Day 33 Ohio/Michigan

Up with the first light and crossing the Ohio River continuing homeward bound, we are now on I-75 and able to make use of the Along I-75 book that our friends John and Julie have loaned us. It’s a Canadian book written for snowbirds that gives a step-by-step commentary of the route from the Canadian border to Florida. We had seen it but never actually used it until this trip – it’s great! There is nothing on this road from radar traps to restaurants that isn’t covered in detail. Each page covers approximately 25 miles of highway and tells the history of the area, in some sections going back 400,000 years! It also tells you what is off every exit and what is noteworthy along the way. Very handy, how else would we have been able to identify Touchdown Jesus? It’s a 62 foot statue so we certainly couldn’t have missed it but we would never have known that the $300,000 statue was rebuilt, having been struck by lightning in 2010 and burned to the ground in a spectacular fire! I can only imagine the spectacular sermons that addressed the event in the Evangelical Solid Rock Church that that the statue calls home! Also interesting to learn that along the highway in northern Ohio we crossed the spot where in 1784 we would be leaving Virginia and entering Connecticut! It is so much more interesting now that we have been to Williamsburg and understand more about the political geography of the time! I love every little mile by mile detail but I controlled my “sharing”. After 33 years of marriage I am confident that less is more in David’s case!

We actually talked about this last night, how travel is such an incredible teacher. In turn then how education changes your view of the world. Of course I knew and believed all of this. I am a Principal for heaven sake! If I didn’t believe that I wouldn’t do what I do. Like so many things though, knowing it and personally experiencing it are sometimes markedly different. We have experienced so many different things this trip (as we always do on our travels) and we are already aware of the subtle changes in our attitudes and perspectives. Last night without a vehicle (trailer attached) and not much to do in the park we turned on the TV and The Help was on. We have seen it before, in fact we own it but tonight when we watched it we both admitted it was with a slightly different perspective. We were more aware of the “Hollywood effect” on the story and certainly very much more sensitive to the nuances that we may have missed had it not been for our recent travels.  Maybe not earth shattering revelations but certainly changed as our experience of the world has increased.

In an even bigger shift in thinking we have found ourselves caught in thoughts and conversations over the last couple of days in the car about what might be different today if slavery hadn’t happened. Would we have as significant an African-American population as we do today? If we didn’t have that richness in our population and culture would we have suffered the horrors of the civil rights movement – doubtful..? If we hadn’t struggled through the civil rights movement would our immigration policies and our welcome across world borders be significantly different – I suspect so...? Going down that road we realized the huge impact on the entire world and on our personal experience. I’m not sure I ever before gave much thought to the sacrifice of the slaves having much impact currently on my life. Now I’m not so sure anymore! Deep thoughts and crazy wonderings for a mostly leisurely drive through the Ohio countryside!

We arrived safely at KOA on the Ohio-Michigan border by early afternoon. KOA is like McDonald’s when you’re on the road. Nothing to get excited about but convenient and you’re pretty sure of what you’ll get. Another day of travel done and it’s home tomorrow – yeah! Life on the road is wonderful but so is going home to loved ones!