The End Of Our Lengthy Father and Son Road Trip - Dad’s Atlanta Memories / Closing Thoughts & MORE
Day 10 May 2021 Road Trip with my Dad
Transcript
0:02
welcome everyone adam the woo here today
0:02
number
0:03
10 10 days we've been on the road
0:07
father and son road trip for posterity
0:12
and the [\h__\h] this is the final day it is
0:15
we are in georgia
0:16
we are we're gonna head down across the
0:18
state line into florida
0:20
and then in the series but before that
0:23
where are we gonna where are we gonna be
0:24
going today we are actually in the city
0:26
of
0:27
conyers georgia i was going to tell you
0:30
that
0:30
this is where we first lived and we
0:33
didn't have any electricity and i
0:35
learned to read by candlelight
0:37
using my mcguffy reader you were going
0:39
to tell me that i was but i'm not going
0:40
to tell you that now
0:41
that's not true that's not true at all
0:43
that is a fabrication
0:44
yes totally made up however we are going
0:48
to go by
0:48
factual places yes we are that i have no
0:51
reference point on
0:52
this is before me but the events
0:56
of this area led to me eventually
0:59
eventually led to me standing here this
1:01
is going to be a walk through
1:03
your beginning years with my mom yes
1:06
your wife
1:07
and an emotional step back in time if
1:10
you will
1:12
this town is on the trip because uh
1:15
conyers
1:15
it was the first ministry i had as a
1:18
youth minister we're going to go out by
1:19
the church building we found it
1:21
on the google earth and also we
1:24
discovered or i discovered
1:25
right over the jewelry store here in
1:29
where i bought your mother's
1:32
engagement and wedding set rings
1:35
that's cool and we're going to go by
1:37
there and see that then we're going to
1:38
go
1:39
back into where i went to college and a
1:41
couple other things just gonna be a fun
1:42
day
1:43
all right inviting you to join me and my
1:44
dad shall you
1:47
nailed it what year would it have been
1:50
if you had to put an estimate on it
1:51
it would have been uh somewhere in uh
1:53
1968
1:55
68 1968.
1:59
just ringing a bell at all turning this
2:00
corner and walking up to the jewelry
2:02
shop
2:03
since 1949 this business has been in
2:06
business since 49 yep
2:08
this is the place you came in 68
2:12
and your mother's wedding band and uh
2:14
engagement ring was a set
2:18
she now has a band like this we have
2:20
matching bands now but
2:22
this is where i bought that for you
2:30
wow still exists all these years later
2:30
you think they still sell wedding bands
2:32
i would bet they probably did
2:34
see if
2:54
but it's okay in 1968
2:54
i came into this store and bought my
2:57
fiancee's wedding band wow
3:09
just wanted to come out and see if the
3:09
place was he was still here it is it is
3:12
and
3:12
actually my grandmother miss barnes that
3:14
started the business they were 49.
3:17
um she is she's still living um she will
3:20
be 93 in july
3:22
my granddaddy we lost him eight years
3:24
ago pretty neat and you asked if they
3:26
had any sort of
3:27
any sort of record from back then i was
3:29
just hoping against hope maybe they
3:31
actually had like a paper receipt
3:33
from 1968 where maybe i you know signed
3:36
for whatever i did
3:37
but the lady explained that about 15
3:40
years ago they took
3:41
everything her grandmother started the
3:43
store they took everything that her
3:44
grandmother had saved
3:46
all through the years and shredded
3:48
everything so
3:49
everything everything's digital now i
3:52
suppose no paper trail anymore
3:54
all right let's move on so next we're
3:55
going to go over to the church you were
3:57
a youth minister
3:58
i was a youth minister there yes let's
3:59
go there we're actually uh
4:01
this is the bethel christian church
4:04
we're actually coming in from what now
4:06
is the back side of the building i don't
4:09
remember
4:10
this coming in from this direction
4:11
there's another road in front of the
4:13
building we'll get to in just a second
4:15
that bears the name of the church bethel
4:17
road
4:18
and that was always the entrance that we
4:21
always came in
4:22
uh i'll explain something about the
4:24
building here in a moment when we get
4:26
around
4:48
now this uh this building here
4:48
is the main building or there was the
4:50
main building when i was here
4:53
i became the youth minister here in
4:54
1968.
