Tamela Rich's Blog, page 4

Tribute to My Hillbilly Grandparents: Appalachia Proud

I’ve been traveling the Appalachian Mountains all of my life, first in the family station wagon, then on my motorcycle. It’s gorgeous country, and the people who call it home are often misunderstood. I know this because they are my people.

Growing up in central Ohio our county was bordered to the east and south by the officially-designated Appalachian region. Our community ethos was tied to the land since it was dominated by people who farmed, even if they had paid employment elsewhere.

At harvest time kids were excused from school to help bring it in, and many of the boys earned money by trapping rabbit, fox, raccoon, and beaver in the winter.

Mamaw and Papaw

My most important tie to the culture and history of Appalachia was family, especially my grandparents, whom we called Mamaw and Papaw—normal hillbilly grandparent names, in case they are new to you. Don’t wince when I use the term “hillbilly,” since Mamaw and Papaw described themselves that way.

The Blackburns, Varneys, Thackers, and Justices made their lives as farmers, coal miners—and yes, moonshiners—before WWII opened job opportunities to them in the nation’s munitions plants and armed services. The WWII diaspora is how many hillbillies found their way to our rural Ohio community, where there was a small Air Force base and other “day jobs.”

My grandparents barely survived the Great Depression, and teenaged Papaw was able to feed his parents and eight siblings by enrolling in Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal program, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). When the war broke out he was inducted into the Navy.

So grateful were my Blackburn great-grandparents for the New Deal that they named one of their boys “Franklin Delano Roosevelt Blackburn.” Not Franklin Delano” or a token “Franklin” mind you. They took the name lock, stock, and barrel. We called him “Uncle Rosie.”

Junior motherhood

I was the eldest of three children. Like eldest daughters since time immemorial I was expected to be a “junior mother” to the younger kids. This didn’t come to me easily or with good grace. As a matter of fact on the first day of school I lied to my teacher and classmates by telling them I was an only child!

If both of my parents had to work in the evening, I was technically the babysitter, but I really just wanted to read my books, not break up squabbles and get them bathed and into bed at the right hour. My brother and sister turned out to be terrific adults—they’re just lucky they made it that far under my lack of supervision. Subscribe to this story series

Weekends on the farm
Corn bread in a cast iron skillet

Weekends at Mamaw and Papaw’s farm were the good life for me. They were in charge of us all, and junior mother was off duty.

I rode the pony in the barnyard and out into the fields while Papaw did chores. He taught me some advanced animal husbandry, like dehorning and docking the tails of sheep.

I not only saw cattle, sheep and horses breeding and giving birth, I also tagged along when Papaw took one of his steers to the slaughterhouse. Yes, that included the killing floor as a captive bolt pistol was matter-of-factly placed to its forehead.

The circle of life.

After a day outdoors I watched Mamaw work her country-cooking magic with cast iron cookware.  I cook exclusively with cast iron today.

On Saturday nights, Mamaw would teach me a new crochet technique while we all watched Hee Haw. The folksy variety show was their respite from unrelenting lives. They never missed it. Papaw reclined in a dark brown naugahyde La-Z-Boy with a TV tray to his right, which held an aluminum tumbler of iced off-brand cola. On the other side of his TV tray sat Mamaw in a swivel rocker, surrounded by the tools and spools of her passion: crocheting and knitting.

Mamaw was a prolific fiber artist and Papaw was an animal lover, traits I inherited from them in spades.

Hillbilly-in-hiding

As a pre-teen I became class conscious. While Mamaw and Papaw could call themselves “hillbillies,” I noticed that when others said it, they lacked kindly intent. I didn’t want that social stigma.

That’s when I stopped watching Hee Haw and singing along with Papaw’s hillbilly songs like Rosenthal’s Goat and Three Nights Drunk—a funny song that I never knew was about marital infidelity until I heard it as an adult.

As half hillbilly I stopped talking about what happened out on the farm, other than riding my horse (I outgrew the pony). One example of my clandestine weekend adventures was the farmyard chicken slaughter. Three elements left a lasting impression:

Mamaw told me that one of the first things she learned to do as a child was wring a chicken’s neck, but I was thankfully spared a demonstration; instead, Papaw chopped their heads off with a hatchet. So yes, I truly know what’s meant by “running around like a chicken with its head chopped off.”
My uncle brought a headless chicken over to me, his big hands pressing its ribs together to move air through its windpipe. The moving air made the dead chicken sound just like a live one, bwwaaaaaaaaaaaakkkkk, bwwaaaaaaaaaaaakkkkk.
The stench of a bird being scalded in boiling water to make the feathers easier to pluck.

