Thomas Jefferson and John Adams set off to visit English gardens in April, 1786. For years, Michael and Jean have been kicking around the idea of recreating this journey. [April 2017 was the original timeline . . . two years hence we are still working toward a new plan.]
What is the same? Flora, maybe fauna, the pleasures and aggravations of travel. What has changed? M-roads, obviously. And the Internet.
They took a carriage. We take . . . a car, presumably, but other modes of travel bear exploration. They discussed the fledgling United States, international diplomacy, gardens. We discuss the fracturing European Union, international crises, gardens.
Beneath all the surface changes, will we discover a shared experience? And what of the ties that bind their past experience to our present journey?
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