5:02
and where that second building is over
5:02
there
5:03
was a house when the church originally
5:06
started
5:07
started in a house by the time i came on
5:10
the scene they had built this big brick
5:12
building here for the sanctuary and
5:14
classrooms the
5:15
basement had classrooms and so on but
5:18
they also still used
5:20
the house for youth meetings and various
5:22
and sundered activities
5:24
this was the first ministry that you
5:26
ever served at first
5:27
ministry i was a youth minister here for
5:29
about a year and a half
5:30
you were going to atlanta christian
5:31
college at that time i was and we'll be
5:33
going to that campus here
5:34
so you commute over here on sundays
5:36
wednesday 45 minute to hour drive every
5:39
one way
5:39
yeah and um
5:42
but before that before i was the youth
5:46
minister
5:47
that first year of college this
5:50
congregation sponsored
5:52
a hay ride for the freshman class
5:57
and that was your mother and my first
6:00
date we came out on a bus
6:04
got here to the church building they had
6:06
two
6:07
vehicles arranged for hayride
6:11
we went off down this road bethel road
6:13
out into some
6:14
i don't know i don't know gosh knows
6:15
where wound up at a
6:18
member's house they had a cookout that's
6:20
back in the day when i played the guitar
6:22
and i was one of the
6:23
entertainers and all that kind of that
6:25
was a lot of fun but then i started
6:26
getting
6:27
sick to my stomach
6:31
so by the time we got back here to the
6:31
church building to go back home on the
6:33
bus
6:34
i was pretty well sick
6:43
a memorable first date for mom i'm sure
6:43
by the time we got down the road
6:44
the road that we rode in on they had to
6:47
stop the bus so i could get off the bus
6:50
and throw up
6:56
i was trying to choose my word wisely
6:59
extinguish what was in you did what you
7:03
didn't want in you
7:04
anymore expelled my lunch or the evening
7:08
uh hot dogs and hamburgers anyway it
7:10
didn't it didn't affect mom's decision
7:12
to stay with you however
7:13
it wasn't funny but what's funny about
7:15
it
7:16
is that two or three of us on the bus
7:18
were all sick
7:19
turned out it was food poisoning that a
7:22
bunch of us had gotten
7:23
at dinner earlier in the evening back
7:26
over at the college
7:28
wow and half the boy's dorm was down
7:30
that night with
7:31
food poisoning including me so anyway
7:34
that that happened that's one of the
7:36
and you remember and this so that all
7:38
happened before you came to be
7:40
a youth minister that's correct but
7:41
that's how you heard about
7:43
this place uh kinda sorta yeah in a
7:46
roundabout
7:46
first experience and then later in 1968
7:49
i came out to be the youth minister here
7:52
yeah so the house is now gone and now
7:53
it's just this building over here
7:56
tore the house down
8:33
what would be next from from this spot
8:33
we're going to go back into
8:35
east point i'm going to go to the campus
8:37
where i went to college
8:40
acc atlanta christian college acc
8:43
yes which is no longer there that is
8:45
correct we'll tell all that story when
8:47
we get to that
8:48
sounds good okay a quick stop off before
8:51
we get over to the campus
8:52
of atlanta a former atlanta christian
8:54
college is this
8:56
dairy queen i used to frequent
8:59
this dairy queen well
9:03
often one of my favorite the
9:06
the um favorite
9:09
fraser fraser burgers they called them
9:12
frasier burger there was a very dairy
9:14
queen frasier burger they called it
9:16
now the ice cream was that was the dairy
9:18
queen part and the fraser burger was
9:21
your hamburgers and your fries
9:23
and your fish sandwiches and all the
9:25
other stuff they did from derrick
9:26
did you and mom ever come here yeah i
9:28
think mom probably came with me but i
9:30
mean i probably came more than i did
9:31
with her
9:32
i always recall mom has an affinity for
9:34
banana splits
9:36
she would always talk about getting
9:37
banana splits we probably got some
9:39
dairy queen yeah yeah maybe so this
9:42
might have been the beginning of her
9:44
her love of banana splits maybe so we
9:46
might have got her hooked right here it
9:47
still looks like a
9:48
it's the same the shape same building
9:51
and everything
9:53
and this is only about a mile from just
9:56
down the campus the former campus
9:58
we drove about 45 minutes over from
10:00
conyers to this right
10:01
give or take we're almost to the campus
10:03
yes sir former campus
10:05
they probably don't serve they i don't
10:08
know they might have banana splits in
10:10
i doubt it okay another quick stop off
10:13
here
10:14
uh this is the greenbrier mall
10:18
shopping mall this is the first mall
10:21
that i
10:22
ever saw once i left mississippi and
10:26
came over to the big city uh
10:28
