Close to the tall chain link fences of Dover Air Force Base,
a U.S. Air Force fighter jet from the old days is grounded
next to a smartly done replica of the Statue of Liberty.
We spied the jet and statue under a yellow sky
on the front yard of an American Legion post
while motoring north on Delaware Highway 1.
For an Atomic Road Lizard from Japan,
visiting these potent symbols
of American military might and individual liberty
was paradoxical and instructive.

Counting the Lanes.

Friday, August 21, 2009
Bel Air, Maryland

Godzilla carried us over an interstate highway a few minutes before sunset.  Huge green and white signs, one pointing toward "NEW YORK" and the other toward "BALTIMORE," urged us to enter the stream, become one with the masses.  What a great stream it was!  Cars and trucks in tightly packed lines stretched six lanes wide from horizon to horizon.  They were fast cars, powerful trucks, emitting a collective, almost manic energy that shouted, "We are going somewhere."  The amber beams of headlights, the cherry glow of taillights in the mellow dusk, the show of speed and power, appeared like a deceptively inviting vision on the landscape.

We demurred, keeping to our backroad.  There the wildflowers grow, the crops rise high in preparation for the harvest, the herds graze and wander, stands of trees and ribbons of creeks and streams decorate the landscape with visual refreshment.  What style of architecture and signage shall the next village present?  What wondrous image may appear, suddenly, 'round the next bend of the two-lane?  Look, the colt races across the pasture. A hawk bursts from the bushes.  A strong young dog races and bounds across the farmyard.  And a tiny doe in the cornrows, ducks on the shimmering pond, a rooster and hens on the bushy shoulder.  Slow road, going anywhere. 

Hard rain, crashing thunder, hot bolts of lightening on the dark dome of the sky.  Godzilla was grateful for the bath. 

A storm was brewing with fierce lightening strikes in the distance,
but the statue of Jesus was too compelling to ignore.
It was erected at the turn of the twentieth century
by the Society of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart
on the grounds of Saint Joseph's Industrial School
on Highway 15 at Duck Creek Road in Clayton, Delaware.
An agriculture and trades school for black kids, it was shuttered
I was told, sometime in the 1960s.
A new Charter School now stands
on the spacious grounds of the Josephites.

A wildflower
standing in a field of many wildflowers beside Little Neck Road
in the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in central Delaware,
not too far from the bay.

Meadows Farms at cow feeding time
on Maryland Highway 273, a mile or two east of the town of Rising Sun.

ebenezer@corndancer.com

To read the previous dispatch in the narrative,
kindly click the crow!

Notices of new dispatches from my Travels with Godzilla are sent by e-mail express to my list of family, friends, students, and fellow travelers. If you've come here by some other means than an e-mail invitation, and would like to receive notices, please write me so I can add you to the list. I share the addresses with no one but Godzilla, who can't type and doesn't do e-mail. 

     Ebenezer Bowles
     threadspinner@corndancer.com

The stories
linked below
form the narrative "Travels with Godzilla."

The Journey Ends:
Bye, Buck Bowles.

Dispatch Eighteen
Fayetteville,
Arkansas
Monday, August 31

Tobacco:
By the Hand of Man.

Dispatch Seventeen
Benton,
Kentucky
Thursday, August 27

Shy and Wonderful:
In Pursuit
Of the Wild Image.

Dispatch Sixteen
Bowling Green,
Kentucky
Wednesday, August 26

Mullens
It Wasn't the Flood.

Dispatch Fifteen
Williamson,
West Virginia
Tuesday, August 25

What Coal?
So Many Mountains
They're
Giving Some Up.

Dispatch Fourteen
Beckley,
West Virginia
Monday, August 24

Illustrated Man:
Pay Is Pay
On the
Honorable Path.

Dispatch Twelve
Morgantown,
West Virginia
Saturday, August 22

Which Road?
Counting the Lanes.

Dispatch Eleven
Bel Air,
Maryland
Friday, August 21

An Easy Puzzle:
Shade Drenched,
Flat and Tidy.

Dispatch Ten
Seaford,
Delaware
Thursday, August 20

Sea Cruise:
A Fine Old Motor Vessel Makes a Smooth Crossing from Jersey to Delaware.

Dispatch Nine
Seaford,
Delaware
Wednesday, August 19

Mighty Joe:
From the River Valley To the Sandy Pine Barrens On a Road to Heaven.

Dispatch Eight
Vineland,
New Jersey
Tuesday, August 18

Sugar Hollow Road:
Not too Far
down the Way
from Mehoopany.

Dispatch Seven
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Friday, August 14

Lucky Stars:
Godzilla Wrestles
a Bear.

Dispatch Six
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Thursday, August 13

Erie:
Off Balance, Agitated.

Dispatch Five
Erie, Pennsylvania
Tuesday, August 11

Purpose:
Success and Fear On the Sly Peripheral.

Dispatch Four
Kent, Ohio
Monday, August 10

Indiana:
You Want to Take Forever.

Dispatch Three
Howe, Indiana
Sunday, August 9

Army Truck:
Carry Me Home.

Dispatch Two
Watseka, Illinois
Saturday, August 8

Road Trip:
Go Fast.

Dispatch One
Muscatine, Iowa
Friday, August 7