The Children’s International Peace and Harmony Statue

The Children’s International Peace and Harmony Statue

Finally – a bit of clear time to write a final post about the 2012 road trip that took us from Nova Scotia through to New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec, and then through about 20 states (Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington.) I said it in my first posting when I returned home, but I need to say it again: It Was The Trip Of A Lifetime! So many wonderful people….

Now — the thing that (perhaps) sums it all up….

We had long dreamed of a road trip across rural parts of America, but what made it a reality for us was the opportunity to personally collect a piece of sculpture that had been generously donated to Deryk’s Peace Sanctuary Sculpture Park in Northern BC. http://peacesanctuarysculpturepark.org/

The trip gave us a chance for both new learning and closure — things that would have been missed had we done the more obvious thing and had the work professionally shipped to its destination. We are extremely glad that we made the trip. Over the years we had made connections with people through email and phone calls, and this was our chance to meet them in person.

So, my earlier posting about our car – which took a lighthearted view at what was involved in getting the sculpture from Indiana to our home (it isn’t at its final location yet) – tells a bit of the story of just how we approached the physical part of the process.

But this posting (much more difficult to write) is to talk about the significance of art we encountered on our trip, especially the sculpture that we will eventually take to the northern part of BC.

How, you might ask, did a large bronze sculpture come to be donated from Laconia Indiana to eventually end up near Fort St John BC? It’s a long, complicated story that started well over ten years ago and began with our children’s book about peace (Echoes from the Square), a story that took place in the then war-devastated city of Sarajevo and featured a cellist whose music gave hope to that city. Our book connected us to a boy named Jason Crowe in Indiana whose journey throughout the project has been truly amazing. Jason worked to raise funds for a sculpture to be created by David Kocka – an artist he greatly admired and whose work, as you’ll see in these photos, has a very special spiritual, inspiring quality.

Jason and David visualized a bronze cellist playing in the square of a peaceful Sarajevo. Part of that dream came true – Sarajevo is now free from war. But there were roadblocks that prevented the sculpture from being realized in the form that Jason had originally wanted. So the sculpture was revisualized as a group of children, playing harmoniously and reaching to each other — “The Children’s International Peace and Harmony Statue”. Ultimately it was decided that the sculpture should stay in North America. It will be on display at the Prince George Art Gallery (BC) and then will eventually be installed at Deryk’s Peace Sanctuary Sculpture Park.

We feel privileged to have had the chance to get to know these people.

Jason is now a young man, and we know that the experience of promoting peace in this way has shown him many aspects of how people interact with each other. We are certain that a love of the arts will continue to be an important part of his life.

We are thrilled that the Peace Sanctuary Sculpture Park will be a showcase for the final result of Jason’s vision. I know that this post doesn’t convey the depth of effort here — the evolving ideas, conversations, challenges, love, frustration and the many many people involved over the years. Hopefully, the sculpture itself contains all of those things and when people see it, they will be able to form an understanding of what it represents.

Sculpture on roof, ready to drive home

David and his work

On David’s property

sculpture on David’s property

detail of a David Kocka sculpture (not sure of the title of this)

David Kocka sculpture: The Children’s International Peace and Harmony Statue

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October 24 – adding a quote I had forgotten to include in this post. When the conversation about art came round to the topic of fame, David Kocka said a wonderful thing — that he wanted to be a “celebrant, not a celebrity.”

I love that idea as the reason for making art. Art is a way to share the things we believe are worth celebrating about. I see that in David’s work and thank him for it.

Grand Canyon

If our cross-country road trip had one stop where we really went crazy taking pictures — it had to be the Grand Canyon. Not that we didn’t find lots to photograph in many other locations, but this one completely exceeded our expectations and it’s on our “must return” list as well. We were on the South Rim at the national park and it was spectacular – including the architecture and artwork of the 40’s designed viewing tower.

These pictures say more than I can say 🙂

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Wild Horses

One of the most breathtaking and unexpected events on the trip took place while driving on highway 160 in Arizona, on the northeast corner of the state where you’re still very close to the Utah border. This is dry flat land and the roads are empty. On our left, we saw a group of horses running towards the road. At first far away, they gained ground very quickly, heading to a passage that would take them under the road. We were able to pull over, jump out of the car with our cameras and take some quick pictures as they thundered through. It happened in an instant and soon the horses were far in the distance again.

But the sound, the heat and the dust were all encapsulated into an unforgettable moment. The beauty of these animals was incredible.

A man on horseback, with a dog, had been following the group and he stopped to talk to us. He told us that they were, indeed, wild horses and he said he enjoyed following them for the fun of it. I asked if I could take his picture and he said yes. I offered to give an apple to his horse, and he said no. Priceless!

