Mrs. E. and I just returned from a trip to Charlotte, North Carolina. We were visiting our daughter. We are very proud of her as she is a Hospice nurse. Here is a poem about the trip:
Journey South
Ohio state troopers are very busy along our route.
They seem to be targeting semi-truck drivers.
In West Virginia a black officer walks up to
a white man in a car he has pulled over.
It instantly brings a smile to my face.
We pass a colorful Caribbean restaurant in West Virginia.
I note that it is located on Bland Street in Bland County.
You will instantly know when you are in Virginia.
That is because state police cars dot every mile.
The state for lovers and speeding fines.
Signs note that Radar detectors are illegal.
They don’t want to give you a fighting chance.
We dined at a Virginia pub featuring Maryland crab.
Behind us sits a couple in camouflage clothing,
including their ball caps and shoes.
But I can see them very clearly
as the barroom is brightly lit.
The guy drinks a Bud as it sounds manly.
It is also brain food as it made Bud wiser.
His camo t-shirt has a skull and crossbones
but the bones are actually two 45 caliber pistols.
Printed very large and boldly on the front and back
is, “Second Amendment America’s Homeland Security.”
We wouldn’t be sitting here in North America
if Native Americans would have united their tribes
and formed their very own Homeland Security.
In Charlotte our daughter takes us to dinner.
We sit down at an authentic Carolina BBQ joint.
It strangely features; St. Louis ribs, Nashville hot chicken
and half a BBQ chicken with Alabama white sauce.
We enjoyed a tour of the town on the Funny Bus.
We were excited to see non-profit King’s Kitchen.
They train the previously unemployable area resident
drug abusers and former inmates seeking a new beginning.
They serve Southern cuisine with local farm ingredients
and 100% of the profits goes to Charlotte’s poor and homeless.
It was also nice to see The Thirsty Beaver Saloon.
Working-class Blue Ribbon Beer and old school country music
has survived here despite upscale apartments surrounding it.
They refused to sell their bar and a developer paid $8.5 million
for the all property behind and next to them.
They sit like a tiny island surrounded by water.
Kudos to Brooks Sandwich House, home of the chili burger.
The late Mr. Brooks donated over two acres of land
so Habitat for Humanity could build low-income housing.
I’m saddened my daughter has moved so far away.
Yet, I like that that she has settled in a place
where so many people are fighting the good fight!
On the journey home we noted a sign on a semi.
It largely stated, “It’s flash a trucker day.”
We had great weather for all our vacation days.
That is until we saw the welcome to Ohio sign.
From that second on we drove with our flashers on
as it was raining so hard it was difficult to see.
It’s been such a rainy summer that I’m thinking
of trading our car and house in on a house boat.
I could dock it in my front yard.
RIP Dr. John: “Revolution”
“It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings.”
—Ann Landers
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