For the first time on my road trip I was on a time schedule.  No matter, I am going to enjoy the ride.  I set off to Kittery Maine from Scituate Massachusetts for some lunch.  It was a pleasant drive and although I wanted to be in Syracuse New York by the evening, I was in no particular hurry.  I came to Kittery not knowing what I would find.  What I found was the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.  The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was established on June 12, 1800 by President John Adams and is the oldest continuously operating shipyard in the United States.  From wooden ships in the 1800’s to nuclear-powered submarines built in the 1950’s, Portsmouth has done it all.  The Naval presence was quite apparent when I stopped for lunch in a pub in Kittery.  After a terrific lunch and a short walk I was back in the car and on my way to the Granite State.

I drove through the forests in New Hampshire used for the first ships built at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.  Upright trees reminded of the reasons why our country was started.  We had upright men and women who knew there could be something better.  They knew this place was an opportunity of a lifetime and if they did what was right, it could be the opportunity of a lifetime for generations to come.  Uprightness defines the United States of America.  It is our goal as a people and therefore as our country to be honorable and honest.  Create a place where people and ideas can thrive, a place that the world looks to as an example of what is good.  It’s funny how my mind wonders and drifts as I watch the light flash through the upright trees.  I’m mesmerized and the Green Mountain State is on the horizon.

I drive into Vermont and find a country road that follows a river west.  The river flows over ancient boulders carved by glaciers 10,000 years ago.  This is truly an ancient land with rivers and mountains on a different scale than many untouched lands in the US.  There are small towns dotted along the river.  I suspect there is a purpose for the distance between the towns, towns developed in the mid 1700’s.  The drive is one postcard after another.  The tallest structure in each town is the brilliant white church.  The church is the anchor in all these towns.  It was of course Faith that drove many to the New World.  Faith is what kept the people and the towns together as they pushed west into the unknown.  People following their faith and rivers of ancient boulders west, put down roots, built churches and communities in the Green Mountain State.

On to Syracuse

I’m keeping my thoughts on this trip in my blog and on my Kinokē account.  Get your Kinokē App now and start recording your thoughts in your own voice for your future generations.