God Bless America

On the 19th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, I thought I would share portions of a letter I wrote during my own 9/11 experience. In our current pandemic times, I hope it speaks for itself.

Events of the past week have certainly saddened, angered, and perhaps challenged all of us. I arrived in New York at 6 a.m. on the morning of September 11th. I went straight to my hotel and took a nap prior to some press meetings scheduled for the afternoon. I woke up around 10:30 and still didn’t realize what had happened. It wasn’t until someone from our PR agency called and said, “I know your whole trip is messed up now, I’m here to help any way that I can.” With that I turned on CNN and saw the tragic news.

There really aren’t words to express what happened in New York and Washington DC. I grieve for those who died and for those who lost loved ones. I marvel at the courage firefighters and police are showing to rescue and help others. I’m amazed at the stories of survival of those who have been pulled from the destruction alive. While I never felt threatened, it wasn’t easy to go to sleep that Tuesday night – it was very surreal to look out over Times Square at 10 p.m. and see almost nobody outside, and then turn back to the TV to see the horror again and again….

I wanted to write a quick narrative to let everyone know of our experiences in NY (there were several of us there) and share some thoughts on our country. All in all, I was actually quite fortunate. My hotel was in Midtown – we had water, electricity, and food. April McKee, who was also in NY, was at a hotel in lower Manhattan – she had no hot water and they stopped food service on Tuesday night. James Bernard was also in NY staying at a different hotel in Midtown. He was on his way to a meeting not too far from the WTC when the first plane hit. He walked all the way back uptown to his hotel and fortunately got to work renting a car for Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning, James and I made the decision to drive out of NY. We got flight reservations for Thursday in both Pittsburgh and Chicago on the theory that we would have a better chance getting on a plane there (a theory that ultimately proved to be wrong). James got to the rental car agency at 6:30 a.m. and picked up the car. He was in contact with April, and ultimately drove down to lower Manhattan to pick her up as well. In the meantime, I got in touch with Craig Suhrbier, a friend from our church who decided to come with us.

So, by 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the four of us stuffed our luggage into the trunk of our Ford Taurus and began our cross-country odyssey. We had 5 cell phones, 1 pager, 4 laptops, several books, and a full tank of gas….

Rather than go through the full travel log, I’ll just say that we took I-80 and I-76 West on our way to Pittsburgh to catch the flights we had booked. About halfway there, we decided that we were going on to Chicago instead…and eventually, we just kept driving. So we hooked up with Interstate 90 outside of Cleveland – and from then on we stayed on I-90 all the way to Seattle. We stopped for about 5 hours at an Embassy Suites in Chicago. We left there at 8 a.m. Thursday morning and drove straight through to Seattle, where we arrived around 2 p.m. on Friday, for a total travel time of 53 hours. Along the way, we had some interesting experiences and observations:

The Land: Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the trip was just seeing the country. I was really surprised at how pretty Pennsylvania is. I grew up in Wisconsin and was reminded how beautiful that state is. The Great Plains, although not exciting, are very impressive in their own way. All of this reminded me of the amazing geographic diversity of the US and how fortunate we are to live here.

Radio: Throughout the trip, we listened to the radio usually looking for news channels to hear what was going on in NY and DC. Along the way, we got to hear a good cross section of “Americana” including some amazing talk show conversations – most of which I can’t repeat here. Perhaps the most touching was our ability to listen to the entire prayer service held at the National Cathedral…an amazing, moving moment even across the airwaves with just the words and music.

Turnpikes and Gas Stations: We got on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and stayed on a turnpike or toll road all the way to Chicago. I loved the fact that at each state line, you had to pay that state, then drive a ? mile to another toll booth to pick up your ticket for the next state. Our first stop was at a Stukee’s truck stop (which we stopped at because we missed the entrance to the PA Turnpike). We also saw several Sinclair gas stations – I had forgotten about the purple dinosaur assuming that it was extinct (OK, that was hard to resist). We also saw Conoco, Citgo, Exxon, Amoco, and the other standards (another bad joke for you historians). Perhaps my favorite was in Oacoma, South Dakota (which for those of you geography majors is just outside of Chamberlain, SD). This was what we call a full service station: gas, food, bathrooms, and…a casino in the back.

Restaurants: Needless to say, this trip was not the Michelin 5-Star culinary tour. We warmed up on the first day with the old stand by – lunch at McDonalds. We had dinner at a Perkins Restaurant in Butler, PA. While there, we saw a grand opening for a Krispy Kreme – it looked like a concert revival with cars and people wrapped around the building. We had lunch at a Subway in Austin, MN where we met some really nice people who had family and friends in Seattle. We also had a dinner at the Rushmore Mall in Rapid City, South Dakota – James and I had some Chinese food that we regretted later. Of course, no trip would have been complete without a breakfast stop at an IHOP in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. We ate there after driving straight through the night – they were a bit dismayed at our appearance but the food sure tasted good.

Mobile Homes: As I said earlier, our car started out as a standard equipped Ford Taurus. Of course, this was insufficient for our band of travelers. We quickly realized that we had a serious cell phone problem: nobody had a recharger adapter for the car. So, in Butler we made a trip to a Radio Shack (every town has one) and they, of course, had just the right adaptor that worked for 4 out of 5 of our phones. On day 2, we stopped at a Target (just to prove that we are equal opportunity consumers) to buy 4 pillows for the long night ride through the Rockies. The checkout women thought it was a bit weird when I came to the checkout counter with the rest of the crew to buy 4 pillows. With that, our car was a fully equipped all-country travel vehicle…and it faithfully returned us safe and sound to Seattle.

Perhaps in all of this narrative, you’ve lost track of why I wrote this epistle. I’ve lived all over the US. I grew up in the Midwest, went to high school and college in North Carolina, and lived in Florida, Washington DC, New York, and California before coming to Seattle. But this was the first time I’ve driven across the country and really seen America. And I realized that somehow during the last 13 years in Seattle, I’ve lost track of some very basic truths about our country.

The United States is a place of amazing diversity – diversity in people, land, customs, faiths, ethnic backgrounds, and many other areas. Events in New York and Washington, DC, along with our sojourn across the country, reminded me how important that diversity is. It showed me how we can use that diversity as our strength…as a way to unite us together in a clear cause for justice and peace. And it reminded me that our diversity and liberty are not “free”. They are treasures we have to earn and fight for each and every day.

So as you go through the coming days, take nothing for granted, cherish those you love and what you have been given, share it freely with others, think about those that have gone before you, and be prepared to defend and fight for your freedom. I am confident that we will rise a stronger, if perhaps less na?ve, nation that will demonstrate its unity, strength, and belief in peace triumphing over hate.

God Bless America…

Robbie