We are now turning back towards California. Our first stop back is UNC (University of North Carolina) Chapel Hill, North Carolina. My daughter is studying for her doctorate degree in Biomedical Technology at UNC. She is the last person we will visit before heading home. She completes our trip from that perspective.
Driving to North Carolina was really pleasant. We started out driving on an unnamed road (as per our navigation system) and felt the humid southern air along with the vision of more lush green vegetation. I enjoyed this particular segment of our journey because it was very scenic and picturesque.
After that pleasantry, we took a couple of highways to reach Chapel Hill. We kept seeing some billboards advertising for Pedro’s South of the Border restaurant. I’m sure these started popping up about 100 miles before we passed by the supposed spot. I was really curious to see what it was all about. We found out that it was a town called South of the Border. It was deserted except for the cars lined up at the gas station. It was yet another sad reminder of the decline of a town that bets its survival on one industry. By the way, we were still encountering spots of gas shortage all along the highways.
Eventually, we hooked into Highway 40 which will be the main highway we drive on to get back home. It took us into Chapel Hill. I was pretty excited to see my daughter and couldn’t wait to tell her about the trip. But, she wasn’t home when we get there! No worries, we took some time to relax. She came home and the celebration began. We decided to go to an Indian restaurant down the street.
As we walked there, we talked about all of the news and looked forward to eating some good food. She opened the door to her restaurant but not before the biggest flying cockroach that I have ever seen tried to land on her. I’m sure you can guess what her reaction to that was.
I should have expected it. I’ve seen these flying cockroaches before in other humid places I have visited. But, it was very unnerving to see one so close to a restaurant. Thankfully, it was outside otherwise I would have ran away and starved for the rest of the night. I’m glad that it didn’t land on any of us. My insect adventures on this trip have been rather traumatic.
The following morning, we made plans to do various things. My husband wanted to visit his old alma mater, North Carolina A&T, in Greensboro. North Carolina A&T students have contributed some significant history to the Civil Rights Movement and to NASA. The Greensboro Four were four students that participated in the sit-ins at the Woolworth counter at the early start of the Civil Rights movement. Secondly, Ronald McNair was an African American astronaut that was killed in the Challenger space shuttle disaster. My husband was inspired by him and went to North Carolina A&T as a result.
All throughout the day, we were quite aware that we were only 3 hours away from Charlotte—scene of the latest shooting of a black man. A couple of people showed us the released police video of the incident. That was how top-of-mind the incident was to everyone. I thought that the footage would show something more definitive about what happened--it didn’t do that. I’m sure there will still be a lot of unanswered questions. I can understand why the rioting has been going on. As a community, we keep seeing the same thing happen to our people over and over again. We keep re-living the same series of events with no change in the outcome. Isn't that the classic definition of insanity?
In the evening, we headed into Durham, North Carolina. The city has a long history with tobacco, textiles, and lastly, it is the home of Duke University. We walked through the tobacco mill buildings which were turned into high end housing and higher end businesses. That wasn't the endpoint of our destination, though. It was still amazing to see this piece of history being re-purposed into something else.
My daughter was taking us to a restaurant to experience a truly southern version of a dish called chicken and waffles. You can find this in other regions in the country, but my daughter insisted that we needed to experience it here. She was right, of course. No other chicken and waffle dishes compared to the one that we ate—truly a decadent and filling meal.
I knew it was going to be too much for me to eat, but I did it anyway.
This appeared overnight on the sidewalk outside of my daughter's apartment.
I know you want to eat this...