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John Harris has absconded from Australia for five weeks with his wife Sandy and eight-year-old daughter Eden. While the true purpose of their trip to North America is to spend Christmas with Canadian friends in the snowy suburban streets of Ottawa, they have extended the front end of the trip and the back end of the trip with so many add-ons that the Norwood City Council is considering sending in the building inspectors. This itinerary is enough to make grown travel agents shudder: Disneyland, Hollywood, the Big Easy, the Bad DC, the Big Apple, the Big Hole in the Ground, Lost Wage and that Pacific island where you get leied on arrival. Will it stand the strain? Will it collapse? Dear reader, I know not, so read on to discover how it all turns out.

As it faced the most historic presidential vote of modern times, the United States  explored how far it had come in the 40 years since the Civil Rights campaign led by Martin Luther King overthrew black segregation. While travelling across the southern US from Georgia to Louisiana, through the heartland of the former Confederacy, JOHN HARRIS asked ordinary Americans about their country’s change of heart that elected its first black president on November 4.

Clarksdale, Mississippi

Election 08 first debate, Oxford, MississippiWith fields of the rogue weed kudzu lining each side of the road, Mississippi’s Highway 6 leads from Oxford to Clarksdale.  But despite this asphalt artery being only 46 miles long, it links two towns that otherwise exist in different worlds.

Named after the English university town, Oxford is a leafy prosperous town filled with boutiques, bookshops and bars to meet the needs of students attending Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi whose alumni include writers William Faulkner and John Grisham.

Oxford shot to world prominence today when it hosted the first debate of US Election 08 between presidential aspirants John McCain and Barack Obama. After threatening a no-show, McCain arrived in town for a last-minute ambush that seemed to have Obama on the back foot for most of the debate.

Robbie and I arrived in Oxford about 30 minutes before the Election 08 debate started after a long-haul drive from Louisville, a 460 mile journey that traversed the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. We managed to find the last vacant room in town, at the Comfort Inn on Jackson Street.

Atlanta, Georgia

Ebenezer Baptist ChurchI distinguished myself today as the worst-dressed person to attend the 11am service at the Ebenezer Baptist Church.

The day started badly when I woke up in my room at The Ellis Hotel at 10.50am after hitting the sack at 2.30am (about 4pm in Adelaide) after a midnight visit to Blind Willie's blues club in the entertainment district of Virginia Highland. Before climbing into bed, I'd closed all the curtains so day's break would not disturb my slumber.

It worked! The result was eight and a half hours of relatively deep sleep - my only interruptions were the bleep of an incoming text message and a full bladder. I finally woke when the driving force behind this trip Robbie headed for the shower. I rolled over, checked my watch and then immediately double-checked the hotel clock to make certain my eyes were not full of sleep.

I spent the next 10 minutes cramming the tangle of electrical gadgets that had crept out of my bags back inside and climbing into my travelling clothes. I told Robbie to meet me at the Australian Bakery in East Atlanta. "I'm off to church," I said.

"You do what you gotta do Johnny," he replied, sleepily.

Two months before the US Presidential election, John Harris and Robbie Brechin are hiring a ragtop with boom boom sound system to take a 1000-mile road trip through the heartland of the former Confederacy, starting in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 20 and hopefully arriving in Dallas, Texas, two weeks later. Along the route, they are plan to listen to some great music from Nashiville and New Orleans, ask a lot of folk how they feel about the world, the war and the prospect of the Union's first black president. John and Robbie are also looking for Australians along the way - running bars, restaurants, nightclubs and interesting small businesses - to get an outsider's inside view of the US election. If you know of any great people or places to visit, please email details to John at jharris@impress.com.au .We'll keep you posted on our progress.