a summary, and the wrong place to begin. Here are my long drive thoughts:

In the west, where I live, American history doesn't get tangible until Lewis & Clark. But even then, we tend to think of American history as long ago. Right? In Gettysburg, we listened to an audio tour of the battlefield. It listed the date of the last reunion of Civil War soldiers. I've forgotten the date now, but at the time, I calculated that my Grandma Kane (who's pictured a few posts ago) was 18 at the time of the reunion. Nothing is long ago. We are still only one lifetime removed from people who witnessed slavery. From people who were slaves. It's less than a generation from everything else that came after it. People want to pretend that the past is over. The past, as the saying goes, is prologue. 

On a lighter note, either Google is really bad at calculating things like "safety" and "road conditions", or it is very good at it and just wants to kill me. Google took us down several paths that we will talk about for a long time. In South Carolina, we took roads that were so dilapidated, potholed, and worn that we were the only ones there. We barely made it around some holes.

Around Chicago, we traveled through some very run-down neighborhoods. In Wisconsin, Google Maps had us (unknowingly to us at the time) avoid a major highway and take small backroads during the dusk of deer time. We saw far, far too many deer.

Throughout our trip, we would use Google to get us to grocery stores - many times it took us to the backside of the stores where the semis unload. I think it has a sense of humor.

I never took a picture, but I very much regret that now. I was surprised by two observations: 

• Liberal states, like on the east coast, etc. had the most egregious Indian representations. I can't tell you how many Smokin' Joe/Big Chief/Injun Trading posts we saw. The caricatures and carvings were things you would never see in Montana. How is it 2018 and we still have this problem; and particularly with states that were more "tolerant" politically? I went in one, so strong was my curiosity. It was mostly kitschy T-shirts and tourist junk.
  
• But ohhh, Dixie, you have some explaining to do! Guess where the "adult" stores were. In exactly the Bible belt and Midwest. The concentration of adult stores was shockingly, laughably in the areas of the country where people go to church. I did not go in, even out of curiosity, to these. They may sell clothing, but my guess is not kitschy T-shirts. But I could be wrong.

I guess that everyone has blind-spots. And, I am sure the east has adult stores and Dixie has cultural-appropriation. Maybe we are all a bit hypocritical, that we all need to look more closely at ourselves.

That headline is polemic on purpose.

I agree that it was also founded on some of the best ideas the world has ever seen. The ideas of self-governance, equal justice, freedom, rule-of-law, and so many more were knit together into a country we can and should be proud of. 

But. But. Those ideals failed so often. For example, in 1779, three years after the Declaration of Independance was written, those same Americans used genocide to remove the Iroquois from their land in upstate NY. Really ponder that. The men who wrote about self-evident truths, inalienable rights, and of life and happiness began this country by starting (continuing) genocide. It's not a comfortable thought, but it is true.

The middle passage, the transatlantic route from Africa to slavery in America, ended in 1860ish. If you google it, try to imagine the horror. In the African-American History Museum in D.C. I really tried. I cannot do it without despair and nausea. The lips that spoke, "Give me liberty or give me death!" also owned slaves. While driving, we listened to an audiobook called, "Elijah of Buxton" about the first free-born child of former slaves in Canada. It is both lighthearted and dark, in turns, and gives an honest and new perspective on freedom. I highly recommend it - it made me laugh out loud and cry, both while driving. It is an easy read. (Especially on audiobook!)

In 2004, areas around Atlanta closed sports fields to soccer. Soccer. Why? So that refugees would not be able to play. So that children would know just how unwelcome they were. They named themselves the Fugees (get it?) and they persisted. Their story is worth reading.

Our history is a history of terrible ideas being replaced with better ideas. It is a history of atrocity and heroes who stood up to fight. Hero after hero rose at a time of injustice. The best idea of our founders, the very best, is that bad ideas should methodically be replaced by better ones. That through collective argument and reason we might make ourselves better.

America still has some terrible ideas, but I like Winston Churchill's sentiment, "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else."

People always told us New Yorkers were unfriendly, but that was far from the experience. As I said in that post, New Yorkers were universally kind and helpful. They gave up their seats for my kids, offered assistance, and were gracious to absurdly-touristy questions. But that was the norm everywhere. We found that our neighbors in the campgrounds were interesting, polite people.

One old lady came up to us, crossing a ditch with her walker, because we both had Airstreams. She wanted to say hello. Her story was America, its hopes on display. She was a little girl living in Holland under Hitler's occupation (again, history is not long ago). After the horrors of WWII, she saw Wally Byam's Airstream European Caravan of 1956. (A cool part of Airstream history.) It made such an impact on her that she always longed to own one. Later, she fell in love with an American and emigrated to America, became a citizen, and has made it her home. She's found her share of struggle and success. Her story was amazing, freely given, and encouraging. 

Another campground neighbor was a little boy in Niagara Falls as it was in decline. He talked about the industry leaving, jobs ending and taxes skyrocketing. He left as a young adult along with everyone who had the means. He was returning with his son to show him his childhood. Another story, freely given.

There were more stories, but my sense was that we all are looking for the same things. Family, stability, and a measure of self-determination. Across this whole country, we have so much in common.

