The last part of our stay in Raleigh seemed to fly by.

Pat and I took part of a day to visit the North Carolina Museum of History. I was impressed with the way the history was displayed. As we walked through the displays there were placards that told the story of individuals who lived in the area during each period. This made the display much more personal to me. The displays that had the biggest impact were those that dealt with the Reconstruction period following the Civil War. Blacks had many opportunities and took advantage of them. North Carolina’s largest city, Wilmington, had a large population of black professionals; physicians, attorneys, etc. Unfortunately, the white population did not like how things were turning out and literally took over the city by force, removed the black leadership and put them on a train out of town. Black legislators were voted out of office and most of the gains from Reconstruction were lost. The Civil Rights Act of the 1960’s began to correct this situation. I went back to the Museum with Elisabeth the following Saturday. It was nice to see her interest and to be able to share it with her.

Also during this time, we finished the batch of homemade wine that I had started when we arrived, enjoyed dinners, both at our campsite and at Elisabeth’s house. Having the time together was the best part of the trip.

Our time in Raleigh ended rather dramatically. While cleaning the bathrooms on our last day in camp, I stood up under a wall-mounted hand dryer and cut the top of my head. This required a trip to the local urgent care clinic and eight staples in my scalp. Fortunately the whole thing was covered by Workman’s Compensation and I was in good enough shape to drive the next day.

On Tuesday, May 5th, we started our trip back to Michigan.