Marco-YOLO

In Nashville, I was finally able to pop the cherry on my 100 strangers project with an especially interesting stranger #1 (if he is to be believed). Nashville is called “The Music City” and for country music it definitely is (The Grand Ole Opry is here), but I think it’s significance for popular music has fallen over the years. Everyone we met was universally friendly and this general friendliness is slowly beginning to rub off on us city slickers from the North. However, the white/black socioeconomic divide in Nashville was wider than I’m used to seeing. We weren’t there very long but I didn’t see a single affluent looking African American all day.

I went to the Tennessee state capitol and again the black/white divide story repeated itself. The state legislature is THE hall of power and influence. Today, a high school class was using the capitol to practice their Robert’s Rules of Order in the real McCoy. I counted between 60-70 students and not a single black one among them, in a city where African Americans comprise 29% of the population. A lack of minority voices may be one of the reasons Tennessee lawmakers were so quick to adopt the paranoid bill against the mythical threat of creeping Sharia. Sadly, this is a region with a storied history of bigotry. Tennessee is the birthplace of the KKK and is the state where MLK was assassinated. The legacy of bigotry continues to this day. Murfreesboro, a town where the site of a new mosque was recently vandalized and targeted in an arson attack, is less than 30 miles from Nashville.

And then there was the case of the Moslem (or is it Islamist?) foot bath that wasn’t, when Tennessee lawmakers freaked out because they thought a new mop sink in the state capitol was an ablution facility installed out of consideration for Muslims. Well, Tennessee lawmakers should know that I met with Imam Obama at the DC Muslim Brotherhood chapter before our road trip and he personally entrusted me with the mission to further sharia-creep in the great state of Tennessee by performing wudu (ablution) in their state capitol’s Sharia compliant Islamist foot bath. Oh, and mission accomplished!

Jokes aside, it’s frustrating that the South where folks are warm, friendly, hold the door for you and profess family values has so much bigotry, whereas the North where people are cold and even rude to one another has a far better record of tolerance and inclusiveness. What drives this? Is it the heritage of a once slavery-driven economy and resentment over defeat in the civil war? Is it that they have fewer immigrants so less experience with diversity and less appreciation of the common humanity that all people share regardless of how different they appear? Could it be that the affluent and powerful classes don’t want to surrender their economic and political advantage to the historically disenfranchised, fairness be damned, and so push racially divisive narratives to prolong the institutional inequities that favor them? It’s probably all of the above and more.

Also, anti-immigrant rhetoric and violence almost always flares up during economic slowdowns (as can be observed in Greece and a few other crisis-hit European nations) so the longer the economic hardship triggered by the global financial crisis lasts, and the worse income and wealth inequality becomes (which has been the trend over the past several decades), the more fertile the ground will be for bigotry to take root and spread. Here’s hoping for prosperity, tolerance and inclusiveness instead.

I should make clear that I have nothing against Tennessee or Tennesseans. Racism and bigotry exists everywhere. I only wish that bold leaders that prioritize justice above politics would emerge in this state and others like it so that people of all races, religions and sexual orientations are treated as equal citizens.

Colleen called Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge “Hillbilly Vegas” and I think that’s pretty spot on. Dollywood is here! Dinner shows on the Pigeon Forge strip include Hatfields & McCoys, Lumberjack Feud, Dixie Stampede and Biblical Times. They even have a massive Titanic museum in the shape of the ship, because as we all know the Titanic sank off the coast of Tennessee – okay, that’s unfair, regular Vegas does this kind of stuff too. Truthfully, this place looks like a lot of wholesome and affordable fun for a family or group. I particularly enjoy go karts and mini golf and there was plenty of that around as well.

Fun times for the entire family

We wound up not doing much other than walking around. We both agreed we were seeing more obese folks the father South we drove. This shook us because we were headed that way. Would the South obesify us?!?!? To counteract the pernicious fattening effect of the South, we went for a couple of hours hike in the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Colleen in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

A day earlier we had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, a popular restaurant franchise. There is a pail of peanuts at the table when you sit down. As I dug into them, I wondered what I should do with the shells. Colleen told me it was permissible to leave them on the table or even drop them on the floor, and indeed I saw other people doing this. At this moment, a Stewie Griffin voice in my head exclaimed “How delightfully provincial!” Yes, the South definitely has its moments. For the record, I also love it when waitresses call me sweetheart, sugar or darling. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Northern waitresses, you just got served!

It was painful and took longer than anticipated to move (doesn’t it always) but we’re out of our house! Six week US roadtrip starts now!

Before

After

Our camping gear (Colleen’s stuff on left, Mustafa’s on right and tent between backpacks)

I already had camping gear but Colleen didn’t so her stuff is all brand new. While we’re only camping for one of the six weeks we’re on the road, being cold and miserable at night is no way to vacation (As Colleen learned on below-freezing nights at 13,000 ft on the Inca Trail, and will never let me forget!), so our camping equipment is geared towards comfort, especially Colleen’s. Her sleeping bag and pad are both extra plush and roomy and it is evident from the photo that weight and volume were not considerations in their selection – It is strictly for car camping, not hiking. The pad is 25″ wide instead of the normal 20″ and her bag is rated for 25F, 5 degrees below the lowest temperature we expect to encounter.

