On The Road
- Date: 9/14/2005
Dimensions: 800 x 537
Filesize: 173KB
View Photo
Copy URL to Clipboard
Our ride. Dodge Ram 2500 with a straight-6 Cummins Diesel.

On The Road
- Date: 9/13/2005
Dimensions: 800 x 537
Filesize: 122KB
View Photo
Copy URL to Clipboard
This stop was for fuel and beer. Honestly, the beer wasn't for us. The plan was to hand it out to people as we went as a sign of gratitude.

Fixing Vent
- Date: 9/13/2005
Dimensions: 800 x 537
Filesize: 149KB
View Photo
Copy URL to Clipboard
24ft of stuff. Everything from clothes to water to tents to sleeping bags to food to toys to toiletries. The bulk is clothes.

Fixing Vent
- Date: 9/13/2005
Dimensions: 800 x 537
Filesize: 58KB
View Photo
Copy URL to Clipboard
Somwhere in NC Ed notices that one of the vents in the trailer wasn't closed, so we stop by the side of the road to close it. Turns out that we were a bit too late - the vent had already shook from its mount and cracked.

ONeil, SC - Maurice's BBQ
- Date: 9/13/2005
Dimensions: 536 x 800
Filesize: 129KB
View Photo
Copy URL to Clipboard
When we walked in we were immediately faced with a wall of confederate flags. And a row of confederate flag-related pamphlets. I must admit that for a moment I was a bit embarrassed. Here I am with a Northerner who is undoubtedly familiar with the Civil Rights movement and its iconography. Ed and I exchange a bemused look that successfully convey to each other “Well, why the hell not?” This is a photo of Maurice and his commitment to his customers. Clad in Colonel Sanders-like garb he’s the stereotype of affluent plantation owner. The juxtaposition next to the confederate flags make me wonder if he could have chosen a more appropriate uniform to put potential black customers at ease.

ONeil, SC - Maurice's BBQ
- Date: 9/13/2005
Dimensions: 536 x 800
Filesize: 133KB
View Photo
Copy URL to Clipboard
We ask one of the workers what their specialty was - to which there wasn’t really a reply. He asked whether we’d had mustard based BBQ before, which we hadn’t. We ordered our food as well as a 75 cent pamphlet on the history of the Confederate Battle Flag, which we saved for later reading. The BBQ was pretty darned good, as was the slaw. We decided at that point that this should make this a BBQ tour of the South as well as a relief effort. Back in the truck I opened the Confederate Battle Flag pamphlet and begin to read. The foreword indicates that it’s actually a transcription of a sermon, and it reads like one – beginning with a number of excerpts from the Bible. It’s mostly stuff you would expect - the importance of symbols, the number of different “confederate” flags. The most cogent point states that a lot of the flack the confederate flag gets stems from the fact that it’s used by racist organizations, but he points out that the American flag is used as well. The most interesting passage is the screed against Abraham Lincoln, labeling him as racist.

ONeil, SC - On the Road
- Date: 9/13/2005
Dimensions: 800 x 537
Filesize: 78KB
View Photo
Copy URL to Clipboard
Ed asked what I kept taking photos of. I guess the California in me still finds the "beams of light through clouds" photo common to so many religious sayings posters fascinating. Not something you really see in California.

On The Road
- Date: 9/13/2005
Dimensions: 536 x 800
Filesize: 96KB
View Photo
Copy URL to Clipboard
The final tally on the amount of supplies that Ed and the rest of the organizers were able to rustle up in 8 hours comes out to 7,500 lbs. That's a lot of stuff.

On The Road
- Date: 9/13/2005
Dimensions: 536 x 800
Filesize: 142KB
View Photo
Copy URL to Clipboard
The first of many large fuel bills. We burned through the donations of cash on the way there, on the way back Ed footed most of the bill out of pocket.

Fat Matts, Atlanta, GA
- Date: 9/13/2005
Dimensions: 800 x 537
Filesize: 114KB
View Photo
Copy URL to Clipboard
As we begin to enter the sprawl of Atlanta, we start thinking of where we will be staying for the night. I think of a friend I know who just moved from New York to Atlanta, and dial her number on the off chance that her NY number still works. It does, she’s there and would love to have us. She does a bit of legwork to find us a good BBQ place and arrange to meet her at a Barnes and Noble we found close to the highway. We’re in an up and coming section of Atlanta – still in the early stages of gentrification centering around a Marta station and the shopping center it connects with. We notice sketchy-looking cars prowling around, but we shrug our shoulders and lock everything up as best we could.