Day 26 ALMOST HOME! MESA VERDE

It's hard for me to grasp that my amazing journey across the US is almost over.  The countless things I've seen, learned, the people I've met and the history that is now like family to me...the miles, the questions, the egg mcmuffins and wine....the gorgeous campgrounds and not so gorgeous showers...the daily terror of driving alone in unfamiliar places and always seeing so much beauty out my windshield....it's been the most fulfilling trip...much more than I ever imagined.  

Seems fitting to end it close to home in a place I never grow tired of with a story I've never understood.  The Anasazi Indians came to the high plateaus of Mesa Verde around 475.  They stayed, built some non permanent dwellings and moved on.  100's of years passed and the next group of natives came along and built more permanent dwellings and started planting corn on the mesa top.  Then somewhere around 1200 the Anasazi decided that they needed to 1.  get away from the heat and cold of the mesa top by moving under the rim  2.  built incredible fortress like villages tucked into the most unreachable indentations of the mesa lip to protect themselves from......WHAT?? other tribes, Sasquatch, disease?????? We've never been able to put a finger on the reason these people put on their best engineering hats and built mega cities hanging in the air, unreachable by just about everyone.  And then, within 100 years, they left it all.  WHY??? Drought? Disease? sick and tired of climbing up those walls?  Too many creeps to fight off?  We don't know that either.  But for over 600 years the canyon metropolis was left in silence til a couple of cowboys stumbled on the Cliff Palace in 1888.  The rest is history.  The last time I came here 30 years ago you could climb all over the dwellings.  Now you have to buy a ticket with a Ranger (but even that is finished for the season now).  Still, we saw plenty but never really felt like we understood why they did it or HOW?  Pity the poor indian whose job it was to haul all those rocks up the cliff face!  How did they do it??? 

Maybe that's the secret here.  People can do the most amazing things when they want to.... like fight in the most gruesome battles for 4 years in the Civil War and somehow survive or build the most impossible structures high up in the cliffs brick by brick 1000 years ago or drive clear across the country learning about a whole new part of the world.  YUP, THAT'S IT!  People are only limited by what they tell themselves they can't do.  

Hugs from the road.  I will miss it.  

"the more I paint it, the more it will be mine" Georgia O'keefe Day 25 Abiquiu New Mexico Ghost Ranch

A long journey.  The first time I tried to get here was almost 40 years ago but my two tires blew and I ended up staying at Carol King's ranch.
The next time was about 25 years ago.  My vw bus engine blew up in Santa Fe and by the time they fixed it, I was out of time.
So today was a big day.   GHOST RANCH....ABIQUIU NEW MEXICO.  Home to the most famous woman artist of the 20th century, Georgia O'Keefe.

Years ago my next door neighbor, an old but beautiful Hispanic woman told me she'd been O'Keefe housekeeper in Abiquiu.  She showed me the little sketch O'Keefe made for her for a xmas gift....can you imagine what that's worth now??

Brent and I managed to drive the 6 hours from Carlsbad Caverns to Ghost Ranch today just in time to take a Landscape Tour of Ghost Ranch.  Wendy, our lovely guide, took us over the 21,000 acres Ghost Ranch and showed us so many of the places O'Keefe painted, where she lived and how she lived.  The best part was seeing the painting up against the real backdrop.

Georgia lived also in a house in Abiquiu town and I was able to get a few pix before I got kicked out...I think Georgia would've been proud of me for not backing down....that was the way she was.

The scenery on Ghost Ranch reminds me (and I'm sure, you) of home in Southern Utah but it's how she translated that to canvas that's remarkable.
No question, she was temperamental, cranky, an absolute perfectionist and a visionary far beyond anyone during her time period.

I'm just glad I finally got to see her space.  Hugs from the road.

Day 22 Dallas....me and POTUS...or POTI???

WOW!  It really really rains hard here.  Driving into Dallas this morning was a white knuckle float with trucks and cars spinning out all over the place and visibility near zero so I was very glad to make it safely to the Book Depository Building to relive some history....
YOU VOTED RIGHT???? RIGHT???? ok.  On this ELECTION DAY (hey Lincoln was also elected on November 8, 1864 but no, I didn't know him) it seems like I need to review my long and weird history with multiple POTI...sounds a bit illicit?

