Western USA 2003
Nearby Cherokee Village, AK in the Ozarks to Chickasaw State Park, TN
Did not sleep well kept thinking about the flat tire. Awake at 8am and tried to get the tire off but the aluminum wheel is frozen on the metal rim, no amount of yanking with a crowbar can move it. I begin thinking about the last house I saw, a small wooden mountain shack about 5 miles back and beyond that the town about 10 miles through mostly empty forest road. Feeling sore, tired and frustrated after 1.5 hours of working on the jack I pick up a 25lb rock from the fire circle and hurl it at the tire and rim.. the force of the blow is enough to break the seal and the tire comes off! Successful with this mightily blow of frustration I am able to get the spare and continue onward with the journey. It is the only mechanical vehicle problem of the trip, and solved with a small boulder. With no working spare getting the flat fixed is now a priority at the first major town, which looks like Memphis.
Working down out of the Ozarks onto the Mississippi Delta the world quickly and dramatically changes. From the Appalachia like green hillbilly mountains into the lowland black culture dominated Delta it is a different universe in just a few short miles. Drive into Memphis along scenic route 63. Find a tire place and drop tire off and then head over to a BBQ shop for an amazingly good BBQ sandwich. Next door is a coin-op laundry and do laundry. Approached by a black man who had been watching me across the street wondering who I was, he asked me for a dollar. This part of town reminds me of Route 40 going into Baltimore, old and run down and poor but lots of character. Head over to the Memphis Public Library which is a large complex overrun with elementary school age black kids all in black pants and white shirt uniforms very neatly dressed and proper, running around wild and loud like kids do. The library staff seemed overwhelmed but resigned to being the kids afternoon keepers.
The black/white culture here is very different from up north, everyone is incredibly nice and I never felt worried for my safety like I do in northern city's. There is not that sense of anger and hostility here everyone is just very nice. At the same time the whites seem to treat the blacks like children, as if they need to be told what to do and cant do things on their own. There is a strong sense of white parent/ black child. It is nice in a way because the culture seems very, well, pleasant. Yet also sad because it is a form of permanent childhood as if many of the kids will never reach full potential because of the oppressive master/child relationship. The old south is clearly still here in Memphis.
After the tire is fixed and re-united with my truck I get an oil change and head out east to Summerville passing briefly through the town that is the hometown of my grandmother and great-aunt where they have an Old South plantation trying to survive in the modern world. The town is growing and things are moving fast it is not the sleepy town I remember with 4 lane mega-highways and developments popping up. I buy a Dr. Pepper to bring home as a gift.
Continue east through peaceful and settled back roads of TN to Chickasaw State Park and find a dead end dirt road to camp on. Dinner of salmon bisque stew (bought in OR) and fresh veggies, able to get out and walk tonight without the mosquito's feeling much better.
Posted by stbalbach at September 22, 2003 01:41 AM