here in east point georgia to go to
10:29
college that building you're looking at
10:32
used to be rich's department store
10:36
and this was one of the large i never
10:38
imagined a place this big before
10:41
i remember calling my mom and dad and
10:43
telling them that i was
10:45
they had pay phones anybody know what a
10:47
pay phone is anyway
10:49
they had pay phones inside the mall and
10:52
i remember calling my mom and dad
10:53
and i said you're not going to believe
10:55
this i'm standing in a mall
10:57
that our little downtown of aberdeen can
11:00
fit inside this mall stores on either
11:04
side
11:05
and there's way plenty of room for cars
11:07
to park in here this is amazing
11:10
the very first mall you ever saw
11:13
ever went in that's a pretty big piece
11:16
of history
11:18
pretty big and uh when it would get
11:19
wintertime and snowy and icy
11:22
uh some of the guys that had cars would
11:23
come down here and
11:25
do donuts and circle around when the
11:27
parking lot was emptied
11:29
it is still open
11:35
might have been a little more bustling
11:35
and thriving
11:37
back in your day perhaps yeah when
11:38
riches was open man the park
11:40
all the parking was full beside rich's
11:42
back there
11:44
i think macy's is on the other end
11:46
that's the other anchor store for the
11:48
mall
11:49
um in that entrance
11:53
where it says food and then it says
11:56
greenbrier mall over the entrance there
11:59
i don't know which store it was but one
12:01
of these stores
12:02
probably further back behind us but uh
12:05
was a
12:06
kroger grocery store and your mother
12:09
worked at that grover grocery store for
12:11
a while check out girl
12:14
wow right there above the awning
12:16
greenbrier mall
12:18
seem to be some remnants here look at
12:21
this some remnants and i know what
12:22
you're gonna show
12:24
we have some photographs that we're
12:26
going to match up
12:27
and this yeah i guess it'd be better
12:30
just to
12:31
give the example of what we're looking
12:33
at you got the photograph
12:35
still some of the original bricks look
12:38
at that pieces of the brick
12:39
sure is maybe this is even
12:43
still in the ground yeah look at that
12:46
let's see the little evidence here okay
12:49
this is your mom
12:51
and this is where the brick foundation
12:54
of the college
12:55
sign used to be
12:59
and if you'll notice if you'll notice
13:01
off on the right hand side of the frame
13:03
of the picture
13:04
is a building that is the men's
13:08
dorm around the corner which you can see
13:10
through the foliage yonder
13:12
right over the hill that's it that's the
13:14
place this is
13:15
it this is the hill and there's that
13:17
telephone pole my goodness i have seen
13:21
this photograph
13:23
in the photo album so many times never
13:26
thought i'd be standing here
13:27
reliving this even though i wasn't in
13:28
existence at that point
13:30
in my memory because of seeing this you
13:32
know thumbing through your guys photo
13:33
albums
13:34
look at the size of that pine tree yes
13:38
it used to be a shebang there's a see
13:41
that is incredible look at mama there
13:44
isn't she beautiful
13:45
she was look at that this yes
13:49
my goodness there's some little mementos
13:54
all along some bricks yeah yeah
13:57
now you or i would probably enjoy taking
13:59
a souvenir of a brick
14:01
if you took the brick back to mom she
14:03
would find no enjoyment
14:05
and having that on the shelf we're just
14:08
hanging
14:08
on the wall man we're just gonna leave
14:10
these here now we're still standing
14:13
in the same spot that we were where we
14:16
looked at the sign where your mother was
14:18
sitting we're looking
14:19
back behind us there and you'll see a
14:21
church building on the corner
14:23
that used to be a christian church
14:25
associated with the college
14:28
and our whole student body would go over
14:30
there on tuesdays and thursdays for our
14:32
chapel program that's where we had
14:35
our chapel services there this building
14:39
did not exist when i was in school here
14:42
this was built after i graduated but we
14:45
would come
14:46
out of this building over here
14:49
when it was time for chapel and we would
14:52
walk through all those pine trees
14:56
over to the church building for chapel
14:58
and then after chapel was over we would
15:00
come back and go back to class
15:07
back in the day my goodness and the
15:07
school is no longer located on this
15:09
property
15:09
the school i went to is no longer
15:11
located on this facility this
15:13
property the name of the school changed
15:17
from atlanta christian college to point
15:20
university and no longer is it located
15:24
here in east point georgia it
15:26
moved to the western part of georgia
15:29
called a place called west point georgia
