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Chat transcript: Court TV on the road

JUNE 8: We had this idea

We picked up the recreational vehicle in Collins, N.Y., about 40 miles from where Timothy McVeigh was born. It is a 2000 model, equipped with electricity, running water, two beds, a working kitchen, and more cabinets and cupboards than we could hope to fill in our five days on the road. We are planning to drive it the 600 miles to Terre Haute, Ind., where McVeigh is scheduled to be executed at 8 a.m. ET Monday morning.

From his birthplace to his death place, and all points in between. Along the way, we will talk to people, ask them about the execution, about the death penalty, about their lives. It will be a journey through the heartland. In an RV. It is an American odyssey, wrong side out, and it is probably crazy and maybe in poor taste, but we have had this idea. This idea. More....


JUNE 9: The trip begins

"168 people," Wayne said, and I was struck by how known this number is, how significant. In the past 24 hours, being in the bomber's homeland, I have been so focused on McVeigh and his family and neighbors that his victims have faded temporarily into the background. But Wayne and Kathy have not forgotten them.

"Think about that," Wayne said. "A hundred and sixty-eight," and for a second the three of us sat in a stunned silence, as if hearing the number for the first time. More...


JUNE 9: Belleville, Ohio

It is hard to imagine anything bad ever happening in Bellville, Ohio. It is a bedroom community of only a couple thousand people, many of whom work an hour away in Columbus. It is a serene and lovely town, with tree-lined streets and small Victorian homes, their lawns neatly clipped and their porches adorned with planters, statuettes and American flags. A white gazebo stands in a grassy square near the two-block stretch of downtown.

It is a town that seems to be actively warding off the evils of the outside world. In front of several lawns, we notice blue signs, about three feet square, that proclaim, "We stand for the Ten Commandments" and then list the commandments beneath. More...


JUNE 10: Fireworks and brimstone

"McVeigh is going to hell. Period. Point blank. If that doesn't buy you a ticket straight to hell than nothing does."

We are driving west on route 70, leaving Columbus for more of Ohio's green farmland, and it is a special Sunday morning call-in show on talk radio AM610. The radio listeners are debating the fate of Timothy McVeigh's soul. The question: Will he go to heaven? More...


June 10: Indianapolis to Terre Haute. Execution Eve.

As we approach Terre Haute, I expect to sense the growing tension, an accumulation of dread and fear and curiosity. Signs of the impending execution will begin to appear at least a few miles out, I imagine. Homemade posters, bumper stickers, traffic jams.

In reality, the highway is the same as in Indianapolis, in Richmond, in Dayton, Ohio. There is no increased activity or any visible signs of what is about to happen. The only perceptible change is the knot beginning to form in my stomach. I had managed to ward it off for the past few days, but it is back. More...

June 11: Terre Haute. Execution Day.

The men to Andy's left are also discussing the execution. "I guess it's about that time," one of them says. Everyone glances at the clock above the open kitchen window. It is seven. And then it is two after. Nothing changes. We drink our coffee. Andy's five-course breakfast arrives, and we laugh about it. At about twelve after, the manager, a tall middle-aged man in brown polyester pants approaches two of the waitresses and simply says, "He's dead. The Associated Press said it." More...

We were ready to be outside the dead center of the U.S. consumer population and, above all, far from the federal death row. With Andy still behind the wheel ("I kind of like it"), we renewed our acquaintance with Interstate 70 and began the trip back to New York.

The last evidence of the execution appeared about 15 miles outside the city, when we passed the bus that had carried the anti-death penalty activists we had spoken to Sunday. JOURNEY OF HOPE was painted on its side. Except for the driver, the bus was now empty. More...

Special report: Execution of an American Terrorist