7/22/17, “Civil War” (Or: “A
Jam-Packed Day”)
Richmond, Virginia
In my travels, I have come to
realize that it is the most random things that mean the most to me. For all the days like this one, racing from
site to site to get my Stamps and Plaques, every once in a while, there comes a
moment when it hits me hard, “History happened here.” There comes that moment when I close my eyes
and see Generals Grant and Lee shaking hands at the very spot I am
standing. There comes the moment when I
realize the significance of the fact that I have visited 38 State Capitol
buildings (enough to ratify a constitutional amendment).
That was what I felt today at Appomattox
Court House and here in Richmond. It is
something I never felt at the Taj Mahal or the Great Wall. It is something I have felt at random places,
such as the bridge in Sarajevo where Archduke Ferdinand was shot, beginning
World War I, or at Sir George Mallory’s birthplace, knowing that I would be
staring at Mount Everest in just two short days.
On the natural side of the things, the
equivalent would be when I find some secluded spot that gives me a marvelous
vista to myself. That was not something
I felt when I first did see Everest, but it was something I felt all over
Greenland. I always get asked what’s the
most interesting places I’ve been to, or my favorite, or some variation of that
question. People are shocked when I
reply with northern Canada and Greenland, rather than Japan or the
Caribbean. No one thinks of sitting on a
rock behind a hotel in Yellowknife to be some memorable experience, but
that spot is one of my most vivid travel memories. Qassiarsuk is hardly a tourist hotspot, but I
will never forget sitting on Erik the Red’s farm.
I design my trips around Stamps and Plaques,
but it is these random moments and memories that make it all worthwhile. It is the cigar shops in Columbia, South
Carolina and pubs in Nottingham that make it fun. Sure, saying, “I’ve seen all the Wonders of
the World,” is a talking point, but Everest or the Taj Mahal are not what I
want to talk about when people ask me about my travels. It’s places like Greenland and Nottingham and
state capitals that really keep me going.
After I closed last night, I headed back to my
hotel, hoping to be able to get two full REM cycles. I did not.
It was 6:30 AM by the time we got on the road, and we would not return
for thirteen hours, the vast majority of which would be spent driving. I was seriously concerned about my ability to
do that with less than two full REM cycles.
I got a coffee for the road and lit up a Fuente.
To my shock, the cigar lasted the entire
three-hour drive to Booker T. Washington National Monument. This was where he was born and freed, and
they reconstructed the farm. I knew we
would be in a mad rush the entire day, almost non-stop. We would literally need to spend the bare
minimum of time possible at each site.
Stamp, pin, cigar, ceremonial picture, back in the car with the cigar,
and off to the next site. That was the
routine. I lit up an Aging Room, and we
found the spot of the brochure photo here, the only time we did it today.
Our next site was the one I was most looking
forward to: Appomattox Court House. I
stopped for gas, coffee, and two breakfast biscuits, one of each of us. Mine was country-fried steak, egg, and
cheese. It was good, cheap, and
filling. I did not want to stop to eat
again until dinner.
When we got to
Appomattox, it hit me. History happened
here. Maybe the single biggest event in
19th Century American history occurred here. It was over 100 degrees out, so time wasn’t
the only reason we were now trying to minimize our time outdoors. I lit up a PDR, and we went to the McLean House
to take our ceremonial picture. In case
my reader isn’t brushed up on American history, this was where General Robert
E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil
War.
From there we went back in time, to
the spot of the battle that led to Grant’s victory at Appomattox:
Petersburg. Grant laid siege to the
forces at Petersburg, driving them back to Appomattox. With the Confederate capital of Richmond in
sight, Grant then scored his final victory.
I lit up a Graycliff, and we took our ceremonial picture by the
earthworks. Now we were in full rush
mode. Time was running out. There were three things left to do. Since my last trip to Virginia, Fort Monroe
had been newly designated as a National Monument. I also recently learned that my brochure from
Colonial National Historical Park was unstamped and that I didn’t have any good
pictures at Monticello.
Fort Monroe NM
closed at 4:30 PM, Yorktown Battlefield VC (part of Colonial NHP) at 5 PM, and
Monticello at 7:30 PM. I would not be
able to do all three if I wanted to get dinner at the state’s “most iconic
restaurant” in Williamsburg. I would be
lucky if I could get to two of them. I
chose Fort Monroe NM and Colonial NHP, saving Monticello for tomorrow.
We raced to Fort Monroe NM, but, being a
newly designated NM, it did not have NPS facilities. However, there was a museum inside the fort
with brochures and Stamps. We lost about
ten precious minutes working through this confusion. It was 39 minutes to the Yorktown Battlefield
VC. They closed at 5:00 PM. I wanted to leave Fort Monroe at 4:16
PM. It would be very tight. We raced through the museum, I lit up a
Perdomo, and we took some ceremonial pictures, but they didn’t come out
right. Fuck. We needed to retake them, wasting 2 precious
minutes.
We got in the car, and my GPS
showed a 4:59 PM arrival at the Yorktown Battlefield VC. I did not see how a 4:59 PM soft arrival
could translate into a 5 PM hard arrival, so I had to count on the VC being
open a few minutes late. We made up a
few minutes on the road and we somehow got to the parking lot at 4:57 PM. Two-minute drill. We were inside the VC at 4:59 PM. We made it.
Then I learned that they did not have the old brochures, only separate
brochures for Jamestown and Yorktown. I
didn’t care. I just needed any brochure to
get stamped, but I wished I had brought my old brochure. I got my pin just as they announced the VC was
closing.
The battlefield itself was open
until dark, and I still had plenty of Perdomo left. We could now relax. We headed to the battlefield to take a
ceremonial picture. That’s when we heard
the thunder. Back to rushing to avoid
getting caught in the storm. We took our
ceremonial picture and raced to the car when we saw lightning. The skies opened up not so much as a minute
after we got in the car.
From there it
was Williamsburg, not to see the colonial town, but rather to get BBQ at the
state’s “most iconic restaurant,” Pierce’s Pitt Bar-B-Que. I have now been to half of them. I expected it to be like the one in Texas,
the Salt Lick, but it was actually more like Arthur Bryant’s In Kansas. The cashier recommended their JC combo, which
was a pulled pork sandwich, fries, and a soda.
Perfect. It was delicious, and
the sauce was excellent. After dinner,
we got in the car, I lit up an Aganorsa Leaf cigar, a new cigar by Casa
Fernandez that I had gotten at Smoklahoma.
It was surprisingly good.
We were
soon back at our hotel in Richmond. We
resituated ourselves and headed out to the State Capitol. I retrieved my cigar, and we first went to
the Executive Mansion, which was adjacent.
I tried to recall the name of the governor. Then it hit me. Terry McAuliffe. I looked it up to cofirm that I was
right. I was.
We continued around to the State Capitol and
took a picture from the same spot first of the US Court of Appeals for the
Fourth Circuit, then, after I ditched my cigar, of the State Capitol. Pablo then went to McDonald’s, and I went to
a bench, where I sat down, lit up my trusty Ardor, and proceeded to write this
entry, which I will now close so that I can publish and head to the local cigar
shop. Tomorrow will be another early
day, one focused on our Founding Fathers, rather than the Civil War.
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