To this day I shun chicken. I think more of us would be vegetarian if we had to do the dirty work.

Well, either vegetarian or less wasteful with our food. Subscribe to this story series

Colorful speech

As a voracious reader and student of language I soaked up Appalachian witticisms with the gusto of a shop vac, and my family was a bottomless well of colorful speech.

With my newfound class consciousness I censored the expressions I learned from my family in favor of the “proper speech” that I picked up in books and school. I’d occasionally drop a hillbilly saying like, “that dog don’t hunt” or “as happy as a pig in shit,” which always took listeners by surprise.

Over time I’ve come to embrace these colloquialisms. Just last week I said, “I’d like to jerk a knot in his tail” within earshot of a British friend and it made him howl with laughter.

Once I got a driver’s license my life took a direction of it’s own. I had less and less time for family, and a heightened tendency for eye-rolling when Papaw trotted out an old tale from “the hills.”

Because the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice, my boys are now doing the same when I ramp up one of my own stories from the road.

The gift of loving fortitude

I’m always nostalgic in January since it’s my birthday month. Looking back at the heroic lives my grandparents led, I am awed and inspired, not ashamed.

I come from sturdy stock. Papaw didn’t get past the eighth grade, and while Mamaw finished high school, women earned 59 cents on a man’s dollar in 1964—her prime working years. Despite having no bootstraps to pull themselves up by, they managed to raise a family and send a little something back home to those who had even less.

I’m one of many beneficiaries of their values and priorities. In addition to taking us in on the weekends, they helped raise Mamaw’s youngest sister while another of her sisters was in a TB sanitorium, and they adopted and raised one of their grandchildren when he was about seven years old.

Last spring, en route to visit Mamaw’s youngest sister in Kentucky, I made a detour to see the coal camp where Mamaw and Papaw grew up and where my mother was born.The mines are long closed; everyone who could find a better life left long ago.

That visit was the beginning of a personal odyssey for me as I discovered the Stone Heritage Museum that preserves the history of the coal camps and people who called them “home.”

 

I’ll tell you more Appalachian stories this year, since I’ve been on a “roots quest” of late. Stay tuned. Better yet, subscribe to my list and you won’t miss a thing.

Subscribe to this story series

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Holiday Road Trippin’ with ABC Radio

Did you hear me interviewed on an ABC radio affiliate today?

The segment leads with the JFK assassination (53 years ago today) but 13 seconds into the segment, it turns to a couple of my favorite subjects: roadside kitsch and road tripping.

The radio production wizards took a simple interview and whipped it into a fun listen, complete with the Holiday Road theme song from the National Lampoon’s Vacation franchise. Fun factoid, the song was written by Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham.

Here it is:

http://tamelarich.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/tamela-rich-abc-news-feature.m4a
Free Winter Road Trip Guide

Our 3:18 interview didn’t cover everything you should consider about planning the perfect winter road trip. My free six-page guide comes much closer, and includes a car care checklist.

Download it free right here…no email registration required.

Enjoy!

 

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The “Ambition Dress” and Extending My Middle Age

Yes, that’s me with a group of seniors in Charlotte, North Carolina, as part of the Shepherd Center Author Series. 

Take a closer look at the folks in the photo at the top of this post, all normal-sized and ambulatory. I loved what they shared with me about their lives, past and future.

They gave me such an enthusiastic reception that we hung around long after the  program was scheduled to end.

In 2015 UK’s Telegraph reported that “old age should be defined as having 15 or fewer years left to live, which for the baby boomers means that they are still middle aged until their 74th year.” This means I have another 20 years to be in “middle age” and I’m determined to make the most of them!

A word about “ambition clothes”

You can’t tell in the photo that I’m wearing a dress.

An “ambition dress,” to be precise.

Every woman has “ambition clothes” in her closet. We keep them around even though they don’t fit. Maybe we think they motivate us to do what it takes to wear them. In all honesty, most of my ambition clothes go out of style before I can get into them, which kind of nukes the “motivation” rationale.

Maybe the truth is that I’m too frugal to give up hope on something I really want to wear!

Whatever the reason, I was frankly surprised that it didn’t take very long for me to slip into this one. I was on Day 15 of my detox program: no sugar, grains or dairy. There’s more to it than that, but those are the big changes for me.

What I quickly learned about the discomfort I’ve been feeling around my torso is that it was “bloat” more than “fat.”

I still have fat around the middle, but the bloat is mercifully gone because I removed the three things most likely causing it. I’ll be able to figure out which of the three I can add back later in the program.

I can’t believe how much better I feel and how much more soundly I’m sleeping.