15:32
okay
15:33
so there still is a point and that's the
15:37
point
15:37
you know what's very interesting this
15:38
gentleman just pulled up class of 89
15:41
dad told him what year he was here he's
15:44
doing some reminiscing awesome
15:46
how cool is that how random dad's
15:48
sharing a memory with
15:50
another another alumnus that is so neat
15:54
it just
15:55
need how things work out dad's really
15:58
enjoying this a lot he really really is
16:00
i'm guessing this is not the original
16:02
signage but the names are the same the
16:04
names are the same of course you can see
16:06
by the arrow
16:07
that they're pointing to the new library
16:09
over yonder in the shade trees
16:11
right over there but the like i said in
16:13
67 when i came that was the library
16:16
dodson dorm and
16:20
they have a gymnasium real madrid they
16:22
do have a gymnasium
16:24
we will go see it an amendment and then
16:27
member first i want to show you another
16:28
picture up here
16:30
of your mom i took lots of pictures of
16:32
your mom
16:33
it's a good thing that you did
16:36
i've been thinking about on this trip if
16:37
you had not had the wherewithal to take
16:39
just a couple of photos not a lot
16:42
but some of those photos helped us match
16:44
up that's right through the tenure of
16:46
this 10-day road trip
16:48
just one simple photo gave us a lot of
16:51
clues to find a lot of places
16:52
it did now here are two photographs of
16:56
here she's leaning on a brick
16:59
configuration
17:00
here she's sitting on it i guess i
17:03
helped her get up there
17:05
gosh i can't imagine she jumped up there
17:07
anyway um
17:09
we found the brick configuration back
17:16
right over there yeah see if we can make
17:16
our way back there through the shrubs
17:24
careful careful that
17:24
careful i don't remember you know i
17:26
found a i'm going to go this way
17:29
i'm going to walk around this seems a
17:32
little easier
17:42
oh it sure is look at this
17:42
wow holy cow that is
17:46
cool
17:51
oh my there's a little light bubble
17:51
lantern thing up there
17:54
there's that little archy place where
17:56
your mom is sitting
17:57
look at that and none of the foliage was
18:00
then because i was standing about where
18:02
this bush is when i took that picture
18:14
how about that
18:47
another photo that i've seen my whole
18:47
life in the photo albums
18:49
never thought i'd be standing at the
18:51
spot nor you probably never thought
18:53
you'd return here to
18:54
never to the spot of that photo nope
19:02
never dreamed was that prior to you guys
19:02
getting married were you guys just
19:04
engaged this was probably our freshman
19:05
year
19:07
had you think you had given me the
19:08
engagement ring by that point
19:10
no no so we're getting the ring until 68
19:12
wow reason i say probably
19:15
this was the first year because i didn't
19:16
have a car
19:18
so the only thing to do after church on
19:19
the sunday because we're dressed for
19:21
church
19:22
was hanging out on campus so that's what
19:24
we did that day
19:26
that's so neat anything else from this
19:28
same spot just to show you a couple of
19:30
other things here and i don't have a
19:31
picture of this but this
19:32
was the main entrance into the
19:36
administration building
19:38
there were a couple of other entrances
19:41
this was the main entrance
19:42
if a visitor came to the campus to go
19:45
into the administration building this is
19:46
where they would come in we had other
19:50
interests when students were in the
19:51
classrooms over here we could come in
19:53
another break
20:07
this was the main classroom area
20:07
a couple of other places around the
20:08
campus they had classes but this was the
20:10
main classroom area
20:13
this of course was the maintenance is in
20:14
and out there's another entrance
20:16
in and out on the other side of the
20:18
building
20:21
i probably have been in every one of
20:23
these classrooms at one point
20:26
i doubt that we can get in
20:29
now this is one of the two girls dorms
20:31
here is this where mom was staying no
20:33
this is not the one your mom was in
20:36
your mom was in this one over here
20:43
and i'll tell you about that in just a
20:43
second
20:43
first i want to show you this bridge oh
20:46
that we have photos of this bridge we do
20:49
indeed
20:51
my goodness that's the same bridge same
20:53
bridge
20:54
look at that i know exactly the photo
20:57
you're gonna
20:58
pull up next let's go over here and get
21:00
it in frame
21:10
it has a name the bridge has a name
21:10
oh no it's a trench class of 66 what
21:13
class were you dad
21:15
i came in 67 so this would have been a
21:17
year before this bridge
21:20
was one year before so this bridge is
21:22
still the same bridge
21:24
