Dear Journal,
Back on the east coast again!! The road trip was a crazy time though! Last Sunday turned out to be the most eventful day of our trip. First, Maddi got a speeding ticket in Oklahoma so she was pretty moody. We'd just had a really long day and we were getting antsy at having been in the car for so long, and we had also realized that the Lebanon we would be staying in that night was not in Kansas, but rather, Missouri. So we didn't have a hotel reservation. So we got to Lebanon Missouri late in the evening and saw that there was an Applebees and we were psyched to eat a real meal. So as we were driving down the road we heard a loud POP! and suddenly realized that one of our tires had blown. We called for roadside assistance cause we were not strong enough to get the lug nuts off, and while we waited we went next door to a small gas station to ask if they had auto repair shops nearby. The woman who worked there was kind of creepy and laughed at us, then said that it sounded like we'd be in "Leb-nin for a few days, being that it was Sunday and the next day was Memorial day." So we checked into the shadiest little motel and spent the night bummed about losing a day on our road trip. But when we awoke on Monday, by some miracle, there was a tire place that was open! We needed a tire and a rim because the reason for the damage was that we had run over some kind of four-inch bolt that pierced through both the tire and the rim. We were shocked to be on the road before noon!!
That night we stayed in Columbus, Ohio, then we drove to Philadelphia for our last day of road trippin. We got lost in Philly and couldn't quite get downtown. We spent a good hour driving through a bad neighborhood. There was a man selling pies in the street. He wore a bow tie. We finally made it to our hotel, which was next to City Hall in the middle of Philadelphia, which is a really beautiful city. Lauren lives outside of Philly so she came to stay. We went out to a nice dinner to celebrate making it back to the east coast, then later we got stoned on the steps of City Hall which was pretty fucking cool. On Wednesday morning we went back to Lauren's and she took us to her local Jewish deli for breakfast before we hit the road. A few hours later we were driving through Manhattan, and before we knew it, we were home. I can't believe we made it from coast to coast! It was quite a trip.
That night we hung out at Annie's and I got pretty drunk. Maddi's parents are away so last night we all chilled there and had a good time. I worked today and will for the rest of the weekend.
... One thing I noticed while we were in Oklahoma, we were stopped for lunch at a McDonald's and I noticed this van of guys in the parking lot. They were young and mean-looking; long hair, goatees and beards, tattoos, pretty generic bad-guy look. I glanced at one of the guys just as a car drove past him and I watched him follow it with his eyes as it pulled into a parking space and the look I saw on his face actually made me hurt. It was a hateful, violent look, and I knew immediately that there were black people in that car. Sure enough, when I glanced out the other window, a black family emerged from the car. What I had just seen made me feel really sad and ashamed. There really is nothing but shame, shame and hopelessness, because how do we undo it? When we found ourselves in a poor side of Philly I thought again to what I had seen in Oklahoma, and as I looked out the window I did not see a single white face. This was an all black neighborhood. I didn't feel threatened or unsafe, that I was on the wrong side of town, but I began to wonder, as I so often do, what the world would be like if we hadn't destroyed the human race. Not only did we divide it, but then we dared to take charge of each other. I feel as if these wrongs can never be righted, and I feel that there can be no redemption. I wish I was wrong, but the past is too painful, and too permanent, and so for now, and perhaps for always, the races will separate themselves. Black people, for instance, will stay together, and most white people won't mind a bit. They don't want to be bothered with the "violence" and "drugs" produced on "black territory."
LL
I'd just like to announce that I have done my part to bring us all together ... wink wink.