Please let me know if there is a group that would enjoy hearing some of my stories from the road. This page on my website tells you more. If you wanna see me in the ambition dress, I can make it happen!

The difference between “bloat” and “fat”

Earlier this month I had a battery of tests for which I gave eight vials of blood and other fluids to a functional medicine specialist. I was shocked and frankly pissed off by what I learned about my declining health.

How could I possibly be on the verge of diabetes when I eat a mostly-organic diet?

How could I possibly have so much cortisol when I pray and meditate regularly?

My friend Mary Miller Brooks helped me sort this out. If you’re interested here’s a video interview she did with me.

The main takeaways for me in the last couple of weeks is 1. the need to keep my insulin steady with good proteins, and 2. that I can manage energy dips with good fats. The right fats and proteins at the right intervals make it easy to live without grains and sugar.

I miss the dairy because some of my favorite dishes are made with it, but that’s just my tastebuds talking.

I’m learning to listen to what my body tells me. What a journey.

 

 

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Italy by Motorcycle: 3 Rooms Available

LAST CALL for ITALY by MOTORCYCLE!

I’m headed to Italy September 22-30 2016 and three rooms are still available. We’ll tour Rome, Siena and Orvieto.

Live Q&A session on Facebook

If you’ve been thinking about joining me in Italy, have some questions about it, or have someone you’d like to tour Italy with you I’m hosting a live Q&A session on FACEBOOK. 

I’ll be live with my friend and tour guide Bill Kniegge. You’ll see our stare-worthy faces (!), we’ll show you maps and tour guides, you’ll ask questions and we’ll answer them.

Join me on Tuesday, August 9 at 7:00 (Eastern time) on my Facebook Page.

Can’t make the live Q&A? No worries, I’ll send you a link that you can watch again and again…or forward to a friend. Simply sign up here.

Italy by motorcycle tour details

 

The “Ladies First Magical Italy” tour I’m taking September 22-30, 2016 is about soaking in all that makes Italy unique, not whizzing by it at breakneck speed.

On this tour, we won’t have to hit the road at zero-dark-thirty every day as the tour leader push-push-pushes us ahead on a whirlwind itinerary. Heck, we only have to pack our luggage (which the support van carries for us) three times!

The Magical Italy tour will cover Rome, Siena and Orvieto over eight days. You can ride as much or as little as you want, with or without a guide.

Special evenings for my friends

I’ve asked for eight places in the group, which is capped graciously at 12 so everyone gets the attention they deserve.

In addition to the meals included in the tour, our group will enjoy private dinners in Siena and Orvieto.

When you register be sure to use “Travel with Tamela” as your referral source.

Can’t make the live Q&A? No worries, I’ll send you a link that you can watch again and again…or forward to a friend. Simply sign up here.

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West Virginia’s Miss Vickie: Let Go, Let God

My travels have blessed me with countless—countless—chance encounters. From a fry cook walking across America before he goes blind, to a homeless Vietnam veteran, and the people who shared their journeys with cancer with me, I have been blessed, and my character molded by each one of them.

Perhaps none so much as Miss Vickie, of Arthurdale, West Virginia.

The New Deal Festival

Arthurdale’s New Deal Festival celebrates the community’s rich history as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s homestead subsistence project. The enterprise succeeded in some ways and failed in others, providing lessons for addressing some of the economic and social needs we face today.

After a few hours of listening to historians and music, eating BBQ, and touring the community by hay wagon, I made my way to Miss Vickie’s Guest House. I was her first guest in a year because, despite its historical significance, rural Arthurdale doesn’t receive many overnight visitors.

Pulling into the driveway at about 5:00 that evening I park my motorcycle to the side of Miss Vickie’s car. I notice that the hood is a different color from the rest of it, and deduce that it’s a replacement. Run-in with a deer? A few of the lethal beauties graze in the meadow across the street as I unbuckle my duffle from the seat.

Despite the temperature, the diminutive Miss Vickie is sitting outside under a blanket, watching me and the deer. I later learn that her unassuming home has been reconstructed from two earlier structures in a coal camp: the superintendent’s home and a boarding house. I wish it were possible to interview this house that has seen so much history. I want to know the stories of working people considered too humble for documentary films and high school classrooms.

When I introduce myself and drop my duffle beside her on the deck, her expression changes from politely cautious, to hospitably surprised. With a titter, she confesses that it never crossed her mind that her female guest might be riding a motorcycle.

I get that a lot.

Miss Vickie’s Ram

I head back to my bike to retrieve a few more things. Looking over the windshield straight ahead of me, nested in a sea of dazzling orange daylilies, sits a 1950 Dodge Ram truck. A bright pink flamingo peeks out from the bed, which spills over in a riotous mix of summer flowers.

