Apalachicola to Montgomery, AL

I wasn't planning on this being such a long day but so much for plans.
I left Apalachicola at 10:30 am after visiting a couple of shops.I met a few good
prospects. Apalachicola is a sweet old southern town that I hope to go back to at some point.
Getting to Montgomery from Apalachicola was tedious.For those of you who know Binghamton,NY it's like doing the Vestal pkwy for a few hours at a time with loads of speed traps and an occasional 55-65 mph speed limit. Enough belly achin' (I'm feelin downright southern at the moment)I left 36 degrees in Apalachicola(warm by my winter standards) and it moved to upper 40's throughout the day.

I drove by a metalsmith/blacksmith shop en route.I went by and saw all this metal work by the road ;thought about it and did a U-ey(U turn).I had a great conversation
with two guys in the business. Both of them do artwork.One is a teacher at John Campbell Folk School in NC.He gave me a schedule for classes after I told him I did metal work-in another life time. Maybe someday....love to.
The other man is a big marketer for Sam's club. Apparently, Sam clubs down here have indoor shows with artists...long interesting things brewing. The marketer is interested in Sea Hag-we'll see. A bluebird landed close by and it was a good sign for me:)

Well, I checked off one of my bucket list items today-I got to the Civil Rights Memorial to see the black granite fountain designed by Maya Lin. I pushed hard to get up to Montgomery and thought I was cutting it close to closing time until my destination time said 4:10pm and my watch at that point said the time was then 4:30?I was confused and then remembered the woman at The GibsonInn telling me about the time change so I gained an hour!I made it there(4:15pm AL time-my time 5:15) and spotted the fountain from the car. I got out with my excitedly stiff body- moved a bit slowly at first but quickly gained momentum.
It was MORE than I expected....so sleek,quiet and very sad. The dates in the fountain
beginning with 1954-outlawed school segregation,
1955 RosaParks ,murders,beatings,Klan,marches,progress,setbacks,
more of each until the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968
Why is there such hatred and ugliness in Humans ? Gangs still going on. Luckily at the other end of the spectrum there are brave undaunted spirits.
As Maya Lin said "This is not a memorial of suffering;it is a memorial to HOPE.
I had a young Chinese man walk up to me and say "the artist is Chinese-American"
I said"Yes"! He said he was very very proud. It makes us all connected.

Grace is BETTER than GOLD. We've had two long days of driving and she doesn't whine or scream "I'm hungry...I have to pee...I'm thirsty"...ask "When are we going to GET THERE". I'm lucky to have her. She's one of my blessings
My mom used to say when we were little "you've had a BIG DAY".I think she said that to pursuade us that we needed to get to bed(Another mother tactit)
I won't argue tonight... Thanks for stopping.