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By the way, I haven’t adjusted the colours or contrast or anything in these photos. The iPhone just seemed to find a white point as I shot down from above the culvert. When I shot into the distance, the colours became more natural.

Wheeled Vehicle (our own)

(there will be more about this sculpture and its creator and its reason for being created when I finally get the time to blog on the big big trip-related theme of art!)

Wheeled vehicles (not our own)

Of course cars are the main thing on a road trip. Some sections of the old Route 66 have displays of the types of cars that were there in its glory days and there are ghosts of the retro gas stations from a time when nobody thought about fuel efficiency.

And we often saw huge trucks and trains because goods are being moved constantly and the side roads we picked, though generally quiet, do feed the main highways.

Most of all we were delighted to see the transportation methods used by the Amish people in Pennsylvania: buggies with horses, plain but cute scooters rather than bicycles and wonderful old farm equipment powered by teams of donkeys or horses. We spent Sept 11 in that peaceful environment and it was perfect. We made an effort to learn more details about the Amish values of collaboration and rejection of violence — how their views prevent them from “employing force in any human relationship” and how this means they will abandon a farm or community if harassed, rather than take revenge. Also, their goal of being plain relates to the desire not to elevate any one person above another.

Later on the trip we were surrounded by ornate motorbikes in Las Vegas and Reno… 50,000 of them in Reno for the Street Vibrations event. I think it’s very safe to say that Nevada is not quite as serene as the Lancaster county area of Pennsylvania. Although the road from Las Vegas to Reno is long and desolate, it is scattered with military bases and missile launching compounds, well-advertised brothels, dead mining towns and, wherever there might be a cluster of people, casinos.

But then there’s that other, exhilarating side of Nevada…. the breathtaking splendor when art and technology and lots of money collide! We went to the Cirque du Soleil’s “Love” show in Las Vegas and we were mesmerized! We know it would never exist without the financial foundation of an entity like the Mirage hotel/casino in Las Vegas because along with the Beatles music and the amazing acrobatics, it was a miracle of Very Expensive technology. It takes huge resources and talent to create a production like that and I felt proud of the Cirque du Soleil’s Canadian roots. Interestingly, when we got home our neighbour said he doesn’t like Cirque because there are no stars. So perhaps the Cirque du Soleil encompasses some bit of what the Amish propose 🙂 And those performers are truly collaborating and depending on each other. Almost every move requires huge trust.

I guess life is all about contradiction. Can’t we have the best of all worlds?

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Sharing, caring and trust

A store in Lancaster County – closed, but goods are still on display outdoors. Seems like a very trusting community!

Susan and Joop open their amazing garden to all, because they want to share.

We had wonderful visits with friends and family at many points along the way on this trip. Wolfville NS, Northport NS, Quebec City, Boston, Laconia IN, Newburgh IN, and Port Orchard WA. Sam spent time with a friend in Bellevue WA as well.

Several were people we’d previously known only from our online encounters and we even had folks drive all the way from Florida to Indiana to meet with us when we were there. And we met the friends of our friends – a beautiful ripple effect! These stops gave the feeling of being ‘inside’, rather than being a tourist — and of course local people know things to see that you might never find otherwise.

We thank you all for the amazing hospitality!

And we saw examples of community spirit in many places we travelled through. The Amish community in Lancaster county stands out in this regard, and I’ll write more about it later. But there was also a home overlooking the Annapolis Valley in NS and the owners open their grounds to anyone, in order to share the view. And there was the store that left stock outdoors on display even though they were closed (more trusting than I would be). There were honour system campsites, with the honour system also used to purchase firewood. The Boston harbour cruise was because our friend Bob had devoted a huge amount of time and energy towards a fundraising event to support an AIDS clinic. Listening to him describe the people involved made us very aware of the caring and generosity in his community. And a main purpose of our trip, to collect a donated sculpture (which I’ll write more about as well), involves many people and an extraordinary amount of dedication.

In a previous post I mentioned the woman who stayed late so we could see the Little House on the Prairie. It was similar at the winery in California, where, although the facility was closed, we were invited to come in anyway and watch the grapes being pressed. And I was astonished at Los Alamos, where an entire room was devoted to those with different points of view: “The exhibit on this wall has been designed by a group of citizens who disagree with aspects of the Laboratory’s past and current research. The Bradbury Science Museum has made this space available to the group to encourage responsible debate about the role and future of the Laboratory.” More about that in a future post (I may never stop writing about this trip!)