Miss Vickie notices that I’m gawking and explains that she changes the plantings and decorations in the truck bed for each season. December always features lights, a Christmas tree in the bed, and a wreath around the hood ornament. Miss Vickie loves that old hood ornament; it’s a retro gem.

Professional and amateur photographers frequently visit Miss Vickie’s, including those who hope to win calendar contests. The old Ram has helped a few of them do just that.

Over dinner I’ll hear the story of the day that author Jeanne Mozier flew into Arthurdale in her husband’s private plane just to interview Miss Vickie and get a picture of the truck.  “My truck’s in a book!” Miss Vickie beams, as she shows me a well-loved copy of Way Out in West Virginia: A Must-have Guide to the Oddities and Wonders of the Mountain State. 

A “flower ministry”

The downturn of West Virginia’s coal industry has forced many rural residents to scramble for ways to keep body and soul together. Miss Vickie lives close enough to the university town of Morgantown that she can make her living cleaning houses there. She professes that she is truly blessed to have work that helps families cope with their big houses and bustling lives. She routinely brings them flowers from her garden, and home-baked goods when the flowers are dormant.

In fact, Miss Vickie brings EVERYONE in her life flowers, from the grocery store checkout gal, to her medical team at WVU Medical in Morgantown, and the parking lot attendant there. You might even say she has a “flower ministry.” Her home is surrounded by flower beds that keep her ministry supplied.

In my own room Miss Vickie has placed a vase of beautiful gladiolas that match the color of the walls. Had I chosen a different room, it would have been adorned with a different bouquet.

Gratitude in hardship

Miss Vickie has faced hardships and setbacks that are bigger than any of us would want to bear, and most of them are not mine to share here.

One of them I can mention is a near-fatal car crash. When she awoke in the hospital at WVU, it was in the same room where her brother had passed away.

Miss Vickie still needs follow-up care from WVU medical and dental students, who learn their professions by treating clinic patients like her. They always go home with flowers.

She is a sparrow of a woman, because for a couple of years after the accident, she had to choose between the pain of chewing and hunger pangs. That explains why she sits outside under a blanket in the July heat. She truly has no body fat, something I dream about—but not at the price she paid.

Despite what the world has thrown her way she is grateful for each day, each house to clean, each drop of rain for her garden, and each visitor who stays with her in unincorporated Arthurdale instead of driving to a town or city with a motel.

In short, Miss Vickie is not troubled by the vicissitudes of life. This photo of sticky notes on her refrigerator portrays her coping strategy.

In case you can’t read them, they say:

God,                                                                                         God,

Whatever                                                                                I hope that  today you will

Whenever and                                                                       reveal to me, the next step                                                                     

However you want it, my answer is yes                           in your plan  for my life.               

                                                          Vickie                                                               Vickie

A quiet, earnest witness

We’ve all encountered zealots (religious and otherwise) determined to impress upon us their “witness.” A woman of faith myself, I am nevertheless put off—and at times even frightened—by religious fervor.

Miss Vickie does not evangelize her house guests. More effectively, she embodies her faith by serving them.

For example, when I asked where I could find a place to eat dinner, she insisted on cooking for me instead. Her eyes lit up and her mouth smiled broadly over her dentures when I accepted her gracious offer.

Oh yes, I was truly doing her a favor by accepting her dinner invitation. When’s the last time you felt you were honoring someone when you accepted their offer of service? And when’s the last time you gave someone the feeling that you were honoring them with yours?

My visit with Miss Vickie in Arthurdale is a touchstone of tranquility for me. She showed me that saying “yes” to everything that comes your way—bidden or unbidden, welcome or unwelcome—is the only path to peace of mind.

I anticipate that many of you would like to see a picture of Miss Vickie. Instead, I leave you with the indelible impression she left on my heart.

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Camping For Beginners with Kids: Free Download

Click here to download my free guide

If you’ve never gone camping with your family, you need answers to these three questions:

WHAT equipment do you need?
WHERE should you camp?
WHAT can you do with the kids once you get there?

My free download: Camping for Beginners” will help.

I eased into camping with one of my sons as a Cub Scout, where there were plenty of experienced folks to lead the way. Now, whenever I’m on a long tour I always pack camping gear. I love it!

How much camping gear do you need?

If you don’t have a Cub Scout Leader to show you the ropes, you might ask an expert at one of the big box stores. Your encounter with a nice salesperson who has “done it all” can lead you to compile a big list of things you must have to enjoy a weekend in the great outdoors.

