Day 15

Day 15-Wednesday, May 5

 

Woke up to a much cooler temp, mid 60’s, and were very relieved to discover our van suffered no damage from last night’s storm.

 

This was not our campsite!

 

We had to catch an 8:15 ferry that would take us across the Alabama River to the tiny hamlet of Gees Bend, which is a quilting mecca, so we delayed breakfast and were on the road by 7 AM.    We figured we’d make coffee and breakfast as we waited for the ferry, which wasn’t that far from our campground.  As we approached the ferry, the tree damage along that road was incredible. One farm was littered with huge uprooted oak trees; it certainly looked like a tornado touched down right along this road.

 

When we got to the ferry we were the second vehicle in line, but the gate across the road was down and there were a couple of men removing leaves and limbs off the road between us and the ferry.  One of the men came over to our van to explain that the ferry would not be running today, it’s electric powered and the storm knocked out power.  He was quite a friendly fellow, telling us about his three year old grandson and his only trip to New England when spent time in Fair Haven, MA, for repairs on their ferry.

 

When we shared our destination, he cautioned us that we were heading into very rural country so we should be sure to have plenty of gas.  He also told us how the women who made the quilts in Gees Bend were always very private and never wanted any outsiders to see their work.  Then one day they had a very violent storm that ended up blowing cows into trees.  Clearly a sign from God that they should change their ways, and so they did.

 

Gees Bend gets it name from the oxbow-like bend in the Alabama River, and the plantation owner who brought the quilters slave descendents to the area in the 1800’s.  It took us about an hour to get to Gees Bend, and the ferry man wasn’t exaggerating.  Gees Bend is a very rural, and a very poor area.

 

The quilting collective was not open, but throughout this tiny community of 700 there were billboard like displays of the quilts that the women of this community have created.  Their quilts have been displayed in MOMA in NYC and are sold on Etsy for thousands of dollar.  Joni discovered this community and its art while watching “CBS Sunday Morning”.

 

From Gees Bend, our next stop was Selma, which must have been a beautiful town in its heyday when cotton was king, but is now very run down, with many abandoned storefronts and homes, but it is still very stimulating due to its place in the history of the civil rights struggle.  

 

Our first stop was “The Coffee Shop” for coffee and bagels.  The walls of this coffee shop are decorated with photos of George Bush, 45, Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren, and other celebrities from politics and the media.  We headed to the National Park Service Visitors’ Center, where the rangers gave us an abbreviated intro into Selma’s history and the voter registration march.  We walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and back, tracing the footsteps of the 600 marchers including MLK and John Lewis.  The bridge made famous because the marchers were savagely beaten by Alabama state trooper as they crossed the span on “Bloody Sunday, on March 7, 1965, is named after the head of the KKK in Selma, who was also a military and political leader.  The 54 mile walk to Montgomery took the marchers 5 days, and when they arrived in Montgomery, their numbers had grown to 25,000 protesters.  During their 4 nights on the road, campsites and food were provided by sympathetic white farmers; one of whom was murdered by the KKK for his kindness.  

Leaving the bridge we took a quick auto tour of Selma, checking out the church where the voter registration march was planned and from where it started.  Churches and church leaders often played significant roles in the civil rights movement since it was illegal for even small groups of blacks to meet anywhere other than in church.  

 During the Civil War, Selma was one of the largest aresenals for the Confederacy, and consequently, most of the city was destroyed by the Union army.  Only a few beautiful buildings right along the Alabama River were spared.

 

Our drive to Montgomery followed the marchers’ route, but we made it in about one hour.  Arriving around 1 PM, our first stop was Dreamland, a barbecue restaurant recommended by Joe Scarborough.  Joe’s endorsement was a good one.

MLK's church in Montgomery

 

We then drove to the nearby state capitol building, and stood on the steps where MLK spoke at the end of the March, and on the star where Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the president of the Confederacy.  We went inside the capitol where we were greeted by a statue of Lurleen Wallace, who was elected governor after her husband George had completed reached the limit on terms he could serve.

 

The capitol and surrounding buildings are beautiful, pristine white marble, with carved woodwork, and carpets benefitting a Persian king.  The juxtaposition of the architectural beauty and the human cruelty and poverty brought on by slavery is inescapable.  

 

Leaving the capitol, we took a driving tour of Montgomery, visiting:   MLK’s church and his home that is still scarred by bombs that were fired at him, Hank Williams statue, Jefferson Davis’ Confederate White House.  Along the way we passed through a number of leafy neighborhoods that reflect the economic success of many of the local citizens.

MLK's home

At this point in the afternoon it was time for us to go to our campground, where we arrived around 4 PM. Surprisingly the reservation that we made in March and confirmed this morning was for a different campground, 80 miles to the south.  Fortunately this campground had plenty of vacancies, so we stayed there, and even more fortunately, the campground where had the reservation gave us a full refund when we called them to explain our error!

 The host at our campground shared with us the 330 rule for campers, especially senior citizen campers.  Travel no more than 330 miles in a day, and always arrive at your campsite by 3:30 PM.  I love it, but don’t always meet that standard.

 

Dinner was simple, Cheerios!

 

Mileage for this day=270.