02.1 69 Church Street

Natalia was all set for what she called the ‘Grand Cross’ of a cross-country tour. She was going to hop from the West Coast to the East in her Ford Bronco II SUV, right across the great states of America. She wore a loose, mint green and chocolate, floral print Boho playsuit and white tennis shoes. She stuffed two suitcases in the trunk, the camera case and other bags…her wardrobe. Office on the passenger seat and sleeping in the back, with a hanging storage station and a 20-litre cool box…all cramped.

She left home at 9:00 am on 3^rd Monday from San Diego to Charleston. She’d drive the whole way to Texas on I-10 Interstate Highway. Then to South Carolina on I-20. She planned her stops, driving hours, all according to Cross Country Driving Tips and Advice.

Natalia listened to Eagles on her first leg as she drove to Tucson, Arizona. Miles of flat desert land and not a single obstacle in her way. She drove seven hours, with few brief stops, and came to a rest at Apollo campground for the night.

It was 4^th of July and a night to remember. There was a smell of hemp burning in the air. E Benson Highway to the reach of eyeshot. Trailers parked in the slots.

She felt just like that for the first time in her life. There was a band playing that night at the park. Country music and the singer sat on a chair with his guitar. A girl standing next joined in chorus. Grills and drinks served in the park, music and dancing under the stars.

And for the first time, she was listening to this song the band was playing; ‘I’m A Lonesome Fugitive’, and the learnt it was originally sung by Merle Haggard.

In the morning, she started at ten on her second leg in a drunken state with a sweat towel on her lap. After five hours, she reached El Paso in the afternoon. Spent an hour, bought a record of Merle Haggard, and found to her shocking surprise that the song was written by Liz and Casey Anderson; parents of Lynn Anderson.

She continued on her journey for another five hours to arrive in Midland at 9:00 pm for the night.

She was tired. She booked a tiny room at Knights Inn and slept soundly.

On 5^th Wednesday, she began on the long road at 10 am and after seven hours, she arrived at La Quinta in Arlington, Texas, for an overnight.

On the fourth day, she began at 9:00 am to reach Shreveport by 2:00 pm. Spent an hour at a restaurant and left for Alabama to arrive in Birmingham at 11:00 pm in the evening getting slowed by the traffic.

She caught eyes on a Bed & Breakfast stop. It was cheap though not too comfortable. If she wished to make it to South Carolina, she’d need to rest now.

She began on a long leg from Birmingham on the 5^th day to South Carolina. Nine hours through the traffic, almost non-stop driving. Natalia reached Hampton Inn at 6:30 pm. Natalia made it in five days to South Carolina.

She got that fitness, determination and proven a fast driver. However, she decided not to attempt again on long hours on the road.

A hot Saturday in July, temperature at 90° F, she parked her Ford Bronco in front of 69 Church Street. She caught the scenario in a sublime coolness of filtered sunrays through overhanging foliage. White Oak trees, sabal palmettos and multi-trunked plants covered of deep pink blossom that she learnt later as crape myrtle. There stood two crape myrtle trees scarcely in blossom in front of the house. Golden digits of ‘69’ hang on the wall on the left-side while facing the door. There was no name plate on the wall.

Another house standing ten feet to the north got a slab by the southeast corner with an inscription to read; ‘Richard Bann House, Private Residence, Built Circa 1720 for Wealthy Wharf Owner and Provincial Powder Receiver. One of the Earliest Fine Examples of a Single House’. And placed there by the Preservation Society of Charleston.

Roughly twenty-five years later, another wealthy owner built a house right next to Bann House leaving a three feet gap in between. Natalia noted the path between the two houses of Bann and Cyril where the Lincoln was parked in the photograph.