John O’Donnell and I were to go to Mobile, AL., for a weekend, and then to Atlanta for a L’Arche International Assembly. The day John O’Donnell and I met for the big trip I was met with a surprise: He and I were to take a night at a hotel near the Airport. And it was so. We took a room at the Halifax Airport Comfort Inn. I swam in the hotel’s indoor pool and went to bed that night.
The day we woke up we took a shuttle to the Halifax Stanfield International Airport from where we were to take not 1, not 2, but THREE different planes (thank God all jets) to Toronto, to Atlanta, and then to Mobile. We went through security without so much as a chirp. We boarded plane #1 of 3. In no time we took off and in no time we landed at Pearson International Airport. Here we were to fill out a US Customs & Border Protection declaration that declared purpose of trip, age, address, whether or not we were carrying fruits, vegetables, or forbidden things, and reason for trip, and then go through Customs before going through security. We went through US Customs successfully, and then checked our bags again, and then proceeded to our gate only to discover that plane #2 was experiencing mechanical difficulties, and so we were diverted from the original designated gate to another one. Due to the delay we missed the connecting Delta plane to Mobile. We booked another one, boarded that one, and landed in Mobile at 10:10 pm Central. There were people there to pick us up.
Day 1 in the U.S. we took a drive to the Mardi Gras Museum in Mobile and saw exhibits that told us Mobile was the birthplace of Mardi Gras parades. Then we took a drive to a house with a pool; a beach nearby; and a Bel Air-style house. We had a BBQ and a swim.
The next day we took a drive as a 3-rental-car convoy to Atlanta and on the way we stopped at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant. A friend took my camera and took a picture of me holding a case of glass bottles of Coca-Cola, the reason being I read in my Atlanta Book that Coca-Cola was invented in Atlanta. Soon we got to the Agnes Scott College, set up, and I went with my driver to the Airport so as he could return the rental car, and the 2 of us took MARTA (the city’s transit train) back to the College. We had our opening ceremonies and our theme song was called “Carry The Dream”, written by John Coleman, inspired by Martin Luther King, Junior’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech. All the songs during this week were beautiful. I met lots of friends from all across the world.
The next day we had a couple assemblies and a Catholic mass in both English and French. Other days we had church services of all kinds. We also went to church services at a Presbyterian Church and an Episcopal Church. The assemblies we went to were spoken in English, French, and Spanish. We had radios with headphones that translated to English French and Spanish, like say words and prayers were spoken in French or Spanish, we could listen to it in English nonetheless. That was helpful. Every night from that night on we had pub nights, and we had 7 pub nights in a row. John and I went to Decatur CD store and I purchased the DVDs Like Mike, Space Jam, and Beethoven/Beethoven’s 2nd Double Feature, along with the CDs Black Eyed Peas The E.N.D. and The Black Eyed Peas The Beginning, all for great prices.
On our final full day in Atlanta we went on a bus tour on a school bus to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, with education about how before “I Have A Dream” people were separated from each other because of their races, cultures, colors, religions, faiths, and abilities, which I already knew about after being in STAR (Students Against Racism), and learning about the World Wars, at Catholic Church to which Dr. King went; got a tour of a museum; and listened to a gospel choir from Mobile singing beautiful songs like O Happy Day, We Shall Overcome, and other gospel favorites. They then played a video of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech. The next day the same gospel choir sang at our assembly at the College.
After the final night in Atlanta we said goodbye to our new friends; took the bus to the MARTA Station; took a MARTA Train to the Atlanta Airport; tried to find the ticketing agent; checked our bags; boarded plane #1 of 2 planes, which took off in no time and took us to Pearson Airport. We went through Canadian Customs and connected planes to plane #2 to Halifax Airport. We stayed in L’Arche Halifax the day we landed. At Toronto Airport I had purchased the CD Mumford & Sons Sigh No More.
The next day we drove to Saint John, and that was the end of the journey, and therefore, the end of the story.