over this little gully here
21:35
okay here's that angle
21:35
there's your mom and me apparently we
21:38
had been
21:40
to some kind of a banquet or we were
21:43
going to a banquet
21:45
okay it looks as if the bridge has been
21:47
re-done
21:48
yeah they've done their it's a different
21:51
different railing that is a different
21:52
bridge look there's steps on that one
21:55
so this one has steps so that's true
21:58
they've really built 67 they have
22:00
rebuilt it but it was over this little
22:01
gully
22:02
still the bridge and still the gully and
22:04
that was that's the building
22:06
hall head hall was your mom's dorm
22:08
because you can see right here
22:10
the little notches on the side there and
22:12
that door
22:14
that's it and the tree
22:18
the split tree the same split the same
22:21
split tree
22:22
it sure is
22:35
67 yep
22:35
let's see actually this is 68 196 okay
22:39
yeah i got the date stamp
22:41
1968 51 years ago
22:45
my mom and dad would have been standing
22:46
right here
22:48
with that split tree
22:51
facing the photographer any recollection
22:54
of who might have taken that photo
23:06
standing this way classmate with the
23:06
camera right there on the bridge
23:13
this is blowing my mind i'm sure
23:13
sure blowing dad's mic even more than
23:15
mine because he's got the he's the one
23:17
with the
23:22
heard me tell the memories my freshman
23:22
year i'm coming out of the dining hall
23:24
that's what the first floor of this
23:26
building was the dining hall
23:27
that was the dining area you've heard me
23:30
tell of coming out of the dining hall
23:33
coming up this sidewalk this is the
23:35
sidewalk
23:36
and i met the dean of students
23:45
i was prone to wearing football jerseys
23:46
to class so mr hendrickson
23:52
meets me on the walkway
23:55
and says mr williams would you like to
23:59
read
24:00
the student handbook
24:08
he said well let me encourage you to
24:08
read the student handbook because
24:10
you don't need to be wearing football
24:13
jerseys to class you need to wear a
24:15
dress shirt
24:16
of some sort so i remember that
24:19
interesting conversation we had right
24:22
on this sidewalk i could picture it
24:25
happening
24:27
yeah the second story was the girls norm
24:30
first story was the lounge
24:33
the dining hall and the residence
24:37
of the lady who was the
24:40
overseer of the head hall
24:43
and i remember
24:46
when they toured the concrete on this
24:49
sidewalk going down
24:50
to that building there oh you you recall
24:55
this concrete slab that's the sidewalk
24:57
right here now it looks like through the
24:59
years they've widened it because it was
25:00
much narrower as i remember
25:06
that's the administration building ahead
25:06
down here no no
25:07
no this got a picture for you
25:11
this is your mom and me right in front
25:14
of that because it's
25:15
been rebuilt and reconfigured and new
25:17
columns and all that
25:18
but that son that
25:22
is the gymnasium liam
25:25
this must be
25:28
nothing like a good warm-up when you're
25:32
on the case
25:39
oh wow you're right let's see the photo
25:39
one more time
25:40
how the front has been completely
25:42
reconfigured like you said you got a
25:44
couple of photographs
25:46
but the pillars are still there they're
25:48
pillars but they're not round i mean
25:49
they're not the same pillars oh you're
25:51
right
25:51
plus they've glass fronted in the that's
25:54
not to say we're going to that in a
25:55
minute
25:56
yeah yeah just glass fronted it in
26:09
this is where we played our basketball
26:09
game
26:11
various you were on the basketball
26:13
basketball team
26:14
and your mom was a cheerleader
26:18
all my life i wanted to date a
26:20
cheerleader
26:21
finally i got the opportunity you
26:23
married a cheerleader i even married you
26:24
think about that that's cool the most
26:27
beautiful girl in our class
26:36
our freshman year this was the gathering
26:36
spot
26:38
after say after lunch in the afternoon
26:41
those of us that didn't yet have jobs
26:43
we would all hang out down here play
26:45
ping pong at two or three ping pong
26:47
tables
26:48
shot hoops
26:53
stage for different kinds of
26:54
performances where was your dorm
26:57
that's where we're going to go we're
26:58
going that way so mama's dorm is over
27:01
yep the way we walked in the bridge is
27:04
over there
27:05
this would be the gymnasium
27:09
the gymnasium rim and your dorm would be
27:13
down this pathway
27:14
down that path so they had boys on this
27:17
girls on the other side of the campus
27:45
sure are yes your mom and i used to play
27:45
tennis back here every once in a while
27:47
not a lot but some
27:48
down there at the bottom of the hill the
27:50
tennis courts doesn't look like they've
27:51
