J. D. Carpenter
AMERICAN ODYSSEY REVISITED
In the summer of 2007, my girlfriend Karen and I embarked upon a 12,726 kilometre road trip which took us from Picton, Ontario, to Bayou Sorrel, Louisiana — via the Colorado Rockies and the Grand Canyon and Route 66, etc. — and back. The purpose of our journey, which lasted 34 days and covered 20 [...]
J. D. Carpenter’s American Odyssey
DAY 32 — PICTON, ONTARIO: After 20 states, 12,726 kilometres, $4400 in expenses, 29 tanks of gas, two oil changes, two attacks of chigger bites, 24 motel and hotel rooms, four tentsites, one overnight in the back of the Jimmy, two nights with friends, and one overnight with a kind stranger in the Flint Hills [...]
J. D. Carpenter’s American Odyssey
DAY 31 — LONDON, ONTARIO: When we reached Customs at the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, Michigan, we were confident that we would have no problems. We had not exceeded the limit for alcohol (a bottle of 8-year-old Booker’s bourbon from Frankfort, Kentucky, and a case of Labatt’s Blue from Duty Free) or cigarettes (two cartons [...]
J. D. Carpenter’s American Odyssey
DAY 30 — FLORENCE, KENTUCKY: This morning, with the kind help of Jim Howard of Moore’s Point Whiskey and Brad Murray at Parrish Hall Farm, Karen and I were able to visit one of the premier thoroughbred breeding operations in North America, Stonewall Farm, located just outside of Midway, Kentucky, where we were given the [...]
J. D. Carpenter’s American Odyssey
DAY 28 — JACKSON, TENNESSEE: One of my most fervent wishes for this trip was to make a pilgrimmage to Oxford, Mississippi, birthplace of the great novelist and short story writer, William Faulkner. We toured his home, Rowan Oak, an antebellum mansion he bought in 1930 for $6000 (in which are present his last, half-gone [...]
J. D. Carpenter’s American Odyssey
DAY 27 — TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI: One of Karen’s most fervent wishes for this trip was to visit the amazing quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. The descendants of slaves, these women (most of whom still bear the surname Pettway, which was the name of the plantation owner) have made an international name for themselves through the [...]
J. D. Carpenter’s American Odyssey
DAY 26 — THOMASVILLE, ALABAMA: Before we left New Orleans this morning, we drove into the 9th Ward where Hurricane Katrina had done much of her damage.
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