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Miami's modern-day Lewis and Clark explore the past and future of nomadic life with two exhibits openings, September 12th and 13th, 2003 that celebrate their two cross-country odysseys.
On the eve of the Millenium they motored 51,000 miles to all 50 United States inside a patriotically decorated 1979 Chevrolet Station Wagon. Another year they traveled from Maine to Georgia on foot through all four seasons over 2,168 miles on the mountainous Appalachian Trail. During both their year-long journeys, the Miami couple, currently exploring the Hollywood film industry, have amassed unique collections that not only define modern-day travel but educate the public about how much travel has changed from fifty to a hundred years ago.
The two adventurists who's exploits have been featured on NPR, The Travel Channel an dozens of newspapers and newscasts around the nation, return to Miami to open two of nationally traveling exhibits on September 12th (FIU Biscayne Bay Campus Library) and September 13th (FIU Eighth-Street University Park Campus Library).
"People a hundred years ago used to walk everywhere. Now we drive. How will we see the world in 2099?" explains Cesar Becerra, a South Florida historian who was a driving organizational force in Miami's Centennial Celebration. "I'm always intrigued by how life in this country has changed" adds Becerra's wife journalist and environmentalist Maud Dillingham who was the editor of The Everglade Magazine and The Environmental Magazine. "When we rolled around the country in 1999 we had a cell phone the size of Texas and everybody thought computers were going to bring the world to a halt. Now you've got wireless Internet at McDonalds and electric cars!"
So the natural question is; "What's next?" And that is exactly what Cesar and Maud want Miamians to think about when visiting the two exhibits. How will transportation change in another 100 years? How will travelers communicate? "It is what intrigues us most" said Becerra, "Our inspirations were earlier road warriors like Ernie Pyle in the 1920's and 30's and Charles Kuralt in the 70's and 80's. Before we began traveling we were worried that it had all been discovered but we were wrong. Times are changing so fast that when we visit some of those areas today, they are radically different than when Pyle and Kuralt wrote about them.
Both exhibits challenge visitors to look into the future with a contest. All entries will be exhibited in early December.
An SGA sponsored exhibition.
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