Loussissabama

Our day began with a hearty breakfast of instant grits and eggs. Well, only Livia had the grits, but they were a big hit - as you can see.


We went to West Monroe First Baptist for church. It was really nice, especially since it reminded us of the church we'll be attending in Kirkland Lake - the fifty person choir, the full orchestra, the barbershop quintet, the audiovisual content, four services per day and the airing of the entire service on local television. Okay, it's nothing like the church we'll be attending. The pastor spoke passionately about revival and how much all the pastors were praying for revival to sweep across their land. This too, prompted a good van conversation. Don't get us wrong, we think revival is a good thing. How can you think ill of Christians and the church at large renewing their devotion to Jesus, turning away from their sin & laziness and re-focusing on Christ. The question we had is whether that is something that a pastor can/should talk his church into. It seems like if your focus is the concept of revival rather than Christ you're going to miss the point. The apostle Paul made a point of preaching only Christ rather than elaborate arguments or clever tricks. Because that's where the true power comes from. Revival is not the focus but the by-product of Christians being taken up with Jesus. But this is a travel blog. Today, we traveled some more.


We said goodbye to the Louisianan accents, passed over the impressive Mississippi river (M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I) into Mississippi, of course. Mississippi (for the fourth time, because we love spelling that word) seemed very well manicured and it felt like we were driving through the grounds of a country club. The trees were colourful, taller than before and there were quite a number of rivers, streams and lakes - which was refreshing to the eye. But we passed into Alabama a few short hours later without ever getting out of the van.

The Mississippi River

Tonight we are in Tuscaloosa (which is also fun to spell) Alabama. We enjoyed a conversation with the clerk at the front who was telling us about some of the history of the area. "I d'know how much y'know 'bout American histree...". "Probably just a little bit more than you know about Canadian history". "Fair 'nuff". Anyway, she was very nice and told us to visit the University of Alabama which has an interesting story. It was one of the major sites of conflict in the civil war, where all of their buildings were destroyed by the Northerners. It was also one of the places where the desegregation discussions became most heated. She told us that Tuscaloosa was the last city in America to desegregate - amazingly as late as the 1970's. For that reason, the racial tensions are still very tangible here, and though official segregation has been abolished, practical segregation is everywhere. It really makes you feel sick in the pit of your stomach. What cultural poverty there is in ignorance!

It was sunny today. Looking sharp Livi!

Tomorrow, we are spending our last night in a hotel before seeing the Lievers!!! We will be cutting through a corner of Georgia and driving through a good chunk of Tennessee to Knoxville. That will leave us just 5 or 6 hours from Charlottesville on Tuesday.

Livia's quotes of the day:
1. First looking at then trying her piece of toast, Livia said quickly, "Don't like it!...Mmm...like it! Nummy toast."
2. "Went church, singing songs, play toys, people lots of people, bye church" - her own verbal blog while walking out of the church...
3. "All done car". She's ready to go home.

One of Livi's favourite hotel pastimes - colouring on the complimentary pad of paper