A Living Magazine - Day 114 - Important!: The Next Leg

I will be leaving on Wednesday, October 21st for the last leg of this current journey. Here is the route plan...

I'm going to try something new that I'll be calling a "Tacks in the Map Strategy". This will involve going to eight major cities by bus (since it is much less expensive in this part of the country than it was in the West) along the route above, hitting each one, a week after the last one, and spending six days in each exploring and reporting.

I also want to lay my travel "cards" upon the table, as it were, and share the information about how much is needed for each bus trip. So, below is the cost estimate if tickets were to be bought at this time. These prices are liable to change as the holidays approach. Of course, I have no idea just how significant these changes will be, but I will update the information for you as the weeks go by.

Fortunately, they are already so reasonable that it should be a realistic goal to meet them each week. As I always have done, I will choose the least expensive option no matter what the times of day are. In the following you will see that the "Web Fare" is the best option in every case. So let's get started!

From Minneapolis, MN, it's on to...

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

While in Milwaukee I will have a chance to research some Wall family history, as that is the city from which our earliest known American ancestor, Caleb Wall, hailed. I know very little about the place except for some of the stories about him, for example...

Pioneer History of Milwaukee: 1840-1846. Written 1881, by James Smith Buck

I have wanted to visit Milwaukee for a long time. There are rumors about connections between Caleb Wall and the Pabst Blue Ribbon company. There is also some kind of legend about how Caleb's hotel (or what stands on the property now) is haunted. Seems an appropriate thing to research as we approach Halloween!

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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

I know even less about Indianapolis, so it will be a brand new experience. This kind of thing has been very helpful to my reporting in the past. It is nice to get to a place that I have no preconceived expectations about. That way, I can form my own opinions from the start. In the last year, I have more often been pleasantly surprised than disappointed when plopped down in the middle of a new place. I look forward to visiting this city.

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LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY

The Hard Rock Cafe and good bourbon are what come to my mind, when thinking of this city. But obviously there are going to be many other things that will likely sweep me off my feet. Just reading Wikipedia, I see that it is steadily becoming a center in the region for "art, music and business". I certainly plan to search these things out and present as much as I can for you.  

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Ha, ha!! What can I say? The opportunity to see this international center of music and history will be an unparalleled one. I will see as much as I can, mostly sticking to a music-related theme. I will be happy to check out specific things for you guys. Just let me know what you are interested in. In fact, I will be experimenting more and more with reader directed exploration in all of these places and will talk more about that as we progress forward. 

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MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

Now we will be truly heading into Americana territory! Beside the obvious musical aspects of Memphis, the culture of the South will truly begin to assert itself in these blog posts. I'm a "Yankee" and my challenge will be to "unlearn what I have learned" (as Yoda might counsel) about this region. I want to begin to reconstruct my view about the South. Look forward to presentations of what this city is like NOW, in real time. Again, you will have the ability to direct much of what I do here. It should be fun and edifying for us all!

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JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

Here, my plan (so far--and subject to change) will be to examine race relations and the modern culture of Jackson. Without prejudgement, and by so-called common knowledge, this is the issue that most comes to mind for me personally.

In a cursory glance at recent articles on this subject, there seems to be a new optimism blooming in this city. I want to see this for myself, and for all of you. If you have been interested in how the South is changing, this will also be your chance to direct my efforts toward clarifying all of our assumptions, by suggesting related activities that I could investigate.

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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

Just look at the map above! How much more interesting could a landscape be? What a fabulous way to follow up on all of the subjects that I have listed above, because they certainly come to a focus in this near-mythical place.

Here (again, so far) I would also like to see what has happened since Hurricane Katrina had her way with this city. I will explore the entire area as best I can. Furthermore, you will have a hand in these activities. Have you wanted to ask questions? Are you curious about certain locations? Let's find out as much as we can together!

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MOBILE, ALABAMA

This is where the Living Magazine Journey will conclude and the Homecoming Journey will begin. In Mobile I will sure up the loose ends on this incredible adventure at noon on December 21 of this year; clean up the blog and seal it as an historical document about one man's perspective of the great regions I traveled through this year.

When it is finished, and the Homecoming Journey is thus initiated, we will take a symbolic and profound (at least to me personally) trip across the Gulf Coast and down into Florida, probably to the very tip (Key West), and then start the great climb northward back to my own homeland. It will be not only a sentimental time for me - as I have been up and down the Atlantic Coast many times in my life - but a way for us all to come together and formulate a fully reader-based exploration extravaganza. I started this as a control freak and was called "crazy" by hundreds of people, not out of maliciousness, but out of a kind of confused fascination.

I received hate mail, was emotionally hurt by hearing some of my own best friends nay-saying each step, and fought these off, along with the defeatism that constantly dogged and tempted me to give up. But these people were a tiny minority. The steady growth of a pool of astoundingly loyal and loving friends developed and you readers are the result. You have given me a strength I could have never gained on my own.

I once said that there is a Reason for everything. It is a cliche, until you actually SEE that Reason in action. Love in action. Whether it is purely human or mixed with some kind of divine intervention as well, is not important. What is important is that a group of people could stay focused, work as a team, cut across cultural, religious, social and political differences to accomplish each small goal along the way.

My heart, my intuition and my precious Spark all tell me that a wonderful change is sweeping over the world. It has nothing at all to do with celebrities, corporate agendas, or big money. I am part of it, and so are you all. What an unbelievable thing we are doing together! What a beautiful example of the best that human beings can be and do for each other!

Wallk with me in the next 10 weeks, down through some of the most interesting places in American history and the present day. Let's celebrate this nation of ours as we take a break from looking at what happens through eyes of pre-packaged, spun and biased media. Let's grab those reins and see it all for ourselves. Let's stop the imbalance of top-down bias and show everyone around us that a bottom-up perspective has real value.

Thank you for being with me! I promise that I will always be with you.