Selma to Clemson

Happy Thanksgiving from Pennsylvania! High on the list of the blessings we’re counting this week are all of YOU, our friends and family — thank you for following along and supporting us in this crazy dream we’re living. We’ll catch you up on our adventures in Virginia and Pennsylvania soon, but first, what happened after New Orleans?

Oct 27 – 29

From New Orleans we headed north to Selma, Alabama. Well, to Prairie Creek State Park, actually, about 20 minutes outside the city. Great park! Kayla had to lean into some work, so we gave ourselves three days here. And, for the first time since Durango, we experience less-than-80-degree weather!

Selma was once a thriving city, but these days is mostly in ruins. At the height of slavery it was an important cotton port. In the 40’s it was home to Craig Air Force Base. It was the site of the Freedom March, and the violence that ensued. Folks we talked to in Selma told us that the Air Force Base was closed in 1977 by the U.S. Congress as punishment for those uprisings. That closure began a steady decline in Selma’s population. COVID didn’t help, and then on January 12, 2023 a terrible tornado went through the center of town, destroying much of what was left.

Here’s a graph showing Selma’s population.

One place that was thriving in town was the Public Library. It was staffed by so many helpful folks, and is clearly well loved and used by its citizens. Particularly inspiring was the teen/children’s section, which was a FANTASTIC room that took about a quarter of the space, and had a dedicated staff person preparing after school activities.

We spent a late afternoon at the Old Cahawba Village, which was once a functional town and the capital of Alabama during the Civil War. On a brochure it was billed as a “City of Mystery” and we thought we would see lots of old buildings, but it was mostly interpretive signage about some building that used to be there.

Oct 30 – Nov 2

We need to hit the road, and Kayla has a noon meeting, so we head to Montgomery. Kayla sets up shop at a city park shelter, and Matthew does some exploring. Then it is all the way to Athens, GA, where Matthew lived for a spell after getting his graduate degree from Clemson. We camped at Watson’s Mill State Park (again about 20 minutes from town) where Matthew and his ex used to go to escape the heat in the summer.

Athens has grown a great deal since his time there in the mid 1990’s. So many more apartment buildings have replaced the empty factories he remembers being there. Matthew gets the feeling that the music scene has also waned from the fabled times of REM and the B-52s.

Nov 3

We head to Clemson. We are staying in a hotel “resort” for this leg of the journey -there aren’t any viable campgrounds near campus. It works out well since there is heavy rain in the forecast (rain: another thing we haven’t experienced since Durango). Matthew went to Clemson as an undergrad from 86-90, then came back to get his master’s in 92. Just like Athens, Clemson has grown considerably since his time there.

Why aren’t there more pictures of Clemson, a place where Matthew spent six busy years of his life? Hmmm. Maybe because the buildings of this campus are etched in the brain by repetitive viewing? Maybe because so much of the time spent there happened in a classroom? It could also be because our weary travelers are near the end of a long run, and have become careless in the documentation of their journey…