Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Life is a Highway

Subtitle: Splitting Heirs

We decided to split up after Alabama because Brett could go a whole lot faster than we can with Henry. With Henry a 6 hour drive is actually more like a 9 hour drive after factoring in all the breaks...so it made more sense for Brett to just keep driving, make it back to Portland sooner and then *hopefully* get a place all set for us before Henry and I arrive! Currently Brett is in Idaho and we are in Colorado. We stopped yesterday to see my cousin and her family in Denver and today we're heading to Vail to visit another cousin and then up to Craig, Colorado, to visit an aunt and uncle. Our goal is to make it to the land of Zion - SLC by tonight.
Speaking of the land of Zion, they don't call the middle of the country the bible belt for no reason. Wow. The most amusing/perplexing/angering sights we saw amongst field after field of corn were the full sized billboards stating "Jesus." Hmm. Now, I understand the periennial favorites of "Abortion Kills!" or "God Hates Fags!" because those are actually making some sort of statement, but "Jesus"? What's the point? A reminder? Do people in the midwest forget and need to be reminded? It made me wonder how "Christians" would react if there were billboards stating "Mohammed"? Or better yet some villified historical figure "Genghis Khan" or similar. After all, probably more people have been murdered, prosecuted, or colonized in the name of Jesus throughout history than any other ideology. I found it especially ironic that these Jesus signs were right near where the Trail of Tears took place - the slaughter of perhaps millions of native peoples right here in our own country by our predecessors all in the name of Manifest Destiny...
The road gives me lots of time to think.

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