Photos taken in 1977 in Wise Fools Blues Bar, Chicago – © W. Brett McKenzie I began this trip without a theme other than it was a voyage to my future life. I knew leaving the Northeast would mean traveling well-trodden paths. South and west was new, undiscovered country. That meant west of the Alleghenies […]
Month: November 2025
Native Americans
I knew sometime on my travels south I would cross wakes with Native American/US history. In New England their memory was all about us in places: Sakonnet Point, Wampanoag Trail, Narragansett Bay, or Aquidneck Island (for a time Rhode Island); in foods: quahog, tautog, or succotash; in culture: powwow, wampum, or sachem. But their presence […]
Gettysburg – A Backwards Glance
Memory and acting on memory can lead to unexpected and surprising discoveries. My previous visit to the battlefield, close to forty years ago, was purely functional. It was a stop on the way to Pittsburgh, a ride we found too far to manage in a single bite from Rhode Island. I had no particular interest […]
Gettysburg – Redux
Gettysburg launches my discovery of America. I had visited before (detailed in another post). The battlefield is hallowed ground, like Pearl Harbor that I visited in February. I mourn my wife’s death so these places hold a special appeal. A moment to pause, to reflect, quiet, private, although often strangers are with me. What is […]
To Roads
I’ve got to show roads some love. Without roads, I could not embark on this adventure. So here’s to the roads—my close, close companions. My voyaging began in New England. I know those roads well, having lived there longer than anywhere else in the world. North and south, they run long; east and west, they’re […]
Recent Comments