I have a Big Agnes Lost Ranger bag (down fill, rated for 15F) and Big Agnes Air Core pad which fits in a custom pocket beneath my bag so it’s impossible to roll off at night. I have owned these for several years and love them because they’re warm, roomy and comfortable, yet also light and packable. The inflatable pad gives me 2.5″ separation from the ground and the bag is big enough for me to sleep on my side if I want, which is a must for me because I am a restless sleeper. For me, regular mummy bag =

My backpack is a North Face Crestone 65 and Colleen’s is a North Face Terra 55. We wish we both had the dicipline to stay under 45 litres so we could carry our bags on flights, but we’re still relatively inexperienced as backpackers and tend to bring a lot of unnecessary stuff along.

Lastly, our tent is a Mountainsmith Morrison which is a large 2-person tent. Colleen thinks it’s still too small and wishes I’d bought a 3-person, but I couldn’t resist buying it when I saw it on sale for under $100. With a 35 sq ft base and 43″ height, I think it’s plenty big. It’s held up well the few times we’ve used it and it’s light enough to be taken hiking (4 lbs). The only drawback for me has been the smallish vestibules, but they’re not terrible.

Forty two days in a rental car is a long time. To make our US road-trip more enjoyable, we bought a portable GPS unit ($90 from Target) and a satellite radio ($40 from Best Buy). This will hopefully prevent us from getting lost and in case we do, at least we’ll have good tunes to rock to

Last Friday was my last day of work. Today was my first Monday not working. We went on a long bike ride along the Potomac River, taking a break at Gravely Point to lay on the grass and watch the planes pass overhead as they landed at Reagan National Airport. It was like a cheesy romantic comedy. We also watched a couple of foreign movies on Netflix and I saw my dentist to make sure my chompers are up to the task of chewing exotic dishes for the next year and a half – whether it be fermented herring in Sweden, fried tarantula in Cambodia, beating cobra heart in Indonesia, or balut in the Philippines (you can Google that one – I’m not explaining it but I may eat it).  It made a ton of sense to have my pearly whites inspected while we still have employer subsidized health insurance because everyone knows to be without good insurance in the US is risking a real shitty time. Good news is my teeth are in tip top shape. Bad news is we lose our good insurance at the end of the month because as the title indicates we are now both unemployed.

Last day at work

We now have committed renters that we will be handing our house over to on May 1st. Actually, the property management company will oversee the handover. We’ll be in Asheville, NC by then, checking out the Biltmore Mansion, the largest private estate in the US, and then making our way to Nashville, TN the following day.

With the house out of the way, the car becomes the biggest item we need to offload. We listed it on Cars.com and Craigslist one week back and initial interest was strong, but it waned when potential buyers saw a tire bubble and one headlight with condensation inside, both recent issues. We’re getting both fixed now so no more buyers are turned off because otherwise the car is in fantastic shape.

Tickets, visas, gear, vaccinations, medical and travel insurance, farewell party…all are being arranged as we speak.

Tomorrow is also my last day of work and I have half a dozen things to wrap up. I’m sure I’ll be there late but then I really don’t mind because it’ll mark the beginning of a very long and exciting vacation.

Home sweet home! Nothing quite beats it! Arlington has been home for us since 2006. It’s the most highly educated county in the United States and along with great restaurants and low crime it also has great trails for running and biking and gives us easy access to Washington DC, where we both work (normally), and the Potomac river, where I sail and fish (unsuccessfully). My fastest record commute to my office in DC is 7 minutes so don’t let the Virginia bit fool you, we’re very close to Washington, less than 9 km from the White House, which incidentally is also one block from where I work (for another 3 weeks). Here is a photo of a 2012 backyard barbecue at our house.

We have a split level house with a covered patio and koi pond on a 1/5 acre lot. Here is one of our happy koi!

In May 2013 we will hand over our house keys to renters and take off on a 16 month adventure around the globe. The initial plan was to hit all seven continents but has since been pared down to five, in the interest of time, money and sanity. After all, we’ve already been to all six inhabited continents and the objective of this trip is depth, not coverage. We are off course nervous about handing over the keys to our most expensive asset to complete strangers but we’ve got good landlord’s insurance and a property management company that came highly recommended so that helps us sleep better.

Diving in Phuket

Phuket, Thailand - Beachy stuff, scuba diving and underwater photography. I got to do my first wreck dive on the King Cruiser wreck. That’s me jumping in the water above.

Fair warning. Lionfish may not let you use the restroom on King Cruiser!

Bangkok, Thailand – Jarisara and Tsvetan’s wedding at the Mandarin Oriental.  We also went wat-hopping and did other touristy stuff.

Siem Riep, Cambodia – Fun times on Pub Street. I also walked into a Buddhist temple’s attached dormitory and helped some young monks with their English homework.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia – A spectacular ruin of one of the largest pre-industrial cities in the world. That’s me at the bottom of the first image.

Posing with friends in front of ruins at Angkok Wat.

I went to the US Virgin Islands to get my American Sailing Association 101, 103 and 104 certifications that would enable me to bareboat charter a up to 50 foot yacht in coastal waters. We mainly sailed between St John, St Thomas and Culebra, Puerto Rico, learning all the required skills over 9 days on board a 46 foot Island Packet bermuda-rigged cutter, although we sailed it like a sloop, never using the staysail (second headsail).

I was at the helm for 14+ foot high waves which was quite a ride – enough to make me reconsider my aspirations to do an Atlantic crossing. But who knows? Maybe some day.