The 250-Year Road Trip – Part 2

Hello friends, this is Foth back with you on Stories from the Road and I'm back with you for our number three daughter Susanna Ottman from Meridian, Idaho. Hi Susanna. Hey dad, this is fun. Here we are again. And we started in part last time by reading the preamble to the Constitution, which starts out, we the people. Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Benjamin Franklin, wrote a little book recently called The Greatest Sentence Ever Written. I don't know if that's totally accurate, but in terms of feel, it certainly is. And this is the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence. And this is what it says. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That's a great sentence. I like that sentence. I like the we, I like the people, I like the equal, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. That's quite a trilogy. It's aspirational, isn't it? Aspirational, that's exactly right. This is what we dream for. When we lose the capacity to hope, or lose the ability to see that there might be more. Life goes away. You know, Viktor Frankl, in the book that he wrote about his time in Auschwitz, he was a Jewish psychiatrist in Auschwitz. And he said, you could have people who were in reasonably good health. They had not been starved yet. But when they lost hope, they would go curl up in a corner and be dead in 48 hours. That's almost unimaginable to me, but it is in fact true. So when you have that sentence that I just read, that is aspirational. One of the things, and this is the second podcast that we're going to talk about, the idea of road trip. One of the things about road tripping is the anticipation of, of just where we were going, who we were going to see and all of that. And you referenced last time that we, in our early years, when you kids were small, that we would drive from Urbana, Illinois, to the Central Valley of California, the southern route, because it was the quickest Highway 66 and all that stuff. But we went other places too. And one of the places you were referencing was a trip that we took to the Northeast with my sister. And her was her daughter. Aunt Luanne and Julie, yeah. Yeah, she has three children, Rick and Rob and Julie. And so it was Julie and we had a camper, a pop-up camper that I had borrowed. Right. Do you remember that? We camped out. I was the male in the group. Besides Chris. But I mean, I'm the working male. Let me put it that way because he was small. And I had to put up that. They said it's easy to put up. And, you know, Hercules' mother could not have put that up easily. I don't know what it was about. What do you remember about that trip? I specifically remember Boston. That stuck out to me. For one thing, it rained. Do you remember that? Oh, every night I tried to put it up, it rained. That camper cup. Doing the Freedom Trail. We just got pummeled with rain as we were walking around the city of Boston. But we thought it was so much fun. We loved it. And we got to go on whatever ship it was where they had boxes of tea. Yes. And that are attached to ropes like the Boston Tea Party. We could throw them into the water and then roll them back up. That was really fun. I mean, I don't think I understood what was happening, but anytime you get to throw something, it's great. So then I do remember Faneuil Hall. That was a more scary... memory for me because we were watching they had all sorts of different people performing outside yeah and uh one guy was annual hall is an iconic historic place in the history of america but you We were watching a guy who was swallowing a sword, and it traumatized me a little bit. So I reached up to hold your hand, and I was holding your hand until I looked up and realized I was just holding some strange man's hand. And so then that scared me even more. And here we are. Nothing bad happened out of that. No, I found you quickly. Yeah, I think we loved all of those, all of those different moments that we got to experience something that we had never seen before. I just, there was like cobblestone streets, like very different from Illinois, right? Like how so all the buildings, the was it the old north church that we saw with where Paul Revere hung the lantern. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. So just, I have very strong impressions and I couldn't have been more than six. I don't think. Yeah. Maybe five or six. Yeah. So that would have been in the 1970s. And in 1983 in the summer, I had been invited to speak at a conference in Illinois. And so we decided we would take a 30 day vacation. We didn't really have money for it, but we took a 30 day vacation and we went to Illinois and rented a car or a van, and then went to the East Coast. And out of out of 30 days, we stayed in motels or hotels two nights, but 28 days we had friends scattered around. And we did what we call creative mooching. We're just going to be in the area. Can we just swing by? But we had been invited by a friend to come and visit in Boston. And we went to Boston to have lunch, and we stayed with these folks for four days because they wanted to. And it was the 4th of July in Boston. What do you remember about the 4th of July, summer of 83 in Boston? I remember. There was a crush of people like I don't think I'd ever been to a Fourth of July celebration like that before. Right. There were thousands. Right. Yeah. A quarter of a million people down on what they call the Esplanade on the Charles River, which is right. Right. And so we had a blanket that we had set up because we were listening to the Boston pops. They had an orchestra that played