Backwoods Alabama

Submitted by eagle on Tue, 07/14/2015 - 18:59

Riding on little country roads, taking lots of wrong turns.
My phone battery dies. I wind up on a beautiful dirt road. Go by a sign that says: "Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be prosecuted."
Carry on. Another sign says: "End county maintenance."
Carry on. Getting back on a highway, I stop in a little shop, and ask for directions. The shopkeeper tells me how to get to the big Interstate.
Although I don't want to ride on the Interstate and it's probably illegal, I head over anyway. Before getting there, I come across a car mechanic garage at an intersection.
Stop in to ask for alternative ways. One of the guys working there has a bright orange Poison shirt, and long hair. Basically who I want to be when I grow up. I get some directions, including a "shortcut"!
Carry on. Make it to a smaller highway, where I continue to ride. Along the way, seeing LOTS of awesome vehicles, such as Chevrolet Corvettes.
Carry on.
Rock & Roll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Astrotripping!

Submitted by eagle on Mon, 07/13/2015 - 18:42

After editing a couple more chapters of Astrotripping, into Tucson, Arizona, I'm now more than three quarters of the way through this draft!
Rock & Roll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Recently Reading: The Heritage of America

Submitted by eagle on Sun, 07/12/2015 - 17:15

Great book with lots of sources on how America came to be.

Concludes with some poetry by Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass:

As a strong bird on pinions free,
Joyous, the amplest spaces heavenward cleaving,
Such be the thought I'd think of thee America,
Such be the recitative I'd bring for thee.

Thou! mounting higher, diving deeper than we knew, thou
transcendental Union!

Ready, collected here, a freer, vast, electric world, to be
constructed here,
(The true New World, the world of orbic science, morals, literatures
to come,)
Thou wonder world yet undefined, unform'd, neither do I define thee,
How can I pierce the impenetrable blank of the future?

Thee in thy future,
Thee in thy only permanent life, career, thy own unloosen'd mind,
thy soaring spirit,
Thee as another equally needed sun, radiant, ablaze, swift-moving,
fructifying all,
Thee risen in potent cheerfulness and joy, in endless great hilarity,
Scattering for good the cloud that hung so long, that weigh'd so
long upon the mind of man,
The doubt, suspicion, dread, of gradual, certain decadence of man;
Thee in thy larger, saner brood of female, male—thee in thy
athletes, moral, spiritual, South, North, West, East,
(To thy immortal breasts, Mother of All, thy every daughter, son,
endear'd alike, forever equal,)
Thee in thy own musicians, singers, artists, unborn yet, but certain,
Thee in thy moral wealth and civilization, (until which thy proudest
material civilization must remain in vain,)
Thee in thy all-supplying, all-enclosing worship—thee in no single
bible, saviour, merely,
Thy saviours countless, latent within thyself, thy bibles incessant
within thyself, equal to any, divine as any,
(Thy soaring course thee formulating, not in thy two great wars, nor
in thy century's visible growth,
But far more in these leaves and chants, thy chants, great Mother!)
Thee in an education grown of thee, in teachers, studies, students,
born of thee,
Thee in thy democratic fetes en-masse, thy high original festivals,
operas, lecturers, preachers,
Thee in thy ultimate, (the preparations only now completed, the
edifice on sure foundations tied,)
Thee in thy pinnacles, intellect, thought, thy topmost rational
joys, thy love and godlike aspiration,
In thy resplendent coming literati, thy full-lung'd orators, thy
sacerdotal bards, kosmic savans,
These! these in thee, (certain to come,) to-day I prophesy.

(Lo, where arise three peerless stars,
To be thy natal stars my country, Ensemble, Evolution, Freedom,
Set in the sky of Law.)

In thee America, the soul, its destinies,
Thou globe of globes! thou wonder nebulous!
By many a throe of heat and cold convuls'd, (by these thyself solidifying,)
Thou mental, moral orb—thou New, indeed new, Spiritual World!
The Present holds thee not—for such vast growth as thine,
For such unparallel'd flight as thine, such brood as thine,
The FUTURE only holds thee and can hold thee.

Montgomery, Alabama!

Submitted by eagle on Sun, 07/12/2015 - 16:39

After a somewhat arduous ride in southern Alabama, made it to Montgomery!
Montgomery is a really beautiful city. Her people are extremely friendly, somewhat reservedly merry.
When I first arrived, I went by a Masonic Lodge. Stopped by and met some amazing people, and had some good food including fried fish and donuts and grape soda.
This place has lots of history here. Martin Luther King, Jr., had his church here, and just down the street is the state capitol, where culminated his march for civil rights from Selma. Also, Rosa Parks started the movement for racial integration here when she insisted on retaining her bus seat. Now there is a big library with her name on it right next to that bus stop.
Also, before then, Jefferson Davis had started the capital of the Confederacy here.
Now the city turns more modern. It has a huge car plant, lots of new building construction, and public events. Last night by the river, I heard some awesome rock & roll, and saw some bright fireworks.
Today, doing a bit of recharging, then I plan to carry on towards Birmingham!
Rock & Roll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

LifeFLOW3D

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