Day 6-9: Houston and San Antonio

The next round of stops on the travels was at the hospitality of the Lone Star State. (BTW: we never did find out what is the deal with “The Lone Star” status..anyone know.? We asked several tour guides at the Alamo and they were clueless, but friendly.)

We landed in Houston at my Brother Brian’s and wife Kelly’s place in Friendswood at 2:30 am. Whew. And Brian was still up waiting for us...what a trooper. Brian, Kelly and friends have been doing an out reach and reconciliation work to the east side of Houston for over 7 years and this weekend the were doing their monthly burger and hot dog bar-b-que in the park, which has a small skate board, a covered basketball court, soccer field and a small plaza with community room. It is a predominately Hispanic community with some African-Americans. Being from the PacNW, and in a very lily white community, I wonder if at times we are missing out on some cultural-social characteristics that add something to our lives. Brian and Kelly have been working with some great Brothers and Sisters in Christ in this loving outreach and it has been fruitful in their own lives and in the life of the community they are loving. Crime has decreased significantly, gang activity, graffiti has decreased significantly, the park itself has become safer and people have been touch by the conversations regarding the Lord.


I helped with the food and Colin showed his uncle and the others that while the white man has no hops, he may have moves. In the midst of this, there are conversations and encouragements in the Lord. We must have served over 60 people in the park from skate boarders, an Hispanic soccer team, and many families in the park. It was a great time.

Colin and I really appreciated working with Brian ‘n Kelly in serving others. After the park experience, Colin and Brian went to Grace Community Church where Brian and Kelly were in charge of the church expo Brian and Colin worked on set up things until mid-night. The following day, Colin and I went to church with Brian and Kelly, where cousin Hailey busted out a sweet modern dance routine with her group Noize. Later we out to Pappas for bar-b-qued food and one of my now favorite drinks…. Watermelon juice with chunks of watermelon in it…. It is fantastic and very healthy.

We left Houston and headed to San Antonio to visit another battle site…the Alamo. And to do a float of the very neat San Antonio River Walk. We were going to only spend a few hours, but ended up spending over half a day cruising down the river walk and reliving the history and lives of the people at the Alamo.

Day 4-5: Jackson, Mississippi

After New Orleans and Oak Alley, we drove north to Jackson, MS and the John Perkins Center for Reconciliation and Development and its guesthouse: The Antioch House. After getting unpacked, we went out for the world famous waffles at the Waffle House with Andrew Koch who is the Assistant to John Perkins.

John Perkins is one of those rare people who have not only experienced the harsh realities of discrimination in its most brutal forms, to the extent that he was beaten almost to death and jailed. He is rare in that he has been a consistent, positive voice of Christ’s love in the pursuit of racial equality. After 50 years of carrying this message, he is a man of uncommon hope, optimism and energy.

The following day, Andrew had set up what we thought was going to be a brief meeting with John. We walked over to his house and found him in his blue overalls managing some of the business of the Center. He had us sit down with him and his wife Vera Mae in their kitchen and ended up on a full range of topics for four hours.

Of the many topics covered that morning, the two most impressionable were his comment of Sunday morning being the most segregated time of the week, and just listening to him and the vision and energy he has for doing the work God has laid before him regardless of age. And this is exemplified in his vision for retirement communities of saints who, in the autums of their years, are assets to the King in using their lives and skills in positive, constructive ways for others.

Regarding Sunday morning being the most segregated time of the week in America, Perkins continues to challenge the American church (black, white, Latino, etc) to work more collaboratively to break down the walls of segregation that separate Christians by reaching out beyond their own comfort zones engaging fellow believers in loving others and serving Christ.

After the four hour meeting, John invited us to attend a lecture he was giving at the Mississippi Christian Legal Association at the Mississippi College of Law the following morning. That evening, we went out for the best and messiest (redundant I know) barbeque ribs we have ever had (see picture for proof)

And after that, we went to the state capitol building for a brief walk around. The legislators were in session, and before we could say “zippidy do da”, a lady asked us our names, told us to go sit in the balcony and she would have us introduced to the floor of House of Representatives. In amazement, we did this and sure enough….they did….two guys from the Seattle area where the salmon is delicious….. Oh Well. They are real friendly down there. They turned and waved, we waved…it was real friendly.

It was quite a day.

The following day, we took John up on his offer and went to the lecture. There were about 30 lawyers, former politicians and the former governor. One major take-away on this, was John said that for leaders to really lead their people, they have to experience the pain of their followers. (You must immerse yourself in their struggle, not just empathize, or sympathize, but engage in. )
(There was so much more…. We will just have to relate the other great nuggets once we see you and if you are interested.)

We left Jackson full of appreciation of a man (and his wife) who have stood the test of beatings, harassment, pain, jail, etc to do the right thing and at 78 years of age, John really has the joy of the Lord and very positive out look on life.

Our next stop was just out side of Jackson….Vicksburg; one of the cities that was the beginning of the end for the Confederates as Grant and Sherman began their march with superior armies and supplies through the South. They had resurrected a Civil War iron clad warship called the Cairo, which visitors and walk through. Very neat, have to go back sometime.

Day 3: Oak Alley

As the Cajun sun rose over New Orleans, we were still asleep; but did manage to leave our “fine” accommodations to head for Oak Alley Plantation. This mansion was used in the movie Gone With The Wind and is one of the most opulent plantations around. Dad had been there before and had quite an experience, so we figured to give it a go and see what kind of interesting experience and conversations we might encounter.

