10,000 miles and counting...

New Orleans will surprise you. It surprised me in ways that I can't possibly fit into a blog entry; so I wrote a story about it. I'll post it here, or add a link to it once I get home again...

Last night I met a man who went by the name of Peanut. I was sitting on the porch of our place in Savannah, Georgia, and he wandered up to talk politics. He introduced himself and said "Na list'n here" and proceeded to enlighten me to the trials of the unchanging "dirty south." Peanut, the sidewalk preacher of Hazard neighborhood, as he so eloquently put it, said that the south "ain't never changed, and it ain't never gon'change. Na' you go on n' get yoself out the dirty south, and when you do, stomp that dust off yo feet n'be done with it." Peanut is a well spoken man of fifty. He knows a painfully great deal about politics and all the cracks in the system. He knows all of this, not because of a college education, but because he reads the papers, and mostly because he is often the guy that gets pushed into the cracks. I would be lying if I said I didn't notice the often extreme separation between people whether it be race, class, or other. It exists in a forceful way down south. Peanut is a poor, black man, and our worlds are drastically different. The south is beautiful, but I will take his advice and get the hell out, and when I do, I will stomp the dust off my shoes and think of him. There is an old fashioned charm to this part of the country, and a beauty unlike one I have seen before, but Peanut might have a point.

From Savannah, we went to Charleston, South Carolina. Intriguing city. A lot of wealth. Beautiful beaches. Same old-fashioned charm; as if I could see the past ten decades strolling down the sidewalks next to me. We only had a half of a day there, so the future is going to have to lend itslef to another, more leisure trip to Charleston.

Tomorrow we leave for Rhode Island, and intend to make it there in one fell swoop. Sixteen hours on the road, here we come. I am tired, and in need of some serious sleep.