Oct. 8, 2010

The past two days I've been driving almost exclusively.  Yesterday I had no stops to speak of, but today I stopped in Lexington, KY, to see Mary Todd Lincoln's childhood home.  Lexington is a very nice city, and its historic area has been nicely renovated.  There are old buildings, and new, but they complement each other quite well.  It was interesting to see the map we were given at the Todd house because I now understand how close a connection the Todds and Clays could have had ... they lived just blocks from one another!  The home Mary grew up in contrasts sharply with Lincoln's little cabin; she really was from a very wealthy family.  I'm reading Catherine Clinton's biography of Mary L. and it is quite good ... inspired me to stop in Lexington.

For the past two weeks in Lexington, they've been hosting the World Equestrian Games.  I thought about trying to go to an event, but the venue for them was not downtown so I forgot about that.  But around the downtown were painted horses.  In D.C. we had elephants and donkeys, in Chicago they had cattle, and I bet other cities have picked up on this, too.  They were very creative: here are a couple of them.

Title: Bewitched

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Tonight is my last entry for this blog since tomorrow I will finish my trip.  I don't quite know how to end this, but here is my attempt.  One thing of enormous beauty in this country is its geographic diversity, and I am thankful for it.  We have regions that look like no other, and they are all amazing and they all have a culture that is somewhat distinct.

We can recognize a lot of the history of a region by place names and architecture.  When Jim and I were driving south through California we saw  few English named towns; most were Spanish.  Around St Louis, there were many French names, and those continue up and down the Mississippi and in the mountain states where French trappers spent time and lived.  I learned that "Ozark" is from the French explorers in 1682.  They called that area "le region aux arcs" since the Indians there had good, sturdy bows.  Indian names are pervasive everywhere, but Oklahoma may win the prize since they have so many Indian "nations."

I am really thankful for Abraham Lincoln.  Not only did he keep this nation unified, but he had remarkable vision for the future.  He got the intercontinental railroad finished, established agricultural colleges, encouraged homesteading, and pushed infrastructure.  One can't help but appreciate the hand he had in helping settle the west.  And when I heard (I really started hearing them in Springfield, IL) and saw trains pulling car after car of grain or coal or animals or whatever, I couldn't help but remember that Lincoln helped with that, with the commerce of the nation.

And of course I am thankful for Lewis and Clark.  What amazing leaders they were.  The west would have been settled regardless, but the knowledge they brought back, the way in which they documented their findings, the way they treated their Corps of Discovery, the things they endured are wondrous to me.  I feel blessed to have seen a little of what they saw.  Imagining it the way they saw it is pretty impossible, but I have tried.  And I've learned that all explorers have a little in common with them, even me.  Their story serves as a model for every traveler seeing places for the first time.

I am also thankful to Dwight D. Eisenhower for developing the wonderful highway system we have in our country!  I love having the beautiful scenic roads we have, also, but in order to get from one place to another with any speed, our interstates are tremendous; I love them!  I/we used both kinds of roads on this trip.  We used the scenic roads for the California redwoods and the Pacific coast, and through Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and New Mexico.  I wouldn't change that.  And I drove briefly on U.S. 66.  But when the time comes to "get someplace," the interstates can't be beat.

I am thankful, too, for the presidents and people and organizations that pushed for the creation of national parks.  They are restorative to each of us and extremely educational and humbling to experience.

Last, I am thankful for the commerce in this nation.  I wish some of our national discussions weren't so contentious about what some of us produce, and then share/sell, but we tend to be parochial people and forget the big picture.  But it is amazing to see the grains, fruits, vegetables, animals, wind, water, coal, etc. produced in one region and moved to other regions.

And I've come to appreciate that each place has its history, its story.  The little towns in Texas, Groom and Shamrock, taught me that.  It's when we know those stories that we can then appreciate a little of what's important for those people, and why. What an amazing country we live in!

And by the way, the Southwest has the most impressive overpasses; they paint them with mountains and birds in the colors we associate with the area.   :) :) :)