Welcome to the second of my
IN THEIR PATH! emails. Hmm…here I go two weeks in a row I will try to be
in touch every week to let you know my progress. So here goes....I am IN THEIR
PATH now.
Love Joan E. Southgate
Date: 4/15/02
Weather:
Beautiful No rain, It was sunny with a little breeze. We hade a and a half of
rain and that was it. I walked 8 miles on Thursday in spite of the rain.
Where I walked this week:
I am walking along route 42 about 5 miles past Swifton Common mall outside of
Cincinnati. I should arrive in Xenia OH. in a couple days. I have walked 79
miles so far.
The ”Safe house”
where I stayed:
This week I stayed with Karen McGhee she is a midwife in Cincinnati and her
home has lots of beautiful antiques. We also stayed with Tom and Lois Gish.
Tom is a teacher at Hughes high school in Cincinnati. Then Linda Fabe and next
week I will stay with the Erickson’s in Yellow springs OH.
What I learned about the
Underground Railroad:
I plan to visit Harriet Beecher Stowe’s home. Where uncle toms cabin was
written. It is right here in the Cincinnati area. I must admit I am no historian
but I have so much respect for those whose are and have all those facts in their
head.
The people I met:
I met lots of young people at the schools I visited this week. I went to Hughes
High School, Washington Park Elementary school and Liberty Jr. High (All are
in Cincinnati) Tom Wathen came from Louisville KY to drive for me. He is retired
from IBM and my daughter Teci asked him to help out. He drove down and brought
his car so I didn’t have to rent one. That was a short term answer to a
long term problem. I still need a van or large car to borrow for the walk. I
have a big reception in Cincinnati on Saturday night I will let you know how
that goes.
Who walked with me:
Ernest Brittan from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, a teacher
named John Cooper and a Young man named Andrew Allen we met in Cincinnati.
One thing I really want
you to know about my week.
That, I am now without a laptop computer. I had borrowed a laptop from a friend
for this trip, but we have discovered that it is really to slow to travel the
internet. This is really difficult because all I know how to do is point and
click the mouse. Since my computer skills are so limited it is not just a case
where someone could hand me a laptop and I would know just what to do. They
would have to set up the internet, word processing and digital camera for me.
For now I will have to depend more on my hosts and hope that they have home
computers that I can borrow. Hopefully, they will just let me sign on to the
internet so I can check my email.
What young people had to
say:
A 9 grader at liberty Jr. High. Responded “Damn you got game!” When
I explained that I had walked 8 miles in the rain that morning and was visiting
their school the same day. I am glad to know I still got game.;)
Email:
gonnawalk439@hotmail.com
©Joan
Southgate 2001 - 2008