Travels with AI

As soon as the worst of the winter storms blows offshore, I will depart on a Steinbeckian journey up the East Coast in search of some insight and understanding of my great country, America. Even before I crank my ignition, my journey has begun.
As it happens, my quest begins at the very southern edge of the Gullah Geechee corridor and will continue through Georgia, as well as South and North Carolina.
I will be assisted by my good friend, AI, as well as by prominent research/writers in the field of Cultural Geography: Wilbur Zelinsky and, more recently, Colin Woodard, and their specific area of research, the Doctrine of First Effective Settlement. In theory and in scientifically proven practice, the first effective settlers of a region have an outsized impact on the attitudes and core beliefs of a region extending into the times in which we now live.
It is my understanding that the Central African, and particularly the West African peoples who, because of slavery, have become known here as Gullah, were highly skilled in lowland agriculture, and they certainly would have continued to prosper and develop had they been left alone. The fact that they were targeted because of their agricultural skills takes their enslavement to a higher level of injustice.
I plan to post daily along my way, and I will be grateful to you for any help you can give me.