I was 6 years old at a Catholic school on Nov 22 1963 when JFK was shot.  We were playing on the playground and all of the sudden the bells started ringing like crazy in the bell tower of the Cathedral and the nuns came running out and rushed us into the church.  We could tell they were very upset, some were crying and all I could figure was another world war or something was upon us.  The Monsignor climbed the pulpit and told us all that our POTUS had been brutally shot and that school was closing.  Confused, I walked the 8 blocks home, sure no one would be there (it was early afternoon and mom didn't get off work til later) but mom was home...crying...watching tv.  Scared me.  And so it went for the next few days...mom crying, watching tv. Me trying to figure out what was going on.  (that's me front and center)

Fast forward to 1969.  My amazing mom is National President of Executive Secretaries Inc and she's got to speak at the convention in Dallas.  I had to go. (no one to watch me at home and I was pretty used to being hauled all over the place and how to behave with the grownups....smile and wave and BE QUIET).  The highlight of the trip was going to be meeting LBJ...this was after he'd been president and he was quite ill.  What I remember is this really old guy with longggggg hair in a pony tail....yup, LBJ, who wouldn't do more than wave at us from his porch BUT LadyBird got one look at lil ol me and said "come on honey, let's go in the kitchen...you can help me fix things up for dinner." Of course all I did was stand around and smile and say thank you and yes ma'am.  But she was really nice to me and of course mom quizzed me for hours later.  (that's me, front and left)

Fast forward again to 1974.  Mom is now living in DC as the head writer editor for the BLM under the Carter administration.  I'd embroidered her a levi jacket years before and Ms. Carter decided she really loved that jacket and could I make her one....not realizing that this hand embroidery took YEARS of my oh so busy life....but I did it anyway and got a very lovely letter back from her...it's somewhere in my stuff.   (sorry, no pix)

Fast forward to about 1996, before I was doing ships but playing the harp a lot.  I get this call one afternoon from my agent that he's got a gig for me playing a private birthday party up in Park City and can I do it.  It's SNOWING like crazy but I had studded snows so I said I'd try.  Then he tells me he CAN'T tell me who it's for but it's special...uh...ok.  So I white knuckle it up the canyon and get to this huggggeeee house and there's two very big, very wet and grumpy guys in suits that stop me at the gate.  I have to get out??? Ok.  But when they said they had to take the harp out to inspect it I said NOPE.  NOT IN THIS BLIZZARD!!  So after they checked the whole car, they let me pass.  I set up in a nice room next to a small dining room set for 4 people....small gig indeed.  Still didn't have any idea of who it was for til NON OTHER THAN OUR FUTURE PRESIDENT, HILLARY CLINTON strolls in and says hi, then comes Chelsea and a bit later comes good ol' POTUS himself.   Was I scared?  Actually no.  I was more scared of the drive home.  We had a great time.  Once they knew I took requests...and could play ANYTHING they requested (pretty easy stuff), we started yakking and I even taught Chelsea how to do some wicked glissandos.  It was a fun night and yes, the drive home SUCKED.

Fast forward a few years.  I get a call from said agent who says he's got a gig for me that night playing for a private party Mitt Romney is throwing for GW Bush.  Am I available.  The answer was a very emphatic NO, I HAVE TO CLEAN OUT MY CAT BOX.

Lastly, fast forward to 8 years ago shortly after Obama took office.  I spotted a little blip in the newspaper that he'd appropriated a gob of cash to fix up old houses and make them more energy efficient.  My 1880 house was the poster child for energy INEFFICIENT.   So I called and they came. Long story short, 6 months later POTUS OBAMA has dropped over 70k in my house....new windows, new appliances and one great big new boiler.  I have written multiple thank you notes to him and I have been steadfast in my support (I was before the gift).  I'm hoping some day I can say it in person.

So today is all about POTUS.  And today, standing on the grassy knoll

 and in the street where the X is where Kennedy's brains went flying up in the air

 and up on the 6th floor of the Book Depository Building  where Lee Harvey Oswald took at least one shot (2nd from the top floor, far right window)

and remembering that horror of that day with mom crying, I think I figured it out.
The POTUS is US.
We make them win or lose, live and sometimes die and we ask them to give every ounce of their energy to us so that we can have the best American life possible.  I'm hoping that tomorrow when this horrific election is over, we can all reach out to each other, listen to what works and what doesn't and WORK TOGETHER.  Because really, it all starts with US, not some woman or man in a really tough job but US.....PEOPLE of the United States.    Hugs from the road.

"Give me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy" F. Scott Fitzgerald Day 19 Montgomery Alabama

Today was another huge surprise.  Not sure what I expected to see in the capitol city of Alabama but I sure didn’t expect such a beautiful city, again, filled with gorgeous architecture and NO PEOPLE?!?Maybe it’s because it’s a Saturday and there was a big game going on but seriously, the whole city was completely deserted.  Suited me fine. 

And there was this amazing chain of connections…Civil War plus Civil Rights plus the Gatsbys.  But I didn’t know it was all connected till the end. 