been used in a while been a while
27:54
now this used to be a working parking
27:56
lot back in the day
27:58
i see they have it gated off back there
28:00
they probably don't use it
28:02
now after 50 years of growth you can't
28:05
tell it
28:06
but there used to be a well-worn path
28:09
that kind of went down through the woods
28:12
wound around the terrain he came out
28:16
over in the parking lot at the boyd's
28:18
dorm
28:23
that was a little shortcut you would
28:23
take back to your
28:24
your accommodations exactly how many
28:26
roommates did you have in that room
28:28
well my first year only had one and then
28:31
the second semester
28:33
there were four of us that roomed
28:34
together
28:36
we changed rooms
28:39
took on other roommates and
28:43
finished out the year the four of us
28:47
myself sid gary and wayne
28:50
dated december 67. wow 67 this is
28:54
yup this year she's wearing the same
28:56
outfit as over
28:58
in front of the other place with the the
29:00
grown over
29:01
area where she was sitting up on the
29:02
brick wall yep so that would have been
29:04
67
29:05
also and this was your dorm
29:08
which appears to be completely abandoned
29:11
and boarded up at this time yes
29:12
it does appear to be the windows are all
29:16
wooded up
29:17
and look they have removed the huge
29:19
walkway out front
29:21
the sidewalk wall went out to the street
29:23
to the road
29:25
now you didn't use the front entrance
29:26
because that would have been not a
29:28
shortcut through the woods
29:30
right this was the entrance over here do
29:32
not photograph you
29:33
photograph the front entrance right
29:56
halfway through my sophomore year and
29:56
the second semester of my sophomore year
29:58
me and one of my buddies
30:00
that was my roommate we rented a house
30:03
oh which i have no idea where that is
30:06
but we uh we finished out that
30:09
second uh sophomore year and living in a
30:12
house
30:13
and then you and mom moved into your
30:15
first house
30:16
here in town after that actually
30:19
we got married in july
30:23
school year ended in may your mom went
30:26
back to martinsville virginia to get
30:28
ready for the wedding
30:29
i lived in the apartment that we rented
30:32
we went ahead and rented an apartment
30:35
and i stayed there until we got married
30:38
then we moved in
30:39
after i got married so we're gonna go
30:41
buy that house the first house you guys
30:42
ever got
30:43
that's right let's do it let's go it's a
30:46
pretty short commute about a mile and a
30:48
half down
30:49
ben hill road to
30:52
your so it wasn't a house it was an
30:54
apartment well it was a house but it was
30:56
made into duplex apartments
30:57
and now turned on to jones street
31:01
jones street right jones street
31:05
your mom and i lived in a duplex
31:07
apartment
31:08
down here a house that was made into two
31:10
apartments
31:11
how far down let's go further down past
31:14
this van
31:15
yeah go past this in fact it might be
31:18
better if you went down and turned
31:20
around and came back now this is a shot
31:21
of me
31:22
in front of the duplex apartment
31:26
um here in east point this was uh
31:30
1979 71 excuse me 1971
31:33
the photograph is dated we had snow in
31:37
april here
31:38
another shot at a different time
31:42
and later in april when the snow was
31:45
gone
31:47
and we had a falcon and we had a
31:49
volkswagen and this is the
31:51
door into the kitchen on the side here
31:54
this was our side of the apartment here
31:56
another cat another family lived over
31:58
here and turned around and now
31:59
approaching from
32:00
the other side right here on the side of
32:02
the hill this beige
32:04
building they have a lot made a lot of
32:07
renovations and changed a lot of things
32:09
they've
32:10
added onto the house in the rear they've
32:12
taken out that kitchen door
32:14
and now obviously they access everything
32:17
through the front door
32:19
but that's what it looks like today all
32:22
right we're approaching the
32:24
building that used to house the
32:26
jefferson park
32:28
christian church now in
32:32
oh maybe the middle of uh the school
32:34
year in 1968
32:37
i was at the conyers church you remember
32:39
out in the country
32:41
and a buddy of mine was preaching at
32:42
this church
32:44
asked me to come be his youth minister
32:47
so
32:48
somewhere around i don't know
32:51
november thereabouts of 1968 i came here
32:55
and was his youth minister through the
32:58
rest of my
33:00
uh that that year uh
33:03
maybe for another year and a half or so
33:06
this is the place not a
33:08
christian church any longer but this is
33:11
the building
33:12
where i was the youth minister as well
33:16
in 1967 when i came as a freshman to
33:18
atlanta christian college
33:20
this is where i attended church
