Kickoff

So the weather is acting up. Cooler air is moving in and it is really feeling like Fall. Highs in the 70's in mid August? Yep. Fall.

In the Fall Georgia boys learn about life on the gridiron

Local high school teams are starting their scrimmages tonight, I'm getting updates from the SEC and my own Jacksonville State about counting down the days to kickoff, my baby brother has been working through a training camp internship with the World Champion Baltimore Ravens and even my own son has been busy getting the new season started.

Happy days are here again.

Ok, so a lot of folks might wonder just how a bookworm such as myself came to value the glorious combat of the gridiron so dearly. The sport has made its enemies over the years. So much of academia hates the attention and the amount of money that goes into this sport and the often unfair emphasis that is placed on it. I understand. And I feel that there are many times that the sport is abused.

But let me tell you how this can go right.

In the late fall of 1992 I walked off a football field as a player for the last time. My head hurt as bad as it ever has. I was tired and somewhat sad considering the game had not gone very well for my team. A good friend walked with me to the locker room and spoke encouraging words to me - not goofy cliches but stuff that really mattered and meant something. It was real.

I've never since needed any of the fundamentals that the coaches taught me. My career path went way different than originally expected and I never truly coached a down of football. While I can still remember all my hand signals and assignments, I've never needed that information.

But I've used what I learned from my coaches every day of my life. On my job, in my marriage, raising my boys - because I learned much more than fundamentals of a sport. I leaned abut setting goals and working toward them. I learned about working in the context of a team and putting the teams goals before my own. I learned about not making decisions that will let your teammates down. I learned about picking up a down teammate - about understanding and being understood. I leaned about working hard, even when...no especially when you don't feel like it. I leaned about consequences and rewards, about being a leader and a follower.

And so much more.

You don't think about those things on game day. They don't always talk about it in the pregame show. Football players are often thought of as dumb jocks, barbaric Neanderthals roaming the earth looking to break things and avoid education. And sometimes that's accurate. And not every player is as blessed as I was to play for excellent coaches in high school and then work for excellent coaches in college - men that taught me much more about the world than they did about football.

This is why I get excited about football. (Well, that and watching Jadeveon Clowney knocking a Michigan football helmet from Tampa to St. Pertersburg.) I want my son to have the chance to learn the things that I learned. It is good to see other boys being mentored and taught. There is a serious educational factor to the game and in that area boys become men, not because they can violently separate less capable players from their equipment (although this is interesting and does help) but because of the lessons learned and the experiences gained.

And then there's the tradition. Mascots, fight songs, rituals of one form or another, storied rivalries. The attachments caused by these traditions somehow connect the game to our soul. When you hear a slogan, a chant or that one tune, you attention is caught and you are trapped in its influence. And that is why, to this day, every hair on my body stands on end - each one hoisted on high by its very own goose bump any time the Jacksonville State Marching Southerners play Salvation. Knowing those guys are hitting the "WIN" sign on the way out to the field stirs emotions even more.

Yes. Yes I am ready for some football.

Road Trip 2013 Finale

As I mentioned in the previous post, the last day of the trick hit a glitch. The original plan was to slip across the Chattahoochee River into neighboring Alabama and explore the history of Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver and The Tuskegee Airmen. However, the Federal Government in Washington is caught in a struggle between spending on Republican pet projects and President Obama's insatiable desire for incessant government growth. So they created a sequester. And instead of cutting subsidies for corporations or the chronically lazy, the sequester closed these two learning opportunities to us on Sunday.

Faced with such an obstacle we did what any football fans would do. "CHECK TWO, CHECK TWO!!! SET, HUT!!!!"

We called an audible. Take that, Washington.

Ironically, we took the opportunity to learn about one of the champions of government spending. A man named Franklin Delano Roosevelt.



Callaway Overlook

 Let me say that the ride from Columbus to Warm Springs is even better than Cordele to Columbus. We made a stop at the overlook at the Callaway Country Store. Breathtaking. The morning was cool and the mist clung to the mountains and the stillness of the Georgia morning was pure peace. There was no way this was July.