while the fireworks were going off. Is that correct? That's correct. Well, they did. They did a concert ahead and the orchestra director at that time was a fellow named John Williams. Yeah. Awesome. Star Trek and all that stuff. Or Star Wars. Star Wars. Star Wars. Plus all the other things he did. And they played the 1812 Overture. while the fireworks were going off. And instead of just timpani drums, because the 1812 Overture was about the War of 1812, was the day of cannons, right? Do you remember the cannons going off? I don't remember the cannons, but I'm sure it was awesome. I do remember a lady when they played the Star Spangled Banner, all of us on our blanket, we were all singing, standing up. And there was a lady, and she thought she was the one. She was singing. We didn't know her, but we knew her after that. I think she was an opera singer. She took it very seriously. She was belting it out, was she? Oh, my goodness, yes. It was impressive. I know that they gave us glad trash bags so that we could pick up all of our stuff, but they also gave us song sheets. Do you remember that? There were songs. I don't remember that. With all these... old tunes like I'm Yankee Doodle Dandy and Columbia, the songs we don't necessarily sing anymore. But when you have a quarter of a million people singing, it is craziness. It was awesome. And we also have a friend there who had us get what we call fudgesicles. And we found out that in Boston, they're not fudgesicles, they're fudgesicles. Correct. So ever since that time, it changed our vocabulary. Mm-hmm. And then we went on down the coast and every place you go, almost if you're on the East Coast, back in the day, at least there were different accents. The accent difference between Maine and South Carolina is just it's like Pygmalion or My Fair Lady. That's the musical. It's like that. And just the kinds of food and the accents and all of that. Yeah, so fun. The idea that when you look at this country, it's framed by, at its core, generally biblical ideas. And by that, the exodus and so forth. But it also is a country of volunteers. When a French sociologist came and wrote a book, or two-volume book, actually, he talked about the folks that he saw, all of these voluntary groups, all of these groups of charitable enterprise. And in the book that you and your team put together in the back, that America's Grateful Stateful Road Trip You have listed a bunch of factoids on the back two pages. I think we should just go through and you read one and then I'll read one. They're scattered out here. We'll try to cover the waterfront. OK, this is how the page reads. We're grateful for the most beautiful part of our country. the people check out these amazing facts about the big hearted givers who shaped our nation and who are still giving today. Okay. Sauce Europe. I call her, her name's Susanna. I call her sauce. Susanna Europe. I think it would be fun to say too, that Mr. Rogers would have called these people, the helpers. The helpers. Yeah. These are the helpers. Yeah. Yeah. Look for the helpers. So this first one, the Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4th, 1776 and signed by 56 of our founding fathers. Happy 250th USA. Let freedom ring. We are blessed with over 1 million firefighters in our country, over 50% volunteer their time. That's some big hearted giving. That's actually awesome. That is awesome. Yes. That's amazing. That's so cool. When your mother collapsed 13 years ago up in Estes Park, Colorado, when her heart stopped, Several of the people who ran into the room were volunteers. They were EMTs and firefighters who were volunteers. I really like volunteers. We love them. We love them so much. The next one is over 3 million farmers on 1.9 million farms from coast to coast. grow our delicious food. So yummy. And we like farmers too, because we know some and they're great. Yes, we do. Two million plus Americans serve in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Space Force. Thank you for keeping us safe. Over 17 million amazing Americans provide health care and keep us healthy from doctors to nurses to hospital cleaners. God bless you tons. 75% of Americans are big-hearted givers and donate to charity. What amazing, generous people. Did you know that Benjamin Franklin was our first postmaster general in 1775? Now 500,000-plus postal workers deliver joy every day. The US Constitution was written in 1787 by delegates from 12 states. And our first president, George Washington, was there when it happened. So many brave folks protect us every day. More than 700,000 law enforcement officers. Wow. We have 63 national parks and over 14,000 awesome park rangers that care for them. America the beautiful. I might add, even though it's not written here, I think there are lots of volunteers that help in national parks, maintain and all of that. Yep. There are over 4 million teachers in the US. Don't forget Teacher Appreciation Day. Those people are amazing. That's all I have to say. They are. You know, it's interesting. I was talking to Ruth last night, your mom, and I was just saying that when our family came home from India, because they were missionary educators back in the day, the late 1940s, for one year we lived in Monrovia, California, and I went to Wild Rose Elementary School. And I was in the third grade. And my teacher was Miss Kolb, K-O-L-B. The next year, we lived in Springfield, Missouri. And I was in the fourth grade. And we went to Ed V. Williams School. Still there. I believe, still there. And my teacher was Miss Frances Veach. She was 28 and blonde. And most of the boys were in love with