The original White House of the Confederacy is right next to the Capitol Building.  The White House saw all the main players in the Confederacy including my beloved Mary Chesnut who complained to her husband James that the carpets were “squishy with tobacco spit” and the accommodations were definitely not first rate.  I stopped here briefly to pay my respects before walking across the street to pay my respects to the front steps of the capitol where Martin Luther King made his amazing speech AFTER the long walk from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 (I remember that on the news).   But then I noticed William Sayre,  the architect for the White House across the street was also involved in the capitol building and that’s when the connection happened.  

ZELDA SAYRE.  WIFE OF F. SCOTT FITZGERALD….I had spent the morning after I arrived in Montgomery taking a wonderful tour of the house she, Scott and Scottie, their daughter lived in.  

  The whole story was very sad on every level.  Not because she was a diagnosed (and badly treated medically) schizophrenic  and was locked up til the mental hospital burned down but because her “loving” husband Scott cheated on her over and over, stole her one goal in her life: to have a book of her own published which she did 10 years after Scott was nothing but a drunkard.  The horrible part is whilst she was in the hospital trying to recover from a bout of the crazies,  her book was at the publishers and they sent it back saying it was ready to go but needed a few changes made.  HE DID IT!  Without telling her, he basically re wrote the book and sent it back.  They rejected it!  She found out and re re wrote it back to as close as she could remember the original and it was finally published…to good reviews but rotten sales.  

Then he ran off to Hollywood and had Zelda committed.  He died shortly after (at his lovers apt) and Zelda died years later in the fire.  Amazingly, critics HATED the Great Gatsby saying it was too late to be glorifying rich folk in the 20’s by the 1930s.  It roared to popularity in the 40’s and seems to be going strong.   Zelda’s other passion in her life was drawing and she was obsessed with paper dolls.  She wanted to make a history book of nothing but paper dolls.  Her dolls and her artwork was racy, cutting edge and very unique (quite Erte).   

the hospital where she died in the fire

Their graves. They were both paupers when they died even though Zelda was the grand niece of the famous architect of so many buildings in Montgomery…too many hospital bills.  

 

And that leads me to the election.  There are some people that believe Trump will abolish the ACA if he gets elected.  He can’t.  That would take congress and there are too many people on it to do that but there’s a pretty serious problem with the ACA now.  It was never intended just for sick people to use.  It was only going to work well if EVERYONE got on it.  (sick people only will overtax the system which is exactly what has happened).  The good news is that LOTS of people are seeing their premiums not change or ever go down.  Some are certainly seeing theirs go up.  PLEASE BE PATIENT AND GO THRU THE PAPERWORK TO FIND A PLAN THAT WORKS FOR YOU.  They’re out there.   

Tomorrow I will cross the famous Selma bridge and head to my last Civil War site,  VICKSBURG.  Tonight and am camped by the spectacular Alabama river…it’s huge, the fish are jumpin’, the sun is setting and I’m sending you all hugs from the road.    

Little Italy in Macon Georgia...Day 18 Macon

What a lovely surprise Macon turned out to be!  Of course I knew it was the hq for the Allman Bros and Otis Redding and Lynnyrd Skynrd (sp???) but I certainly wasnt' expecting a mecca of magnificent Colonial Greek houses and certainly NOT this Italian gem...built by none other that Jefferson Davis' Treasury head, William Johnston (he did build it BEFORE the war tho on his own dime).  Johnston married a lovely young thing and took her off to Italy for 3 years of knick knack collecting before they returned to Macon and built this little shack on the hill in 1860. 24 rooms, 5 floors jammed packed with enough Italian art that the Ufizzi should worry BUT that's not the thing that jerked my chain....between Johnston's ideas and the architects balls, things are in this house that I've NEVER seen in a house of this age!  Read on below...

Have a good look at that lovely marble staircase for the entryway.  This is form and function at it's best.  Macon gets HOT and Johnston liked his wine so he built a HUGE wine cellar UNDER the front porch where it would stay cool under the marble and underground.  THEN the doors in the basement to the wine cellar could be louvered down (see below) so that the cool air from the wine cellar (and it was like a cold wind tunnel in there) would filter into the room that was the pantry.  CLEVER STUFF!! 

Have a close look at the entryway of the house.  CHECK OUT THOSE AMAZING CURVED DOORS WITH THE ETCHED GLASS.  But have a good look at the walls...they're not marble, they're painted....but whoever painted them did a truly expert job.  Common in Italy...not so common in Macon Georgia. 

And here's what really was amazing...look at this gorgeous door between the two ballrooms... it's a POCKET DOOR!!  THE LARGEST EVER MADE....EVER.  Slides perfectly into the hallway back wall after 150 years.  And (gasp) there were 4 SETS of CURVED (the wood and the glass) pocket doors!!!!