Easing up the road, we took in even more views at F.D. Roosevelt State Park. The visitor's center is a beautiful stone structure built by one of the groups created by Roosevelt's "New Deal". There are miles of hiking trails, a swimming pool, camping sites, cottages to rent - many outdoor opportunities. The park is beautiful. My favorite part was the stunning view

Roosevelt's grill at Dowdell's Knob

at Dowdell's Knob, Roosevelt's personal picnic spot when he was in Georgia. His stone grill is still sitting on the perch atop Pine Mountain. In this setting, he used table linen and real china to dine on many a glorious Georgia afternoon. Standing in that spot, Roosevelt the politician began to take a side role and Roosevelt the man stepped forward. This was a moment that I needed to prepare me for the next stop.

Warm Springs remains a quaint Southern town, much like FDR found it after he was stricken with polio. Touring the museum at the Little White House showed a side of Roosevelt I had never seen before. This was the man that my grandmother's generation revered well into this century - people who voted for Democrats no matter what and Republicans never at all - not because of anything either candidate in any given election said or did but because The Democratic Party was the Party of Roosevelt. I saw that Roosevelt's policies, while misguided and unconstitutional, were

Roosevelt's Ford

brought on by a genuine concern for people that were struggling through the Great Depression. Seeing him stopping to talk to Georgia farmers about their crops, their prices, their hopes and their needs really impressed me. Learning that this governor from New York chose to announce his candidacy, not in the Empire State but in a small town in the western woods of the Empire State of the South took me aback. And then seeing him swimming and playing in the pools in town with children that knew polio's scourge...that showed me his humanity.

This was not a ploy. I've seen ploys out of most of his successors - especially the current one. What Roosevelt did went far beyond what would be needed to secure Georgia's electoral votes. The vulnerability involved in a man trying to hide a disability swimming in a pool with disabled children who could not help but notice one major thing they all had in common outpaced any ploy.

The Chair FDR was using for the portrait

The house. Wow. It's not imposing. It's not elaborate. In fact, there are two small houses out front so that his butler, maid and visiting dignitaries would have a place to sleep. The main house had only three small bedrooms - one for FDR, one for his secretary and one for Eleanor, who rarely visited. This bedroom was often used by the Roosevelt children who visited their father in Warm Springs. The small shacks along the perimeter offered shelter to the company of Marines that kept the home secure during the president's visits. The house sits as it did the day Roosevelt died, shortly after collapsing while sitting for a portrait in the living room.

Through the museum and the house, my 9-year-old son completed the scavenger hunt that is available in the visitor's center. It really helped him learn about the site and the people involved in the history there. It was a high point for him as he really enjoyed looking for the answers to each clue. It's a must for the youngsters.

Jackson playing "Goin' Home" - Life Magazine

After the house tour, the path leads to a one last exhibit - the Legacy Exhibit Hall. There you can see the text of the Jefferson Day speech FDR was scheduled to deliver the day after he died. Many items related to fundraising for the war effort are also on display. The emotional photo of Graham W. Jackson playing "Goin' Home" on the accordion as the train carrying the president's body departed Warm Springs is hanging on the wall and the song is playing softly over the speakers in the ceiling. But the most touching exhibit in the hall is the unfinished portrait - the very painting Elizabeth Shoumatoff was working on when FDR collapsed. The face on the canvas reveals a tired man. One whose personal

Elizabeth Shoumatoff's Unfinished Portrait

illnesses, the stress of leading a nation through a depression and a world war and who knows what other stress had worn down. The once strong and athletic man was now tired, compassionate, visionary and hopeful, but tired. And in that moment my strong Antifederalist/Libertarian heart ached for the father of humongous government - not because I longed for his form of government but because I had connected with him as a man and I saw in his eyes the feeling that I could not help but have compassion for.

We left the museum and headed down the hill into town to tour the pools, which are included in the price of museum admission. My feelings there were mixed. The overall feeling is sad. The ramps and equipment communicate the terrible entity that made such a place necessary. But there was a happiness in knowing that such a place was available. The pools aren't in use any longer. They are filled once a year for a special event that is likely nearing the end of its run. Visitors can walk down the ramps into the pools and rinse their hands in the springs, which we did.