The people of this country need each other. The south needs the north. The north needs the south. Snowflakes need rednecks and vice-versa. Its more than yin-yang. It is the foundation of our strength. New York city cannot support itself - from its towers it cannot see the source of its sustenance, but its umbilical cord to pastures is indisputable. Likewise, those who complain about intellectuals and big city folk do not realize that the wealth of people, ideas and innovation that drives American success comes from the cities. They don't see the protection and financial stability that they receive. Trump wants to build a wall to appease his rural base; but his wall is already built - NYC is it. Atlanta is it. D.C. and St. Louis, Boston and Chicago; they are it. We are stronger because we have each other.

Lincoln said some funny things in his time, funny to our ears, anyway. "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that." Lincoln was personally against slavery, but his eyes were on a united state. He knew that our American experiment would stand or fall together. He was right. He is right. Prior to Lincoln, it was written "The United States are . . ." after him we write "The United States is . . ."

The United States is strong because of all its people. I dearly hope we will stop fighting people and start fighting ideas. That we would become less tribal in our politics and more reasoned. I'm not sure how we get there, but I believe that is where we need to go.  I love this country, its outlandish diversity, its strength and beauty, its freedoms and its struggles. 

I've got a few more posts to write, but this is the only philosophical one. I promise. Next time, I've got to tell you about "Spy Truck".

Have you ever wanted home so bad? I bet you have. It doesn't matter who you are or where home is. Home is a universal theme for us all. Even in good times like our trip, coming home is a delight. 

​I've had some other musings along the way. Themes that I discovered to be true. For our last day, we drove from Wisconsin to central Montana, so I had a lot of time to think. I'll be posting more in the next few days about the themes that tied our whole trip together. But first, our last day.

Google put it at 15.5 hours on the road. Grandma Chrissy told me in no uncertain terms that she thought I was crazy to attempt it. Still, my longest drive on this trip was an about the same, but through Chicago at rush hour. So I knew I could do it. 

We got going at 5 a.m., just before dawn. All day long, I smiled up wondering who would win, me or the sun. Sunset at home is 8:45 p.m. We should have had 1:15 minutes to spare, with the time zone bonus. As the day wore on, gas breaks, potty breaks and lunch added up. We got in at 9:30 p.m., dark enough to see the first stars. The sun won, but I didn't mind. Seeing our front door was wonderful.

But better than seeing the front door was waking up and seeing my own ceiling. As we got around to cleaning out the car and trailer, I checked on our trip stats. The truck has been keeping track: 

Total Driving Time: 174 hours, 21 minutes
Gallons of Gas Used: 596.7
CO2 Released into the Atmosphere: 10,500 pounds (calculated from gas used)
Miles Driven: 7,616
Average mpg: 12.7
Mpg going east: 13.1
Mpg going west 12.2

Our truck passed 100K miles on this trip. Like it wasn't a thing. In about two posts from now, I've got to tell you how "Spy Truck" came to us. 

My last thought for today is 26 states. We could have gotten 4 more, and missed leaving holes, but it wasn't in the cards. I guess that means we'll need a return trip to some places. Here's our final map:

Normally, lightning isn't too scary. Normally, I'm not sitting in an inner tube, on a river, holding an umbrella.

For our final leg of this adventure, we visited Wisconsin. Wisconsin is home to my dad, step-mom, and most of the Kane side of my family. We stopped at my Aunt Peggy's house and got to see my grandma (Great-grandma Kane, to the kids).

Even though we were just staying for a meal, half a dozen of my aunts and uncles showed up. Prompting Ben to ask again, "How many Aunts do you ACTUALLY have?" My parents had big Catholic families. Combine that with their spouses, kids, grandkids, cousins, etc. and that becomes lots of people. Sara was overwhelmed when we got married. (Actually, she does a better job keeping track now - I lose track of married names and my cousin's kids' names.) Anyway, I think my kids just smiled and went to their happy places. I thought I had more pics of this time, but I'm not finding them.

We went on to Grandpa Kane's (my dad's) house. He recently built his home. When most people say they built a home, they mean they paid other people to do it. My dad had other people pour the foundation and put the sticks up. Then he took over.

I was, and am, amazed at what one guy can do. He's creative, talented, and tenacious. I hope to be like him.

Our first day with Dad & Chris, we went boating. Ben and Maya were beside themselves to drive Grandpa's boat.

Our second day, Grandpa & Chrissy took us to Mt. Olympus Theme park in the Wisconsin Dells. It is half roller-coaster and half water park. We didn't get many pics, with it being a water park, but we had fun all day long. I also got the most significant sunburn of the trip - we ran out of sunscreen and I was too cheap to go buy more at waterpark prices.

Maya was quite the dare devil. She went on the tallest water slides (not pictured) and even paid for an extreme ride out of her souvenir money. (Everything was included in the wrist band, except the crazy 2-person extreme rides.) I went with her. Unfortunately, she learned a few new words at the apex of the ride. 

Lastly, we spent a day floating on the Wisconsin river. We brought lunch, snacks, beer, water and an umbrella for shade. The weather was perfect. It was sunny, but not too hot. The clouds were big a fluffly and gave us moments of shade.

Except, why is that one cloud getting so dark?

Is that thunder?

Did you see that lightning?

How much further to shelter at the river bar?

The weather never really got to us on the river. It stayed just to our east, but threatened us for quite a while. It mostly just sprinkled and kept the air cool. I guess the storm we were looking at dropped 1.5" of rain and pea-sized hail. We were all a little relieved to get off the river at the end, though. I didn't bring my phone/camera. It was a river, that's why. 

​Early the next morning, we would set out for home.