her. Nice. Years later, when I was 17 year old about to graduate from Fremont High in Oakland, California, I get a letter from Miss Frances Veach in Oxnard, California. She had moved and we had these I don't know if they're war bonds or some kind of savings certificates. And they and she sent this letter to to master Dickie Fosk. And she said, I think you're in high school now. You should be graduating. I don't even know if these have any value, but here you are. That's a teacher, somebody who tracks you down because she found something in a box. That's amazing. So, well... We are a nation comprised of people, I believe, who in the main have generous hearts and generous spirits. I agree. And when we travel the country. we have a chance to meet those folks. So wherever you are this summer, wherever you're going, I would just like you to make a point to reach out to people just in a natural way, whether you're at a gas station or in a restaurant or whatever. Just check it out. See how that happens. Maybe you could offer to pay for somebody's meal. You probably wouldn't want to be a high-end restaurant. You want to go with burger. Especially if you have kids who eat big. And I, we, mom and I always like coming to see you guys because we leave here in Windsor, Colorado, and we drive to either Rock Springs, Wyoming, or Green River, Wyoming, not huge metropolises, but we stay there overnight. And the next night, we're with you. It's an 11 hour jaunt altogether. Yeah. But as we get closer to your house, we always like that. And you guys, whenever you were small and we got toward California, when we crossed the state line, do you remember what we would sing crossing the state line? We'd sing California, Here We Come. Most people listening to this podcast don't know that song. I'm guessing. It goes like this. California, here we come. Right back where we started from. We're bowers of flowers. Do you remember this? I do remember it. Well, sing it with me. I feel like I'm okay. I would like to hear you sing it. Hours of flowers bloom in the sun. Each morning at dawning, the birdies sing and everything. A sun-kissed miss says don't be late. That's why we can hardly wait. Open up your golden gates. California, here we come. How was that? It was great. Good job, Dad. I don't think it's going to make it on America's Got Talent, but I'm just putting it out there. Let me circle back to just a serious note to end this with. It's fascinating to me. that road trip is a metaphor for the bringing of the good news. Here are a young couple, not yet married. She is pregnant. Her name is Mary. His name is Joseph. You can read this in the Gospels. And they take a road trip 90 miles because the government has said you have to come register because this is a census thing. And they went 90 miles south, but up in elevation. They went from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Later on, when Jesus was perhaps two-ish in there, they had to flee for their lives to Egypt to keep from being killed, if you will. Freedom and road trips, both freedom of expression, freedom of experience. And they didn't know, she didn't know she was carrying the Messiah that would bring freedom. They didn't know that they were protecting freedom necessarily when they went to Egypt. But later on, you have this person again. He's in the killing business. Name was Paul the Apostle Saul at that time. And he's on a road trip to put people like us in jail. And he's almost to Damascus in Syria. And he has an encounter. You never know on a road trip what you're going to encounter. I love it that that encounter happened because of that encounter. We're here talking about the good news about Jesus, about freedom and all of that. Awesome. That's it. So we did our very best in a spontaneous moment to do these two podcasts. Have I told you recently that I love how you write? Thank you, Dad. Have I told you recently that you, as a little girl and even now, you just think so creatively and you're always on the move. And there's a certain sense in which you symbolize road trip for us. Was it you and Jenny that we put on the roof of the station wagon that one time? I think that it was toward evening, actually. It felt like we had been sitting for a long time. Yes. We were sad about sitting. And so you pulled over and said that you were going to put us on top of the car so that we could ride the rest of the way. And I remember your instructions to be as we laid on top of the luggage. keep your mouths shut so that the bugs don't get stuck in your teeth. So we had actually pulled into a gas station and as we were leaving, you guys were squabbling. I mean, that's what you do when you're stuck in a station wagon for all those miles. And he said, that's it. We're putting you on the roof. When we put you on the roof and you held on and, and, and I could hear, I can still hear your mom saying, Dick, what are you doing? I think we were both very upset. We thought, you were going to let us ride up there. And so it was just, you know, a moment. Well, that's it, friends. I encourage you to take road trips seriously because of the fun. Take road trips seriously because of the discovery, because of the adventure, because you never know in meeting a stranger, you might meet an angel unawares, whatever it is, but. But also understand that the metaphor for a road trip is the story of the good news coming to find you and coming to find me. And I celebrate America and its freedoms, but I celebrate the freedom that we find in Jesus even more than that. And Sue, thanks a million. I love you. Love you, Dad. Catch you folks next time. Bye-bye.