Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: The USA (01/08/09)
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TITLE: "From Sea to Shining Sea" | Previous Challenge Entry
By c clemons
01/15/09 -
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“Are we there yet?” that question would start right around the Tennessee line. Which was nerve wracking I’m sure to my Dad. We lived in Ohio and our journey was going to take us at least sixteen hours with bathroom and lunch breaks before arriving at our Georgia destination. We made this trip every three years or so, this was when family get togethers meant more than the obligatory Christmas card. Although there was greater distances and slower modes of transportation, family somehow visited more back then than now. I remember family coming from Buffalo, Boston, Wisconsin and of course Georgia for visits, but today a phone call suffices.
I remember the Georgia trips as some of the best. Dad always had us on the road by 4am and by the time we were awaken for the second time that morning we were stopping to eat. Mom would have fried up a chicken the day before and we would stop along the road for an old style picnic. In Kentucky I wanted to see the bluegrass I had heard about, (I didn’t). I did see the Tennessee Mountains though and was a little frightened; the guardrails did not appear entirely safe. Georgia did not disappoint, there really was red dirt, Georgia red clay. It was the dickens to get off your shoes and everything else for that matter.
After a couple more Chevrolets, my brothers no longer went on these trips. They thought they were getting to old for that sort of thing. One summer Mom, Dad, my sister and me headed for Niagara Falls. I got to witness some of the glory and majesty of God’s hand. We later visited New York and New Jersey. My, my what sights to see in New York. Boston was all that too, big, bad and sassy. Much too fast for small town people like us. We soon turned our Chevy home.
When I was older, I went on a road trip with a cousin to visit a cousin in Washington D.C. What a special treat that was. To see the capitol building, the Lincoln and the Washington Memorials, all these places that I had read about in school. To walk where this country’s founding fathers had walked, it was awe-inspiring. My cousin liked it so much she ended up moving there a few years later.
Once as a birthday present to me I flew to Hawaii and I was definitely enthralled by all the beauty. The most beautiful colors were splashed everywhere. The plant and animal life showed how the designer took meticulous care in their design. It was how I would have imagined Eden. The island’s glorious mountains, to the clear blue water and white sandy beaches were a sight to behold. I can only admire an artist’s attempt to try to convey what the eye sees in Hawaii.
I understand that time is valuable and it is much quicker to fly to get wherever you are going. It means you can spend more time at your destination than trying to get there. But I miss that simpler way of actually seeing this wonderful country. I am looking forward to retirement and getting back to seeing the USA, not in a Chevrolet, but for short trips in my SUV. For the long trips, I think I will get on a train and go across country and just allow God to show me more of his wonderful handiwork.
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