Please, before you part with hard-earned cash, ask yourself, “Do I really want to invest this kind of money in equipment before I know whether we will enjoy it?”

Start by camping in your own backyard

The answer is, “NO!”  As I told the hosts of NBC Charlotte’s “Charlotte Today” I recommend a backyard campout with a homemade fort (unless you can borrow a tent from someone).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Move up to camping cabins

As I said in my interview with WBTV (below), there are several categories of camping cabins. Some are simple structures with beds that you can use with sleeping bags or sheets and blankets. Others fall into the category of “glamping” (glamour camping) with kitchens, cable TV, and your own kitchen and bath.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Free download spells out lots of options

Download “Camping for Beginners,”which includes:

1. How and where to find a great campsite or campground

2. What to do while camping, including games and activities

3. Minimal packing list (for camping anywhere except your own backyard)

 

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Touring Italy by Motorcycle: Answers to your FAQ

I announced my intention to tour Italy by motorcycle a this September and right now 6 seats are left! My passport is current and I’ve already chosen my bike.

Since talking to interested women motorcyclists about the tour, I’ve noticed that many of their questions are similar, so I covered them here.

Good news: I’ll be hosting a live call-in Q&A session on May 11 at 7:30 EDT. You can ask me and tour guide Bill Kneigge* ANYTHING about this tour. Register for the call by hitting one of the blue buttons in this post.

Ask Me about Italy

Concerned about Rome traffic?

Some riders might find the thought of touring Italy on a motorcycle intimidating. First, let’s talk about Roma’s traffic.

You’ll spend two days upon arrival in Rome before starting the tour to adjust from jet lag, visit the lovely city, and take short ride in the country to know your motorcycle in a controlled environment.

Our will leave Rome early on Sunday morning, when streets are with very little traffic. Honestly, traffic will be light; you can ask about that in our call May 11. 

Concerned about the schedule?

Of the five riding days, the longest mileage day is 155 miles. Anyone can do that!

The other four are no more than 100 miles. This leaves lots of time for breaks, sightseeing, and photos of the fabulous scenery along the way. There is always the option of more riding once everyone has arrived at the hotel.

Enrico Grassi* designed an itinerary that blends lovely riding roads, relaxing and rejuvenating hospitality, and a pace that allows us to take in the sights, scents and flavors of Italy’s Lazio, Umbria, and Tuscany regions.

Ask Me about Italy

Concerned about the pace or the roads?

The ride pace will be leisurely. If you have a great need for speed you can go out on your own once we have arrived at our destinations.

All the roads on this tour are paved and categorized as easy, meaning a minimum of hairpin turns or crazy off-camber twisties. The roads were chosen to meet the needs of first-time overseas tour travelers who could be “dazzled” by the experience.

Guides Enrico and Bill will join us.* We’ll review “Rules of the Road” and group riding.

Three nights of the nine-day tour are spent in the same hotel, in Siena, with a rest day and loop day-rides from that hotel.

Two nights in a beautiful resort nestled into a fabulous winery setting in Orvieto, pictured here.

This itinerary allows you to settle into only two hotels and enjoy their amenities, without having to unpack and repack each day for a new hotel.

The resort hotel in Orvieto (pictured) has a fabulous spa with all the amenities one could imagine.

Ask Me about Italy

What about the luggage?

A support vehicle will carry the luggage, so you can travel lightly on your motorcycle. You will have the option of leaving extra luggage at the Rome hotel to collect when the tour returns to the same Rome hotel.

This “Magical Italy” itinerary was designed to showcase a lot of variety of Italy in a short amount of time. You’ll get a good taste of the culture, the food and the beauty of this historical and beautiful country.

Ask Me about Italy

Concerned about motorcycle choice?

Book now to get the bike you want. Bikes are first-come, first-served.

Hear the Road Motorcycle Tours offers Harley-Davidson in addition to BMW, Moto Guzzi, Triumph and Ducati.

When you click through to register be sure to indicate “Travel with Tamela.”

*About our guides
Enrico Grassi owner of “Hear the Road” motorcycle tour company

Any tour is only as good as its leaders. Our tour leader, Rome-born-and-bred Enrico Grassi, wants us to experience Italy as Italians do. Enrico owns Hear the Road Motorcycle Tours.

With eight full days in Italy, the itinerary is designed to allow us the time to get to know Rome, Siena and Orvieto in depth and at leisure. Here’s his philosophy:

Forget about getting from A to B in the fastest time possible. Forget about racing down the highways.