The plantation derives its name from 28, three hundred year old oak trees that had been planted to form a corridor or alley way of massive oaks leading up to the house. The mansion and grounds are quite magnificent and recall an era of high society and sophisticated living by the elite of the south during the antebellum years (early-mid 1800’s).

Throughout the tour of the mansion, it was interesting to note that amid the descriptions of the lives the people who lived here, there was little to no reference regarding the lives and conditions of the 113 slaves to who built the mansion and toiled in its 1000 acres of sugar cane fields. When pressed on this by dad and I, the tour guide became noticeably uncomfortable about the issue and deflected some of the questions with comments like, “the slaves on this plantation were well cared for and received several water breaks when working in the fields. Because they were considered property, they were well cared for, like you would a tractor.” (this is my recollection of his comments, but the tractor comment is verbatim) Another tour guide we talked to, in trying to get a better answer, said they don’t like to talk about the slaves because it isn’t “politically correct.” But how can ignoring the issue be a better approach?

As dad and I drove out of Oak Alley, both of us were surprised at how the issue of slavery and its relationship to the Civil War is suppressed and hasn’t really been dealt with. Many folks haven’t reached the point where they can talk openly and honestly about the horrors and oppression of one race of people denigrating another. Instead, at Oak Alley, it was all about the grandeur and good-ol-days when the southern society was elevated to a place of prominence on the beaten backs and broken bodies of God’s children, who just happened to be black.

To get another dimension of this issue, we headed to Jackson, Mississippi and a two day visit with a Christian civil rights leader…John Perkins.

Day 2: Swinging on in to the Big Easy

Day two of our grand adventure saw us leaving Atlanta for New Orleans. On the way, we stopped by Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. Here, 100,000 Union troops under General Sherman were marching towards Atlanta, playing a game of cat and mouse with the 65,000 Confederate troops under General Johnston. The Confederates had retreated to Kennesaw Mtn. and dug-in as the Union troops advanced on their positions. The Federals, though superior in numbers and arms had to charge up a very steep and wooded hill, into fortified positions. Needless to say, that didn't work so well and after loosing 3,500 troops in the frontal assault Sherman, at the request of his generals, stopped the attack and instead went around the mountain, again pushing towards Atlanta.

While touring the battlefields artillary positions, we ran into one local guy whose great-grandfather fought for the Confederates at this battle. It was easy to tell he was still up tight about Sherman's scorched-earth policy towards the cities his army conquered, especially Atlanta. Another gentleman from Tennessee while discussing the battle remarked, "Yep this is where the bad guys came up (referring to the Union troops). A different perspective to say the least. The exhibit was well done, movie and walk through.

We then jumped back into the car, prepared our usual feast for lunch (ppj, assorted nuts, carrots and water) and mosied on down to New Orleans. After only 8 hours of driving we arrived and made our way down to the French Quarter for a late dinner. Now dad has bragged about eating alligator on some of his trips down here so I had to try it, to see if indeed it tastes like chicken. So we ordered, alligator, crayfish cake and some Jumbalaya. For the record, alligator does in fact resemble chicken, but requires a little more chomping. Tough, but tasty.

We then did a quick tour of the French Quarter (not a whole lot of positive things going on down there at 12 o-clock at night and apptly summed up by our waiter as they modern-day version of Sodom and Gomorah) and made our way back to our car, parked in a dark, dank, rat-infested alley. The Dad was wondering what are we doing here....but then remembered that Solomon took his son to the edge and showed the folly of the sinful life... Actually, dad has been there 3+ times and it has gotten worse everytime.... this was the last time. There are other things to see in the Big Easy.. (Dad)It was kind of sad, actually, probably some very upstanding folks, especially guys, having a hard time even walking down the street. The waiter recounted some episodes that are not the best to put in print... Lord help us.

Day 1: Here We Go

THE day, this day, has finally arrived. The day on which we begin our illustrious adventure.

Pops flew in several days before The Adventure began and we spent several days "doing" DC. We went to the top of the Washington Monument, 500+ in the air, with a spectacular 360 degree view of the city, visited an array of monuments and museums and toured him around the Columbia Heights neighborhood where I have lived for the past year. I showed dad some of the local hotspots like Bens' Chili Bowl and had dinner with a bunch of my friends before we departed west via the south.

Our departure day began off key, you might say, as both of us hardly slept the night before due to my housemates walking down the creeky old stairs of our 1920's rowhouse about every couple of hours to go out for a smoke. Once things died down (about 4am) dad's air mattress went AWOL and was introduced to the hardwood floors.

Needless to say, when morning finally arrived, we were both itching to get going. And get going we did. First stop; Prison Fellowship. Our family has been a long-time supporter of PFM and since we were this close (they are based just outside of DC) we might as well drop in and say "hi". The nice ladies there gave us a tour of the impressive facilities and showed us Chuck Colson's office (which was suprisingly small and simple; but it did have one of CS Lewis's pipes on display).

After being supplied with pop and tea by the gracious hosts, we hopped in the Honda Accord we (Colin for the most part) just bought (another story for another time) and "hit the road, Jack". 13 hours of driving here we come. We passed through rain in Virginia, snow in North Carolina, skirted across South Carolina and moved into Georgia as we made for our sweet pillows in Atlanta. (Where for art thou O beautiful bed?)

We pulled into Atlanta (Marietta to be specific) about 11:30pm and proceeded to crash (onto our pillows, not the car). Tomorrow we'd do some sight seeing and push to New Orleans, but for now the combination of not sitting in the car and instead lying in a bed are golden.

Then on to New Orleans and the French Quarter. To be continued.