Today we're in Urbana.
Over the last week we have spent time with family in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and now tonight in Illinois. We have one more stop - Minnesota - and then its just us for a while.
Each stop has been fun and engaging. It's been good to see family that we don't get to spend much time with ... and to catch up and feel connected.
And, we've meandered through countless back roads, eaten at wonderful diners, and enjoyed the picturesque charm of what Sarah Palin calls "Real America."
I've had my first opportunity to be welcomed into a cafe with my "properly registered concealed weapon" and was thanked for providing extra security. If I happened to have a gun with me. Which I don't. The sleepy little town of Roswell OH didn't look to me like it needed the extra protection, but what do I know? I don't live in "Real America" - I live in Florida.
Indiana has a fine, heritage-embracing love affair going on with the Confederate Flag! How delightful! I felt so at home. And here all this time I thought Indiana was more of a Northern State! Who knew?? Why they have quite a lot of sympathy, empathy and love of Southern heritage. Imagine my surprise when, in the middle of downtown Indianapolis, they have a GIGANTIC (and I mean GIGANTIC) Civil War monument ... to the Union Army! "Real America" embraces itself!
And then coming into Urbana the good folks at "Guns Save Life dot Com" provide entertaining and informative signage letting me know that "Shooting sports are safe and fun, there's no need to fear a gun" ... Whew!
Why I am feeling ever so much more relieved knowing that I'm surrounded by so many guns!!
Take that you Kenyan Muslim Gun-hating President Obama!
Now you know how Schweitzer felt. Few things sweeter than a road trip with someone you like/love.
ReplyDeleteWe are having a very lovely time. Most of the family we're seeing is Joe's ... and we just don't see them that often.
ReplyDeleteIt's a joy to laugh and reminisce and slowly meander around the lives of others.
I can get caught up in my own life, my own worries, all the things I don't do well and wish I could do more of and so it goes.
Driving through these towns they are full of people living their own important lives. And for a brief second I'm dimly aware of them.
That is enough for me to gain some perspective. And it feels good!
Hugs, Michael.
Yeah, the guns again. The people fer 'em and the people agin' em, are from two different parts of the country, even here in New England. It's almost as if when we're packed a lot more closely together and there's less wild stuff to shoot at, their usefulness declines or something.
ReplyDelete(And yeah, I think firearm advocacy and longing for those halcyon days of a forcibly servile underclass is a matter of correlation, and not causation. For the record. But thanks for keeping us safe anyway.)
Keifus - you do know, right, that my tongue is firmly in cheek and that I don't actually feel safer with so many guns around?
ReplyDeleteMy attempts at irony and humor are very often quite weak. Although it seems so sharp and clear to me in my mind.
:)
Next year our travels are focused entirely on New England and The St. Lawrence Seaway. So you better buff up those floors.
No, your humor and irony were pretty clear, and I believe I've read your opinions before anyway. I usually approach this subject noting that there are perfectly legitimate uses for guns that don't involve killing people (such as entertainment, or acquiring food, even appreciation). Of course, one of those legitimate uses is threatening people, and in those big hypotheticals where we keep our overlords in check or need to scare away the roving bands of mutants, then, okay maybe, but threats the day-to-day of staying safe? What a miserable world to celebrate.
ReplyDeleteRead: "threats to protect the day-to-day desire of staying safe..." (Or perhaps to imagine that they protect it.)
ReplyDelete:) I'm not so sure our overlords gave us the 2nd Amendment so that we could keep them in check but they have certainly convinced many of us that it is a good idea to have a gun to keep SOMEONE in check.
ReplyDeleteProbably someone brown.
Yes, I do believe they are sincere in their belief that they are keeping someone safe. But I feel oddly less safe around them.
Paradox is a plaything of the educated.