33:24
i didn't have any active role in the
33:25
ministry or anything like that
33:28
this is the this is the ben hill
33:30
christian church
33:31
it is still a thriving and growing
33:35
congregation to this very day and
33:38
but i do remember helping mow the yard
33:40
uh one
33:41
or two times and uh the building has
33:44
been
33:44
somewhat enlarged since then but
33:47
this is the location this is the place
33:51
ben hill christian church my freshman
33:54
where i attended church
34:03
and from here we're going to head out
34:03
go southbound and cross the florida
34:05
state line
34:06
after a short drive we have a low-flying
34:08
plane
34:10
going by here a low-flying
34:13
plane has now passed by
34:17
this is something you don't see every
34:18
day not every day this is a play i
34:21
thought it was a boat
34:23
it's a plane all right
34:31
that's gonna do it not only for today
34:31
but also for the series
34:33
we did it we are finally in the state of
34:35
florida across the state line
34:36
coming out of 75 here in the west area
34:40
valdosta
34:42
a couple hours from home three hours
34:44
from house not too far
34:45
wrap the video up yeah i wanted to
34:49
just take a few minutes to kind of wrap
34:52
everything together
34:54
first of all when all of our watchers uh
34:57
watchers viewers watch our viewers to
35:01
know
35:02
um we know you're totally confused
35:05
about what we've lived we did it not in
35:09
chronological oil
35:10
oil chronological oils
35:14
were not utilized chronological what
35:18
order did we go at
35:19
we went in more of a geographical order
35:22
geographical order
35:23
starting from home and working our way
35:26
back
35:27
through uh all the different places that
35:30
we've lived and actually
35:32
actually we didn't get every single
35:35
place that i lived
35:36
there were one or two places we didn't
35:38
go to because there were ways just way
35:39
too far
35:40
away but we got every place that i have
35:42
lived but once we moved
35:44
to saint cloud florida right and then
35:46
i've you know left home and moved around
35:48
to a bunch of apartments and
35:50
went out to la and back to florida we
35:52
got every place that
35:54
i grew up right with the family and
35:57
then we included there at the end where
36:00
your mom and i were
36:02
uh today for our college year that's
36:04
right that was earlier today
36:06
so i just wanted to kind of wrap up
36:08
actually one of the things i was hoping
36:10
for
36:11
because we have had a an incredible time
36:14
we have laughs we have winding
36:18
if they can hear this if they can hear
36:21
this i will be surprised the camera is
36:23
doing its job
36:25
correctly with the wind buff on there
36:27
the um
36:28
but we have laughed on camera we have
36:31
tried some on camera
36:33
we've come close to crying a few times
36:36
and then off camera we have just left
36:38
ourselves silly and pride ourselves
36:40
in tears of laughter a lot of the
36:42
organic
36:44
unrehearsed spontaneous spur of the
36:48
moment events
36:49
things that we would say that were
36:50
misspoken
36:53
movie references uh some
36:56
quotes and things like this from that we
36:58
both have always enjoyed through the
36:59
years
37:01
so i was hoping maybe we'd do one or two
37:03
of those kind of things just what
37:04
happened spontaneously while we're
37:06
sitting here
37:07
but basically i just wanted to end the
37:08
video
37:10
by giving some thanks first of all i
37:13
want to thank
37:14
god my heavenly father for allowing me
37:17
to live these many years in order to be
37:20
able to experience this with you son
37:23
he has providentially cared for me kept
37:26
me alive all this time he's given me a
37:28
beautiful
37:28
faithful wife two wonderful children
37:32
adult children that actually are
37:34
productive in society
37:36
and are constructive in their life and
37:39
he's blessed
37:40
them in those ways and also
37:43
that he has put it in your mind to do
37:46
this trip
37:47
this wasn't my idea this was adam's id
37:50
uh something he'd been cooking on for
37:52
two or three years and
37:54
finally um that my health improved to a
37:57
that we could make the trip it's been a
37:59
blessing all the way around so i want to
38:00
give thanks to god first
38:02
but then i want to thank you son
38:10
for following your dreams
38:10
uh you had different dreams than i had
38:13
and uh you followed your dreams
38:16
you have made your dreams come true and
38:19
that's part of the reason we're able to
38:21
do that
38:22
uh time is no issue with you and you're
38:25
able to finance your own lifestyle
38:27
if you have found out on this trip that
38:29
time is an issue
38:31
with me well that is true very very much
38:35
i always compare myself to tom hanks and
38:37