The pools at Warm Springs

Overall, the pools were a sad place for the journey to end. So many events and sights would have been more fitting as a finale for such a great trip. But I'm glad that we experienced this place. The pools have been replaced by a more modern treatment and rehab hospital next door where the work continues of alleviating the pains of disabled people and working toward cures for the illnesses at the root of the issue. So, even in the somber moment, all things considered, there is hope in Warm Springs. I highly recommend a visit, even if...no especially if you do not agree with Roosevelt's policies. Allow yourself the opportunity to hear the stories, to see the evidence, to connect with FDR as a man.

And so we covered a wide range of history, from the earliest people to settle in what is now Georgia through major wars, agricultural advancements, treatment of disease, all the way up to the ongoing work of a living former president. We travelled over 1000 miles through 29 counties. We visited sites for three presidents from two different American nations. We saw a rat scurry out of a engine compartment of a car. We brushed gnats out of our faces. We kept pretty close quarters. We survived and grew together as a family.

And that last fact, of course, was the reason for it all.

Day 4



 Time to change base of operations.

Cordele served us well for the southernmost legs of the trip but on Day 4 our adventures began to lean us back in the direction of the Appalachian foothills, albeit gradually.

That being said, there is a lot of nothing between Cordele and Columbus. We passed through a few small towns but mostly it was farms, fields, trees and nothing. It was inconceivably glorious. It was "see antonyms under 'Atlanta'". It was so much more green, rural and natural than our lovely corner of the state. And the only reason anyone would ever take that route would be to do a road trip such as this.

Therefore, you have to try it.

CSS Jackson

Ah, Columbus....I wasn't joining the Army. Neither was my wife. Nor any of the boys. Contrary to popular belief there is more in Columbus than the fort. So we found the National Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus. It was directly across the street from a cemetery...but it looked a little new for my taste and the temptation waned.

Now, the Naval Museum is nice. Very impressive exhibits. The full-scale representation of USS Water Witch, the remnants of the CSS Chattahoochee, the much more substantial remnants of the CSS Jackson, partial replicas of the USS Monitor, USS Hartford and CSS Albemarle anchor the  

The amazing Flag Collection

museum. Exhibits of uniforms, small arms and demonstrations of the delicate methods of preserving artifacts recovered from marine environments are found everywhere in between. And they have one of the most impressive flag collections of any museum I've toured. It took all morning to complete the phone tour offered by the museum. There is that much to see.

Now for some lunch.

In historic downtown there is a place called Picasso's Pizza and you do want to eat there. We walked in the door, saw the three booths and about nine bar stools. About half the place was filled with young men in US Army standard issue. "This is the place". We sat down in the vacant booth and that is when I noticed the outdoor seating area out the side door. The wobbly table confirmed my suspicions. The pizza is delicious, the staff is friendly and you will not leave hungry.

And then we headed to the fort. It's not the only thing in Columbus but it is substantial.

The main attraction there is the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center. For a $5 per person recommended donation you can see a world-class museum. It is recommended by museum staff (and by the research team at All the Biscuits in Georgia) that you begin your tour with "The Last 100 Yards Ramp" - quite possibly the finest museum exhibit I've ever seen anywhere. The history of American Infantry soldiers is recalled through the battles of Yorktown, Antietam, Soissons, Normandy, Corregidor, Soam-Ni, LZ-XRAY and Iraq. The figures are incredibly realistic and the action is almost frightening, considering

you are right in the middle of it. The music and sound effects draw you in emotionally and you realize what all soldiers have done over the past 238 years. Stunning isn't quite strong enough of a word to describe it. The details all come together and you can feel like you are a part of what's going on - like a bystaander caught in the action. From looking down the barrel of a Confederate rifle to seeing footage of Normandy projected into the open canopy above an Airborne soldier to the looks on the faces of the soldiers themselves. It is very moving.

You come back down to enter exhibit areas dedicated to American wars throughout the history of the infantry. Weapons, tactics, letters home, spoils of war - the typical war museum stuff. But there is also the details. This is not a museum about generals and politicians. The experiences displayed are those of the soldiers and you get to understand the wars from their points of view.

In short, if you are in Columbus, check this one out.

The next stop is an audible. Washington D.C. intervened on our original plans. True to form, we told them they were "#1" and had fun any way....

...until next time