American Journey 2020

Busch Gardens, Social Sciences & Smiles

Posted on by desiree michael
16
Aug

We made it! However, with our personalized interview, we found that there were no horses due to Co-vid…

  • Spike at Anheuser Busch
    Aug 2020-Where are my giant buddies?
  • Clydesdales visit us at Ft. Myer, VA
  • Spike got to communicate from a distance
  • This is how Spike and I initially saw America–on 18-wheels in 2014: fascinating machines
Big Red: (see our April entry) Previously the Clydesdales visited the Caisson stables at Ft. Myer: I thought it was fascinating that we have gone from horses to humungous red horse-powered vehicles; thus, the center of this year’s journeys.

Anheuser-Busch is the namesake behind the naming of Busch Gardens, Virginia. It is also a name that is synonymous with a giant breed of horses that visually epitomizes the means of transportation by horse–the Clydesdale breed of horses.

Unlike many of the wild horses we have visited so far, which arrived by the hands and ships of the Spanish Conquest, the Clydesdales hale from Scottland.

They arrived around the time our country was seeing the same upheaval and undertows of tension that we are seeing today. They arrived in the mid 1800s.

1840’s – At that time in our nation’s history was seeing the rise of automation–precisely the journey Spike and I are taking from horses to horsepower. This transition is very much like the transition we are seeing today from manual labor to artificial intelligence.

Sadly, in both cases, it seems that the human carnage will be great: unemployment and social-political opinions that masquerade as solutions to maintain a status-quo that will fade into the shadows of advanced engineering.

Social Sciences: Our story and journey of horses is more of a journey to look at the fissures of change that occur when technology advances us to the next level of mechanical development. Ways of life change. People change. Functions of our lives change. Taking a horse across country would seem ridiculous in this day and age–our wild horses are reminders of our beginnings before automobiles…but despite changes, there are still human commonalities that remain the same and are worth celebrating!

It has been said in a variety of ways, but it is true: a smile can be understood in any language and I will add, under any condition. On our journey, Spike and I are delivering and collecting smiles, because despite whatever fissures that are placed before us, we do have positive things to share as a nation…and that is our goal!

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This summer, the Mike and Spike, Spike and Mike roadshow will cross America and connect with people and places that make this country distinctly American. 
Horses will be the animal theme that draw us to the locations of states across America as they were historically the lead animal for transport…(Sure Spike, we won’t forget to visit dogs and create a signature print!). As we travel, the horse theme will transition to horsepower! Horsepower, of course, is now our primary means of seeing our country.
The subsequent theme is sand--yes, sand. Why sand? We will travel from “sea to shining sea” and collect sand from each shore; from the shores of the Assateague Island to the Coronado Islands, and the sand dunes in between. And, actually, these locations used to be called “seas.”