I deal with feelings. What I am talking about is the essence of travelling: hearing, seeing, smelling, feeling, tasting: experiencing all these senses at the same time, enjoying the wonderful freedom and exposure you get from being on a bike… Because for me, being on the road is all about feeling great! There are few things in life that match the sensory feeling of riding, seeing, and hearing the road as I ride the scenic back roads of Italy with my fellow riders.

Motorcycle tour guide Bill Kneigge

My great friend Bill Kneigge, who has been in the motorcycle business 40 years and leading tours for 12 of them, went to Enrico with the idea that women would like to tour with other women. He was right!

The success of the 2015 reviewed in Motorcycle Magazine, led Enrico and Bill to tweak the itinerary this year to give us more time in Siena, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ask Me about Italy

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Safety as a Woman Traveling Solo

I’ve learned a lot about myself as a woman traveling solo. That’s my #1 reason for recommending it.

Traveling solo offers you a chance to follow your instincts, to meet new people, and to get inside your own head. Even after extolling its virtues, people almost always ask, “But aren’t you afraid to travel solo?”

What’s to fear as a female solo traveler?

Although I’m a cheerleader for solo travel, I admit that bad things happen to good people. Among other unwelcomed experiences, I’ve had my wallet stolen some 2500 miles from home, and have run out of gas on a lonely Montana road.

I joined WBTV’s Kristen Miranda this week to talk about this, and there’s more to tell than I had time to say in that interview.

Safety concerns for solo travelers fall into a two main categories:  financial inconvenience and bodily harm. Fortunately you can take precautions to address them both.

Top 5 safety precautions for women traveling alone

Keep your money and credit cards in multiple locations. If something happens to one stash you will have a reserve.
Make copies of your identification and the front and back of your credit cards. I upload these to Evernote so I can get to them even if my phone dies or is stolen.
Never go to a place where your intentions will be “mis-perceived.” Think about it—being alone in a known “pick-up joint” is different than being alone in a farmer’s market!
Wear a wedding band. If you are not married, it makes sense to wear a cheap wedding band (a $25 investment at most). If someone gets creepy you can always say you’re headed back to the hotel, where your hubby stayed behind to catch up on some email. The wedding band adds plausibility to your claim.
Go where other people are. I’ve walked in NYC at midnight and felt absolutely safe because the sidewalks are full of others. If you think you are being followed, step into a crowded business, not into a side street or alleyway.

The good news is that if you are an American or Canadian reader I can personally vouch for the overall safety of your home country. Start there—where you speak and read the language—for your first solo adventure. Our countries are huge, after all, with plenty to see and do!

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Monticello and Slavery: Is this Historical Site Family-Friendly?

This post was updated on April 12, 2016:

Monticello has kindly offered two adult and two children’s visitor passes to the winner of my raffle. Drawing will be 5/27/16. No purchase necessary. Scroll to the bottom of this post to enter.

You can also enter on my Charlotte Parent Magazine blog, Travel with Purpose.

Original Post published 3/18/15:

With spring break and summer vacation season upon us, I always recommend that parents place an historical site in the itinerary. It could be a quick pull-over at the geographical center of the continental United States where you get a quick family photo, or it can be a week in Gettysburg to take a deep dive into Civil War history.

If you plan ahead, you can listen to audio books in the family car on the theme of your vacation. They’re a great way to get the kids excited about what they’re about to experience and they beat the heck out of one more replay of a kid movie soundtrack from an adult’s perspective! You can borrow audio books from the public library or buy them from Audible.com (this link will take you to some chiildren’s books on Jefferson).

As part of my continued segment on Fox 46’s Good Day Charlotte, I suggested Monticello (in Charlottesville, Virginia) for spring break.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Why? Because President Thomas Jefferson was interested in every cool thing that excites kids today: paleontology, archeology, plants and animals, weather, secret codes, and ice cream.

Monticello is also where parents and children can learn about, yes, slavery.

Jefferson was at one time the largest slaveholder in Virginia, yet he originally drafted the Declaration of Independence to include strong statements against slavery. Jefferson’s strongest-worded paragraph was voted down by the Congressional Congress, then replaced by watered down language in the final draft.

Should we be talking to our kids about slavery?
This tree was alive during Jefferson’s lifetime.

What better way to learn about slavery and racism than as a family, where parents can share their values on the matter?

If the thought makes you squeamish, consider our media-drenched culture. Even young children are aware that America’s slave-holding past has cast a long shadow in places like Ferguson, Missouri and in their own hometowns.

Bottom line: If you aren’t talking to your kids about slavery and racism, you can bet someone else is—directly or indirectly. This is why I categorize Monticello “Connect Deep” on my site.

Monticello is the perfect place to explore the roots of racism

I think there’s no better place to learn about our nation’s history with slavery than at Monticello, home of  the third president of our country—who is believed to have fathered the children of Sally Hemings, one of his slaves.

