And eight residents of Norfolk, Virginia, all artists, picked a special date and piled into three vehicles not so much with California on their minds, but with everything in between, recreating as well as they could the route that "po' boy" took from Norfolk to The Promised Land. Two of them, David Johnson and Anne Bousquet, shared some memories of the journey wth us.
How did you form the idea to recreate the journey?
How many of you went? Were all of you from Norfolk?
There were eight of us in three vehicles.Two of us lived in Norfolk and six were living in California though two of them had lived most of their lives in Norfolk.
Were you all fans of Chuck Berry?
Absolute fans. Those of who had lived in Norfolk were always fans of Chuck and especially proud of the line “left my home in Norfolk, Virginia”.
What is it about the song, or the man, that inspired you to do this?
We knew that Chuck had lived in Norfolk and the South plays an important part in rock history. We had all seen Chuck perform in Norfolk, and of course he played the song.
Did you let Chuck know what you were doing, or what you did?
We attempted to let him know. I called his agent and was told he would be informed, but I don’t know that he was. The agent just wanted to make sure we weren’t trying to make money and I assured him that we simply wanted Chuck to knwo we were doing this as sort of honor to him and his song.
Ever think of using busses, trains and planes?
No. We knew all along that we would do it as a road trip. We camped most nights. We had printed T shirts and had expiredVa. license plates that read 4TEN09. We put the plates on two different vehicles.
It was quite a commitment of time and energy! What did your families and friends think of this?
Well, 2 of the couples were married and everyone else was single. We all got strong support from our friends. We had a huge party on 4.9.09; a kinda bon voyage party. Because of one person’s job obligations we had to do the trip in 8 days.
How’d you choose your route from Houston on west?
We all agreed that we wanted to avoid Interstae highways. We just meandered around on back roads going through little towns, and of course from Houston we had to aim in the general direction of Albuquerque.
Vey Large Array, New Mexico...
Driving on parts of Route 66...
New Orleans - rustic crawfish eatery in outskirts...
Fine Arts Museum in Houston...
Oatman, Az....
Huge storm with rainbow in Texas...
...just everything and every place really
Editors note: After David's response, I got another e-mail from David
these quick thoughts from Anne -- who was the one realizing Tidewater 4.10.09 could be date;
Nuke plant in GA, dramatically steaming from the cooling towers on a rainy day...
Bluebells blooming in Texas, Ice Plants & Poppies in CA, and many other Springtime wildflowers along the way...
@ 100 miles of wind turbines near Sweetwater, Texas. Near oil wells....
The dog tags....
Making coffee at the side of the roads...
Several people looking at 3 maps at the same time...
The license plates...
Steaming in humidity in Gautier, Mississippi, then later Freezing in NM, near Billy the Kids grave...
Lava field....
Wig Wam motel in Holbrook, AZ...Wi Fi at Coop's bar in NO with a guy in the alley out back cooking a giant pot of red beans...Edmund Pettus Bridge and Spanish moss in Selma, Alabama....
Rich guy's house in Paso Robles among vineyards in CA...
Artichokes...
Scenic views and seals on the 1...
Kirk's band playing "The Promised Land" at 900 Tennessee St....
Putting the Tree back again...
Lots of good folks who put us up...
Did you chew on at least one T-bone steak during the trip?
WOW - didn’t think of that . 7 of us are vegetarian so that’s probably why we didn’t think of it. In Texas though we had some “Promised Land” chocolate milk.
Any breakdowns? Get stranded at all? Help from any people that cared a little ‘bout you?
One of the vehicles was a VW Thing. It had been rebuilt especially for the trip. It broke down once on Easter Sunday and we were lucky enough to find aWestern Auto that was open. People were friendly to us because of the Classic VW Thing and when we told the story of our trip they just seemed amused. Through various online friendships we had several people allow us to crash or set up tents on their property. It was like “you guys are doin somethin cool”.
Anything else?
2 different musicians loved the whole idea and did their own versions of Promised Land.
We did sell about 2 dozen shirts to our friends at the bon voyage party. The money helped us pay for gas. Getting to California did make us feel as though we had arrived to the promised land. We actually ended up in San Francisco where a welcoming committee of friends threw us a huge party.
Editor's note: Trying to get David's blues poem up, but having technical difficulties! As soon as I can turn an mp4 into an mp3, you'll hear it!
Editor's note: Trying to get David's blues poem up, but having technical difficulties! As soon as I can turn an mp4 into an mp3, you'll hear it!
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