A wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track

Apparently Neil Young no longer sings Alabama, finding his own lyrics condescending and accusatory, but the lyric about a wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track really resonated with me while in Montgomery this week. (I hear Birmingham is better.)

There are a lot of pretty homes, cool old buildings, and an abundance of historical plaques every seven-ish feet, but while there appears to be a lot of development happening downtown, I cannot figure out what - or who - is actually going into the downtown area.

My hotel room was just behind this statute of Hank. The hotel put a big Christmas tree and a little Christmas village (which a colleague thought perhaps was a dog training area, but I think it is a kids' play area) right in front of Hank, so I wouldn't have seen him if his shadow hadn't appeared once the tree was lit up at night.

I didn't make it to the Hank museum, unfortunately.
Like everything else in downtown Montgomery, it keeps very limited hours.

I got a little choked up looking at historical markers of key civil rights events and places, juxtaposed with the (sort of boastful seeming) historical markers about how Montgomery was such a key location for the slave trade and confederacy activities. Mix all of those thoughts and feelings together with thoughts and feelings about current civil rights and human rights issues, with a dash of exhaustion from a few full days of work meetings, and you get a sense of my twilight stroll around Montgomery.

We first walked toward the capitol.

Big marble sign along the street that leads to the capitol.

It was locked when we got there. The front wooden doors are pretty cool. 

You can imagine the marchers and the energy (plus there were a lot of photos on signs) in this area in 1965, and then feel the significance of this location when you get to the top of the capitol steps and see that it was the same site of Jefferson Davis' "inauguration." (We learned that in the years before the Civil War, or as half the signs said, "the war between the states," no free black people were allowed to live in Montgomery. I suppose that minimized any confusion about whether the white people needed to keep up a pretense of treating any black people with civility.)

On the top of the capitol steps, right in front of the doors.

About a block from the capitol - - - Rev. Dr. King's church. 

We then walked down toward what you'd probably call the business district (again, is there any business?), and saw this beautiful fountain in the middle of a roundabout-ish intersection. It was at this intersection that Rosa Park bravely refused to give up her seat.  

It wasn't all serious, of course. While strolling, I felt compelled to mingle with some appellate judges outside the courthouse. We had a good dinner at a farm-to-table restaurant (where the waiter - strategically? - called me "my love"), and then we snuck in a super quick visit to the site of the outdoor Shakespeare festival before heading to the airport this morning.

I didn't do any biking, although I learned from the local bike coalition that (at least in the summer, perhaps in the winter), the city has four bikes that can be rented from the visitor's center/chamber of commerce. I would have enjoyed the early 2015 bike ride from Selma to Montgomery commemorating the 50th anniversary of the march, I think.

p.s. Is it just me, or does the lyric "a wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track" trigger a thought of "one foot on the brake and one on the gas" (or, as my sister sings it: "one foot on the brake and one on the wheel")?

[Editor note: This post edited on 12/11 to change the verb tense surrounding Molly's mis-sung lyrics from the past tense to the present.]


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