Instead of squirming uncomfortably when the subject of slavery comes up, a trip to Monticello offers families a way to discover the subject in age-appropriate ways. The historical site neither sensationalizes nor sugarcoats slavery.

Guided tours, including slave quarters on “Mulberry Row”

These tours are available at Monticello:

Guided Tour of Monticello’s first floor comes with a Day Pass
You need the “Behind the Scenes” pass to see the second floor, the dome and other places in the house. Buy your tickets in advance; it sells out quickly
Guided “Slavery at Monticello” Tours (April-October) comes with a Day Pass
Guided “Gardens and Grounds” Tours (April-October) comes with a Day Pass

Mulberry Row laborers worked as skilled weavers, spinners, blacksmiths, tinsmiths, nail-makers, carpenters, house joiners, gardeners, stablemen, and domestic servants.

To more fully understand Mulberry Row, home to Jefferson’s enslaved workers, here’s an official website.

Jefferson the Renaissance Man

There is a great deal more than slavery to discover at Monticello. After all, Jefferson founded the University of Virginia, negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, established the American decimal currency system, and imported plants and animals from around the then-known world.

He is even considered the Father of American Archaeology because he excavated a Native American burial mound near Monticello.

A widower, Jefferson would outlive five of his six children. Visitors will learn about how the children and grandchildren were raised and educated—Jefferson had high standards and expected everyone to keep the kind of daunting schedule and intellectual pursuits that he did.

Historical sites, including Monticello, “go digital and interactive”

Back when we were kids going to an historical site was downright boring. Docents and re-enactors in period dress showed visitors how to shoe a horse or make a mustard poultice, but there was not much more to captivate a young person’s interest. We toured a museum with artifacts in glass cases with typewritten labels held in place by push pins.

What kid didn’t hate that?

I’ve visited historical sites in 49 states and Monticello is an example of the future. It offers plenty of kid-centric activities and lots of interactive displays.

Entering the main galleries, visitors are greeted by a wall of 21 flat-panel LCD screens, including seven interactive touch screens (pictured below). This gallery houses the “Sea of Liberty,” which is also an impressive website that you can use to take your visit to Monticello back home with you.

Note the word “Touch” in the one to the right. You can see larger versions of all the photos in this post by clicking on them.

Similarly progressive historical sites are easy to find on the east coast including Mount Vernon and Gettysburg.

If in doubt whether an historical site will hold your kids’ interests, simply go to the search bar of its website and type in “children’s programs” or “kids programs.”
Monticello’s programs for kids

The Griffin Discovery Room is where kids aged 6-12 will happily spend time exploring all things Jefferson:

Writing on a polygraph machine based on the one Jefferson owned


Learning how to weave


Trying on replicas of 18th-century clothes


Touching a mastodon’s jawbone,


Creating secret codes on a wheel cipher based on Jefferson’s design


Touring a replica of a slave cabin from Mulberry Row (pictured center-below)

The activities are self-directed and will also be enjoyed by adults—but restrain yourselves!

Older children will enjoy the room’s computers with programs that enable visitors to design a house with choices of building materials, styles of windows, domes, columns, pediments, balustrades, etc.

Other seasonal activities are available at the Mountain Top Hands-On Activity Center.

Resources for kids

Plan ahead by downloading a free iPad app to engage children, ages 3-7  in the story of America’s Founding Fathers. The app takes young children on a virtual field trip to Monticello.

Sea of Liberty (mentioned above) interactive website allows teachers and students the opportunity to explore and create digital projects with documents, letters, and images related to ideas of liberty, freedom, and self-governance.

Download this guide and see Monticello through the eyes of Jefferson’s granddaughter Cornelia.

The Jefferson Gardens

Monticello was the first weather observation center in America, run by Jefferson himself. He was an obsessive list maker, and weather was one of his obsessions. For nearly 50 years he took daily notes of weather: temperature, rain fall, barometric pressure, wind direction. He developed a network of others who did the same and they compared data.

He was responsible for the first debate on global warming in history, predicting that the climate of Virginia would no longer support the growing of tobacco.

When Matt and I toured Monticello, we met gardening enthusiasts who’d come from around the world to learn more about Jefferson’s horticulture.

Jefferson loved farming and experimented with 330 varieties of more than 70 species of vegetables from around the world. Remember, Jefferson was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase; he instructed Lewis and Clark to send back as many plants and animals as possible so that he could study and catalog them. Many of those plants are still cultivated at Monticello using what we now call “organic” means.