castaway at the beginning when he's
38:38
giving the spiel about time did you
38:41
think it was going to be this intense
38:43
when it comes to being in my brain and
38:44
going going going going
38:46
i honestly did not know it was going to
38:48
be quite so intense and i've got a note
38:51
to make sure i've said how much i've
38:53
learned to appreciate
38:54
how hard you work at what you do i never
38:57
understood that
38:58
seeing what he does behind the scenes is
39:02
it's just amazing again the word
39:04
appreciation is the only thing i can
39:05
think of
39:06
and how fast you are uh thank you for
39:10
being so patient with the old man and
39:12
just
39:12
waiting for me trying to help me up
39:14
steps and all these things
39:16
um your skill and your depth of mastery
39:21
of your
39:21
craft has been inspiring to me son
39:25
and thank you for sharing yourself again
39:28
we have laughed
39:30
more than we've laughed i guess in years
39:33
and it's just been a great
39:34
great time and the story thank you for
39:38
going
39:38
when i brought the idea up i didn't
39:40
think you would be into it
39:42
and thanks to our mom for letting you go
39:44
letting me go thank you
39:46
thank you for letting me go and thank
39:49
you
39:50
fans of adam uh for first of all loving
39:53
my son the way you love my son
39:57
he is in person the very same person
40:00
that you see on the videos
40:07
thank you for all of your heartfelt
40:07
comments
40:08
i've read hundreds of them every night
40:10
before we go to go to sleep we get to
40:12
the hotels
40:13
each night and dad will read through
40:15
while i'm editing he will read through
40:17
every comment and he's a note taker if
40:20
you've noticed he
40:21
he is very detailed on note-taking
40:24
and reading off i don't think i've ever
40:26
met anyone that writes as many notes
40:28
down as you anything he sees
40:30
takes out a ballpoint pen and puts his
40:33
thoughts down that's just how he is i'm
40:34
not that way i'm more
40:35
kind of impulsive off the side but
40:38
you've got a better
40:38
brain than i do and many of you and
40:42
again and again thank you for all of the
40:44
wonderful comments you made about me
40:46
personally
40:47
clearly you don't know me
40:52
but i want you to know how much i
40:52
appreciate all your wonderful thoughts
40:54
not just about me and not just about
40:56
adam but about about my wife
40:59
and about our daughter as well um and
41:02
for those of you that have made comments
41:04
about i should start my own
41:06
channel i want you to know that back
41:09
when i was a truck driver some years ago
41:11
i actually had
41:12
my own channel and it still exists
41:15
it's called jww on the move
41:19
go to youtube type that in jww on the
41:22
um he used to have those videos if they
41:25
want to watch videos from 10 years ago
41:26
if you truck it
41:27
that's right they're on there and um
41:31
this trip has inspired me to consider
41:33
doing that again
41:35
what i would not live i will not
41:38
be trucking individuals if i throw a
41:40
video or two you were saying you
41:42
might put up a wrap-up video and put
41:45
everything in
41:46
the order of where wherever
41:47
chronological ways maybe do your own
41:49
wrap-up
41:50
down the road that way you could
41:52
actually go to
41:54
the videos in a chronological order and
41:57
see
41:57
how how and where we live and when we
41:59
live like my crazy
42:01
i have to upload every morning the night
42:04
before
42:04
like a 24 hour challenge every day no
42:07
matter
42:08
it all depends on correlation of point a
42:11
to point b
42:11
versus a timeline that's usually how i
42:14
do that now what i can't do is just copy
42:16
adam's video that's actually not legal
42:18
dude you should draw
42:19
you should do stick figures yes
42:23
i can put a little size that's nice
42:30
i'll do something so you can get a basic
42:30
idea of what's
42:31
what's going on so again thank you all
42:34
for watching
42:34
it's been great i'm looking forward to
42:37
getting home
42:38
and you can re-watch these again
42:42
we we've had a fast pace we did 10 days
42:45
10 spots in 10 days let's see we did
42:48
florida
42:49
alabama came across arkansas
42:53
oklahoma then up to kansas
42:56
and then iowa over to illinois
43:00
then down through indiana kentucky
43:04
tennessee georgia and now here we are
43:07
back in florida
43:10
this is the first time you and i have
43:11
ever done a road trip without any of the
43:13
other family members
43:15
even we haven't done a family trip in
43:17
here this is the first time just you and
43:18
i went out on the road together
43:20
kind of had like a father or something
43:21
so it's been great
43:23
thank you anything else to add
43:31
no i can't think of a thing except the
43:31
vlog
43:33
is over