Day 1: Tennesee Workshop Trip

Of course I couldn't sleep last night. I didn't even go to bed until after 11:30, and then woke up, completely up, by 3:00 a.m. There was no way that I could go back to sleep. I tossed and turned. I tried to keep my eyes closed. I tried to breathe myself back to sleep. But when the clocked switched over to 3:30, I decided that enough was enough and crawled out of bed. I tried to nurse my cup of coffee as long as possible, but at 4:00 I was ready to get on the road.

I stopped at the gas station down the road from our house and grabbed a cup of horrible coffee, because I knew that I wouldn't find a coffee shop anywhere that was open. In fact, it wasn't until I pulled into Eau Claire, Wisconsin an hour and a half later that I found somewhere that didn't make their cappuccino from a powder. Somehow, between leaving my house and the sun coming up around 7:15, I manged to pound down three cups of the blah gas station coffee and two Americanos. I must have been much more tired than I realized, because I don't remember much before the sunrise. Of course, right around that time, I realized that I had forgotten to pack my sunglasses. So, I stopped in Baraboo, WI to buy a pair. Nothing fancy, but enough to keep me from getting a splitting headache.


The drive was starting to take a MUCH longer than I anticipated. For some reason, even though Google and my GPS told me to expect 10 hours and 30 minutes, I thought I could make it in eight. At 5 and a half hours, I realized that was going to happen. So, I started planning on ways to keep myself entertained.


This included a side trip down part of Historic Route 66, which wasn't interesting at all. It was essentially a frontage road the the highway I needed to be on anyway.

Being the daughter of a Union man who was the son of a Union man, I grew up around with the labor movement in my blood. So, I knew that I wanted to see the Mother Jones Monument in Mount Olive, Illinois. Um...well, I thought I wanted to see the Mother Jones Monument. So, I drove about ten miles off the freeway into the little village, drove around for nearly a half hour before realizing that it was in the cemetery. When I found the Union Miners Cemetery in the back of the town, I was excited. I love old graveyards. They are so incredibly peaceful and beautiful. So, I enjoyed some time wandering through the graveyard and then I turned the corner and stumbled across the "monument".



Now with a word like "monument", I guess I expected something a bit....well monumental. Instead I found a cement pillar that stood possibly twenty feet tall, flanked by two "miner" statues, with a plaque of Mother Jones' face on the side. There was a cork board covered in plexi-glass about ten feet away with a few black and white print outs about Mrs. Jones' life and work. It was a bit of a let down, to say the least. But I got to enjoy a beautiful little town and a walk in a gorgeous graveyard.

I made it into my hotel around 5 o'clock. And as soon as I walked into my room, I crashed. Hard. My body just did not want to function any longer. Of course, the fact that I had been subsisting on granola bars, Triscuits, and summer sausage all day wasn't helping. After a much needed rest, I manged to run to Trader Joe's to pick up some food and a tin of coffee so that I could make the most delicious hotel dinner I have ever had.

That would be my lovely plate of sliced braeburn apple, sliced baguette, goat cheese, a blob of raw honey, and a coffee cup full of sparkling pomegranate juice! I feel so much better now that I've eaten. A shower will be able to top this day off right. And settling in to read Spiritual Midwifery for the 8 millionth time. I'll be off bright and early tomorrow to finish the driving.