Eventually Carol will post a detailed retelling of our visit with Ruth Stewart in Houston. Briefly we had a wonderful day visiting this 92 year old women who proceeded to drive us around Houston and tell us her life story as a black singer performer in the era of segregation. She performed and studied in Europe before returning to the US eventually to become a teacher at Southern Texas University.

The next morning we left Livingston with the idea of seeing two more major stops on the Civil Rights Trail we have been following for the past 7 years. But first, my hiking boots are 30 years old or so and are worn out. I need to find new ones and I saw we were passing near a Bass Pro shop in Jackson MS. I also know that Bass Pro shops allow free overnight parking. It seemed like a bright idea to head there for planned shopping and a “free” overnight stop. It worked out fine, but they did not have the boot I wanted in the size I need. When we came out of the store the lot was mobbed. Across the street is a baseball stadium and Mississippi State and University of Mississippi (Miss v Ole Miss) were playing the Governors Cup. With the score Ole Miss 8 to 1 in the 7th the crowd began to break up and by 9:30 we were able to move to the edge of the lot and set up for the night.

The next morning we got up before the store opened and moved out relatively early for a three hour run to Selma, AL. I called ahead to find out if there was parking for us nearby at the National Voters Rights Museum and Institute just down the street from the Edmund Pettus Bridge which you might remember as the site of Bloody Sunday in 1965 – rather than my trying to write a history you can read about it at http://www.nvrm.org/ We found parking three doors down in front of the Masonic Temple. After spending enough time to absorb the story and some of the material we moved on to Montgomery, driving over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and following the root of march across US 80 to the steps of the Capitol there. Actually we checked into the Woods RV Park on the edge of Montgomery and used the car to go first to the Rosa Parks Museum. We arrived with only an hour left to closing, but were able to take in the multimedia exhibit and most of the rest of the presentation. There is a Montgomery City Bus and the story of Rosa Parks’ quiet rebellion is played out on the windows of the bus while we stand in front of the theater that was the bus stop where it happened. This was very powerful, maybe one of the strongest presentations of all the museums and memorials we have seen.

One is inclined to say “dayenu” (Hebrew for “it would be sufficient”-the translation loses something). We drove from there toward the Capitol building, another obsession of ours and also the destination of the March from Selma. I did not realize that the church that Martin Luther King Jr was pastor of at that time was the closest private property within a block of the capitol. After we walked all over the capitol grounds we walked back to the church because our car was parked there. We saw a gentleman outside the church clearly waiting for something and he greeted us with the standard question we get when someone sees our NY plates out of context, “where you folks from?” with this for a conversation starter we figured out he was the current pastor of the church, the only other car parked on the street was in the pastor’s parking spot. He invited us in for a tour of the church and a bit of explanation of its history.

Now we decided to have dinner in town. Throwing a dart at the restaurant guide we came of with Nancy Paterson’s Bistro. When we arrived at the specified address there was no such restaurant. Not to be denied Carol called and determined that they could satisfy her vegetarian needs and got driving directions. They were wrong and we chased all over town. Three calls later – believing that this restaurant had become the holy grail – we arrived there. It was worth all the chasing around, it is a superb bistro and the people are very nice. I would not hesitate to send anyone there with the expectation they would have a fine (not inexpensive) meal. They also make a fine martini.

Up early the next morning we rolled out for another 300+ mile day. This brought us through Atlanta, right through on I 85, and eventually up to the Cherokee, NC area where we stayed at Fort Wilderness CG, terrible entrance road and WiFi didn’t work. Up again early and onto the Blue Ridge Parkway for a log slow haul to Tapps RV in Asheville. We will stay here again when we are in the area. Great location near the BRP and town, good WiFi and slow laundry. Nice people both staff and fellow Rvers.

I see that the pictures I want to include are still not processed, I’ll update this and repost when I have the pictures on line.