Gone to Look for America

We are Gingerly Stepping Out to See America

A First Post Isolation Trip

After a year of staying close to home, my spouse and I are about to launch on a trip of a few days. The pandemic is not over – caution remains the keynote. This is a driving trip – seems reckless to us at this point to be in airports if not absolutely necessary. The places we are lodging all have  solid COVID protocols in place. We are dining only in places that take precautions seriously. So, all in all, seems a reasonable risk at this point.

Checking in on America

The title for today’s blog comes from a line in Simon & Garfunkel’s song, America. As soon as we started thinking about this trip, those words, gone to look for America, came to mind. One of their better songs in my view. Here is a link to the song and an appropriate video. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pWK9KASwFU

In a real sense, that is what this little trip is about. We will go through four states and several communities. I am anxious to see where my fellow Americans are at this point. Clearly, people are hungry for normalcy, whatever that is for each of us. They want to circulate among each other, spend some money locally, dine and drink in communal settings.

Some of us feel all that, but the need for some caution just a bit longer. Others of us are angry at continuing restrictions. I expect to see lots of both on this trip. I hope also to get a better feel for our national psychology at this point.

Where does the treason of January 6 sit in our consciousness now? The changes coming out of the White House could not be more different between this administration and the last one. How are people feeling about all that?

Promise and Peril

I don’t think I have known in my long life a period of national life so full of equal measures of potential and peril. President Biden had it exactly right when he declared he was running because this is all about the soul of our nation. It seems to me that we are fully capable at this point of entering a new golden age on so many fronts. We are equally capable of descending into the pit of hate and isolation that Trump so much wanted to establish.

Who knows? Perhaps we will end up with a rich mix of both outcomes, but it seems to me that too much of either is inconsistent with the other. We are going to makes some decisions as a people that will shape us forever.

Wish Us Luck

This trip is not a working trip, but I will have my antenna up, my ears peeled, and my eyes focused. I am looking for America. Let’s hope I find her, at least in part, and that we are glad to again embrace each other. By the time you read this, we are well on our way. I will let you know sometime after we return what we found.

Oh, I almost forgot! We never – for decades now – start a road trip without playing the following song when we are ready to pull out of the driveway and start the next adventure.  This should get your feet itching for the gas pedal too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Ggp3TJjuE

         Bill Clontz

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