Mrs. Johnston was quite taken by the sculpture at the Uffizi so she had an artist there make her one...this is Ruth Gleaning, Carrarra marble, the most famous piece in the south.     

And this one I spotted immediately.  Charles Lefevre was a famous romantic French painter early 19th century.  Somehow Johnston managed to take this off the Met Museums hands when they were cleaning out the basement....we should all be so lucky! 

Tiffany was busy but sent the design for this magnificent CURVED glass window in the dining room and...

something else I've never seen before... bas relief wainscoting!!!  

Hitchcock would LOVE this staircase BUT it serves a very important purpose.  Not only does the house have hot and cold running water, in floor heating, an intercom and modern plumbing...before the White House did but this magnificent curving staircase is actually the air conditioner.  It forces hot air up to the cupola which opens to draw the hot air out.  

Needless to say, I had a great day in Macon and right now I'm sitting outside at the most beautiful lake surrounded by autumn foliage and way too many yappy ankle biters but hey, no complaints.  

hope you all have a great weekend....hugs from the road!!!

First Lady of the Confederacy Varina Howell Davis Day 11 Richmond VA

Although so much of the focus on Richmond is on Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy from 1861-65, not much is said about his second wife, Varina Howell Davis and that's a mistake.  But those that knew her during those war years and later would heartily agree that Varina wore the pants, and wore them well.  

Raised by a distinguished family in Natchez Mississippi with all the proper education of a young woman of the era, Varina decided at a young age that she wanted more...more education and more experience, much to the dismay of her family and neighbors.  She began getting tutoring from Judge George Winchester, a Harvard grad and family friend who stated that 'if ever there's a top notch legal mind, it's Varina.'  After she married Jefferson Davis, 20 years her senior and during the war years, it was Varina who was often asked at war conferences with Generals abounding, what she thought and she was much more adept at seeing a potential pitfall or success in a battelplan than her often ill husband.  Most of the books in the house on Clay street in Richmond (the White House) were hers and she read and wrote profusely of the political situation.  She bore him 7 children, none of who survived her.  

After the war and capture of her husband Varina spent one year with him, caring for him in prison then returned to her home.  Jefferson Davis had long been a philandering husband and after his release from prison, he moved into a mansion in Florida, a gift from a female friend.  Varina stayed away, caring for her children and family and only returned when Davis was on his deathbed.  

She moved to New York City after that and became a very successful writer for the New York World, the newspaper owned by her friends the Pulitzers.  She passed away there at the age of 80 October 16th 1906 and is buried next to her husband in Richmond.  

Today is a big day of bloody battles....Chancellors and the Wilderness and then I'm off to my most north eastern stop, Norfolk and the OCEAN.  I MADE IT!!!!  Hugs from the road and thanks so much for your comments on my blog....makes me very happy to hear from you all.   

Susie King Taylor Day 15 Savannah Georgia

They really call you 'honey or sugar' and I really did like it.  Savannah is a lovely little gem of a city.  I was surprised at its small size but huge history and then there's those moss covered trees everywhere....

My interest of course was to hit as many Civil War spots as I could but Mathew was having none of that as Fort Pulaski outside of town is closed til further notice but just by luck I was able to get a personal tour from the nicest man setting up for a film at the Green-Meldrim house, where W Tecumsah Sherman set up HQ and sent the famous "Mr President I give you Savannah for a Christmas present" telegram.  And of course the flip side....the spot where Forrest sat and talked about life and chocolate.....see my fb post earlier....Anyway, it was just a beautiful day.

But there's a very special story about a woman dedicated to serving others regardless of her color or theirs.  I'm speaking of SUSIE KING TAYLOR 1848-1912, who was Georgia's FIRST BLACK TEACHER OF FREED SLAVES AND FIRST BLACK NURSE.  Susie, a slave, was sent by her owner to Savannah when she was 7.  Somehow, she found a teacher who taught her the 3 r's and she was a stellar student.  When the war broke out in Savannah she attracted the attention of the Union army who needed a teacher for their black new freed slave recruits.  But not content to just teach, she trained to be a nurse and cared for the sick and injured black union troops first there and then in multiple field hospitals.  She met and married her first husband, a union officer who was later killed and then married years later after she had moved to Boston.  In 1890 she wrote a highly acclaimed book called Reminiscences about her experiences as a black woman nurse in the Civil War.
It's hard to imagine what her life must've been like during those years with the Union Army....hard enough for the Union to accept black soldiers but a black teacher/nurse that's a woman???

I'm camped at the most ridiculously beautiful campground complete with goats, a huge lake and alligators.  Should be a lovely night.  Missing you all and sending hugs from the road.