Jefferson documented his successes and failures in his Garden Book, noting for instance the dates when seeds were planted, when leaves appeared, and when their fruits came “to table.”

Jefferson had left behind his plan for restoring the gardens. That guide was found in 1938, and the result is on your Monticello tour.

Our visit on a dreary October day didn’t make for the best photos, but that’s okay. I learned a great deal and thought deep thoughts about America and humanity. We have a long way to go, but we’ve also come a long way.

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Celebrating Six Years on a Motorcycle

Six years ago this month I decided to learn to ride a motorcycle. Since then I’ve traveled 47 states and 5 provinces on my trusty BMW G 650 GS—often solo.

They’ve been six of the best years of my life.

Here, I share my journey to two wheels and give some advice if you’re thinking about taking up motorcycling and long-distance touring.

Motorcycling gave me a new lease on life

What made me decide to take up motorcycling? In 2010 I was in emotional recovery after a devastating business failure. For some reason, it came to me that learning to ride a motorcycle was just what I needed to help me gain self-confidence and create a new story for myself.

I think part of the allure of riding a motorcycle is that I needed to succeed at something physical after so many years up in my head during my working life.

I tell the story in my TEDx Charlotte talk.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I began with an MSF class at the community college

The first hurdle to my two-wheeled lifestyle was getting a motorcycle endorsement to my driver’s license. To do this I took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) class at my local community college, which provided the bikes and instruction.

States vary in their motorcycle training and licensing requirements, but in North Carolina, when you pass the MSF class, you only have to pass the written exam to get your endorsement.

Here I am making the required “quick stop” for my final exam. You wouldn’t know from watching it in this video how spooked I was when applying the brakes fairly aggressively on wet tarmac. It had sprinkled throughout that entire day. Oh well, as the saying goes, “calm seas make poor sailors.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Choosing a motorcycle

Properly licensed, I decided to set off on a 19-state round trip from North Carolina to Oregon and back, leaving three months after that “quick stop.”

To do it properly I needed a lot of training. And a bike.

My brother kindly “risked” his BMW Dakar to help me reach my goal. I say “risked” because every motorcyclist knows you’ll damage your first bike…in my case it was his! Although I dropped it a couple of times, I only had to replace the brake handle; my brother overlooked the scratches.

I loved his BMW so much that I ended up with essentially the same bike…but lowered for my 5’2″ frame.

A word about “tall” bikes: very few motorcycles are low enough that I can get both my feet on the ground. My friend and fellow shortie Joanne Donn (aka “GearChic”) wrote a great blog post about this. Bottom line: if you rely on always being able to reach both feet to the ground you won’t be a safe rider.

Lots of motorcycle training professionals recommend learning to ride a dirt bike before a street bike. I can vouch for that. The days I spent with my brother riding his bike in his two-acre back yard taught me a lot, including how to ride off road by standing on the pegs. Dirt and dual sport bikes have “pegs” the size of bicycle pedals (or smaller) instead of the floorboards found on bigger touring bikes.

Here’s a quick video from the back yard, with me on the pegs, taking progressively smaller circles around my brother, himself an accomplished dirt rider!

Click here to view the embedded video.

I love riding a dual sport bike. I can go to a lot of interesting places without worrying about running out of tarmac or ruining a fancy paint job or chrome! It’s light and nimble. Perfect for me.

Training for a 19-state road trip

After riding with my brother I took a two-day class at the BMW Performance Center in Greer, South Carolina. This video is from the second time I took the class in 2011—because you can never practice enough in my book!

Click here to view the embedded video.

I took another course from MotoMark1, emphasizing the slow maneuvers that are not only difficult, but essential to safely operating a bike. It’s much easier to throttle up than to slow down and make maneuvers like these.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Advice for taking on a big road trip as a noob

If you want to take a big road trip but don’t have a lot of “seat time” or mileage on a bike, here’s some advice.

Get professional training. Lots of it. It’s easier to learn good habits than to break bad ones.

Take one day at a time. It’s not a big deal to ride 200 miles in a day. Do that for five days and you have 1,000 more miles to call your own!

Promise yourself to turn back, quit, or take a day off the bike if you lose your nerve. If you lack confidence, being on a motorcycle isn’t safe.

Choose your traveling companions wisely. Don’t let someone else bully you into riding faster or longer than you feel confident doing. Pushing the envelope is one thing, foolhardiness is another.

I got my mojo back

I found that learning to ride a motorcycle, then taking a big solo road trip helped me re-launch my life, as I explained in an interview shortly after my trip to Oregon. If you’re interested in a similar adventure, and want to chat, get in touch!

Click here to view the embedded video.

 

 

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