Road Trip!

For the past three days I spent 20 hours and a thousand miles behind the wheel of a U-Haul truck through the countryside of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.  My daughter Jayme, her dog Matilda and I were moving them from Atlanta to Austin.   It was quite an adventure and good to get out of DC to experience parts of the U.S. that were very familiar as well as totally new.  

Here are just a few things that caught my eye and imagination while riding along the highway:   

·      KIA and Hyundai plants in GA and AL respectively - just in case you want to buy an American made car.

·      Hank Aaron baseball park in Mobile – as a boy in Alabama could he have even imagined it?

·      The turn off to Bayou LaBatre where CHPC did a mission trip after Katrina.

·      Mississippi State Troopers scratching their heads over giant bales of hay in the middle of the bridge crossing into Louisiana – the source of the mess nowhere in sight.

·      The Mississippi River – always a wonder to behold.  

·      Only “Christian” stations on the frequencies where NPR usually is – OK for a while since I love listening to radio preachers.

·      Tony the Tiger, a poor soul in a cage at a truck stop, in Louisiana

·      Playing interstate leapfrog with a semi flatbed stacked with beehives - and bees. 

·      The word “Texas” on everything – even Texas shaped waffles for breakfast.

·      The lights of oil refineries east of Houston shining like small cities dotting the horizon.

·      Crossing the same meandering river (Texas has its own Colorado River) at least a half dozen times between Houston and Austin.

·      A billboard for “Anteeks!” – yes, that’s the way it’s spelled.

·      Wide open highways where 75 mph feels like sitting still.

·      and finally in Austin, one of the best hamburgers I ever ate – ground sirloin!

All of this is a reminder to me, and hopefully to all of us, of the amazing variety, diversity, and local flavor of the world in which we live.   Wherever you are today, take minute and imagine outside your immediate surroundings and circumstances and ponder the endless places, people, and possibilities on this wonderful planet we call home.  Rest in the truth that as participants in Creation, we all share the same basic needs, hopes, and dreams.   We’re all on the same Road Trip!