The most beautiful spot in Florida
Ty’s random thoughts on the past 9 months.
Southern Florida is hot and damp. Every morning you get up and the truck looks like it has been sitting out in the rain it’s that humid. The Florida state capital building is just a tall office building no history no interesting architecture etc. The ocean is fun, the Keys are fun, Juniper Springs was the prettiest area I think on the whole trip but overall, I was ready to head north.
The southeast region of the United States is steeped in history. The Revolutionary War, the Civil War, slavery etc. It is not unusual to see confederate flags flying, bumper stickers with slogans like “succession is the answer”. Of course, you can’t forget that this is the bible belt with Baptist churches in every neighborhood and billboards encouraging everyone to dial 1 800 to hear the truth.
Contrary to Florida all the other capital building we visited were around 150 years old with tours touting their history where the statues, art, and stonework originated. They discuss how their current state legislators’ functions for most part time meeting for 60 days per year, 90 during budget years. Visiting this part of the country you can’t help relearning some things you already knew but forgot and then learn some new things. For example, after the Civil war it was not unusual for a state to have a few black congressmen but by the mid 1890’s Jim Crow laws were invented which made it almost impossible for African Americans to vote. As a result, there was no minority representation in these states until after approval of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Visiting Civil War memorials was very sobering. Some battles many of us may have heard of like the Battle of Antietam but did you know that 23,000 men were killed or wounded in ONE day the deadliest battle in American history. Another battle that I had never heard of was the Battle at Cold Harbor. “Only” 2,000 men per day for 3 days were killed. Grant regretted this battle because it had no impact on the war. We visited the confederate run prison camp at Andersonville where of the 45,000 Union prisoners 13,000 died from disease and malnutrition. I was aware of Andersonville but I was unaware that there was a Union prisoner of war camp where an even larger percentage of confederate POW’s died. Like that old song said, “war what’s it good for, absolutely nothing”.
I was pleased to see how various museums dealt openly about slavery and how the Civil War may have been about states’ rights but it was their right to own slaves no different than any other property. After visiting the capital building in Columbia South Carolina, we noticed a street festival going on so we checked it out. Turns out it was a gay pride festival…some parts of the south have come a long way.
Jane and I hadn’t been to Washington DC in 40 + years so we decided to visit. We spent 5 days there and enjoyed every minute of it. We would visit a museum and plan to stay for an hour or 2 but ended up spending 4 or 5 hours. The Washington Monument had been closed for repairs due to an earthquake turned out it opened the day we arrived so we were able to get to the top. The Lincoln, FDR, MLK, Thomas Jefferson, WWll, Korean War, Viet Nam War memorials were very moving. When you realize what our country has been through to get to where we are today it gives me hope that perhaps we will survive these tumultuous times as well. By the way all the museums and exhibits are free to the public there is also a free bus system that is very efficient taking you to most of the attractions. We also tried moving around on electric scooters not free but fun.
If you haven’t been to DC in a while, I highly recommend it.
I could go on and on about our great adventure. I mentioned in one of my early posts how freeing it was and from my perspective as we developed our rhythm it got freer. Lunch was between 11 and 3, dinner was between 3 and 8 whenever we finished whatever we were doing. How are we going to exercise today for how long, what sites should we visit? Occasionally you had to schedule a day off. Although we miss all our friends it’s not a bad lifestyle.
TY