Structure

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We saw a lot of what humans build on our trip from East to West.

I’m going to write about art separately, so this somewhat random collection of images focuses mainly on structures related to where people live, work and play.

Camping, sunsets and wine

It’s probably pretty obvious why camping, sunsets and wine are grouped together in my mind.

It’s truly wonderful to sit by a campfire and drink something made locally – perhaps from a vineyard visited earlier in the day — then watch the sun set and drift off to sleep in the woods. Perfect weather didn’t hurt! (and basically, that’s what we had with one day’s exception in PEI – and that night we were lucky to have a camping cabin rather than our tent).

But although the weather stayed dry throughout the rest of our trip, we actually didn’t camp after we got Sam and the sculpture. The car was packed and much of the gear was stowed near the spare tire underneath several hundred pounds of bronze sculpture (more about the car and the sculpture in future postings). Motels were often easier to find than campsites in the middle states anyway.

But the camping we did do during our first two weeks was great – noisier than I remember though. Birds, crickets and frogs (probably some other creatures too) made the nights sound like a jungle. I think Pennsylvania might have been the loudest! And I recall waking there to hear the Amish carts at work before dawn (more about that in future postings too). Because we were near the end of the season, there were often very few tenters but in the campsites where RVs were allowed, we learned that lots of people make RV camping a lifestyle and stay in one spot for long periods of time.

Campfire in New Brunswick

Campfires are timeless

Deryk and Sam – Oregon Sunset

Camping! It’s timeless…..

Sunset near Northport Nova Scotia

Oregon Sunset

Sunset in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Oregon sunset with reflections

Sunset near St Louis.

California Fieldbrook winery where we got to watch a press. Moments after this photo, the tray slipped and probably a few bottles worth of juice was lost.

Fieldbrook winery – press day!

Luckett — a very popular winery in Nova Scotia where you can make free phone calls in a British phone booth in the middle of the vineyard.

Bounty and drought

On a coast to coast trip through America during the month of September, especially one taking the rural routes, you would expect to see lots of what was happening at harvest time. We certainly did.

We visited farms and had many chances to see and taste the rewards of work in the fields. Several places were having unusual seasons (is the climate changing?) and in Nova Scotia the great weather led to bumper crops of blueberries and apples that were amazing. Vicky’s basil was pretty spectacular as well! Farmer’s roadside stands and markets like the one in Wolfville NS were lush.

As we moved on we saw that Prince Edward Island and many of the fields from there to Pennsylvania were in great shape. But then in parts of Pennsylvania we noticed a mixture – a field of healthy corn would be right beside a field full of dried-out corn. We asked and were told that corn planted late did better than the early plantings. And as we reached the middle of America, there were no green fields anymore and we saw the impact of a full, dreadful corn drought. It was tragic to see stalks of dead dry corn all the way to the horizon. In diners people would talk about the problem and it was obviously severe.

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We also heard that beef farmers were suffering from not having enough food for the cattle and were sending cattle for processing earlier than usual. When we hit Dalhart Texas, a town that exists predominantly for the processing of meat, and saw thousands upon thousands of animals waiting for slaughter, we had to wonder if what we saw was typical — it seemed to be an impossible number. The smell was unbearable and I didn’t take any pictures because you’d need an arial shot to convey the masses of cattle in yards. As far as the eye could see – cows almost shoulder to shoulder. A see of black and brown for miles. Samuel has always laughed at my vegetarianism, but he was pretty quiet that day.

I googled to see if I could determine how many animals were there, and found somebody’s video of the place from several years ago. Looks like they didn’t want to get out of their car either…. It’s pretty much what we saw so I guess the quantity wasn’t just because of the drought:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoVP53wTDtU

It was certainly part of the learning experience for all of us. I do know I’d love to go back to most of the places I saw but the feedlot town was not one of them.

Route 66

We watched Rainman last night because a good chunk of the mid-part of our trip followed the route that Dustin Hoffman took with Tom Cruise in that movie. Definitely the scenes of New Mexico were in locations we had been to and we know that the movie followed part of the old Route 66, as we did. It’s a great movie and we loved it more than ever now that we really understand the feeling of those old roads.

We deliberately wanted side roads — we wanted to see America as it had been in earlier days and we wanted to avoid crowded freeways. I think from these pictures you’ll see that we accomplished that.

Speaks for itself! (but we didn’t do as it said….)

Heartbreaking to see so many of these along Route 66

Not a lot of traffic

Alternate Energy

There were literally dozens and dozens of billboards for the one, isolated store that remained within miles of this part of New Mexico.

Tucumcari Mountain in the distance

I had my ways of taking photos