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"Remember the Alamo" - Southern States
 DAY 6 - Thu., 14 March 2002 

 

Starting Location:  Gastonia, North Carolina Stopping Location:  Columbia, South Carolina
Weather There:  Overcast, 47°F Weather Here:  Partly cloudy, 70°F
Starting Time:  6:28 a.m. (EST) Stopping Time:  6:11 p.m. (EST)
Starting Mileage:  234,881 Stopping Mileage:  235,271
Total Miles Today:   590 miles   Speeding Tickets:  0
Total Driving Time:   10 hours, 12 minutes Target Stores In:  1

First, a rant.  If the Department of Transportation posts a sign that traffic or weather updates can be heard at 1680, 1690, or 1700 AM, you'd think they'd make sure those are stations most car radios can receive.  The Green Spam Can's radio stops at 1610 AM, and it's not some funky, made-in-Panama radio... it's a Ford for goodness' sake.  Yes, while the FCC has defined the AM radio range of 535 AM to 1700 AM, it doesn't mean we can all get it.  Subsequently, we've grown to depend on (a) looking to the sky for weather updates, and (b) watching for flashing yellow (and/or white) lights and orange cones for road construction, or blue and/or red flashing lights to learn about traffic collisions.  End of rant.  For today.

Many, many hours ago, our day began.  Or something.  I awoke when I heard the boy mutter something obscene, but it turned out a false alarm.  He apparently can't tell the difference between 5:23 a.m. and 6:23 a.m. when there's something blocking the left side of the display, and thought that the alarm didn't go off.  Of course, once the emergency was averted, he didn't go back to sleep, instead tossing and turning... which meant I did the same, since he's been too cheap to spring for two beds during this trip (although we ended up with two in Nashville two night ago).  Anyway, we ended up leaving for the early morning gas top-off at 6:28 a.m., beginning the day amidst a foggy landscape.

Don't tell him, but the boy is actually somewhat clever at times.  Again today, the ending location put us right on the freeway, opposite of commute traffic, and through another congested metropolitan area without being the least bit slowed down by the workday hassle of going to work.  I would have been even more pleased, though, if he'd had a plan about where we were going.  The searching of things to see in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Durham, Raleigh, and the like left us a bit short.  So, the photo selection for the day is random, at best, and pathetic in all reality.  (It got better.)

The high point of the morning was self-explanatory.  And a wrong turn and a missed exit led us to a sign that, in the Tall One's mind, proves that townships were named by lonely men with active imaginations wishing they weren't so lonely.  A short wander later took us not to Burlington Industries, or even Burlington Coat Factor, but to Burlington itself.  The city proved to be large enough to have a cool park with tons of stuff (except a duck pond), and was arranged so randomly that it took us another 45 minutes to get back to the freeway.  That part wasn't as cool, but conceptually, it was.  During our wander, we stumbled across the town of Haw River.  What's there?  Nothing we could find.  But we were there, so it deserved to be documented.

Obviously, we found the freeway.  And soon after happened across a mysterious bus.  Unlike those back home, it seems North Carolina is okay with their prison vans being  both easily identified, but those riding within to not be shielded behind heavy tinting.  (Personally, I'd just as soon not look at the sundry assortment of burglars and murderers, but call that my quirk.  (Later in the day, we saw a similar van parked outside of a church; an odd turn of events, but there is a high incidence of folks finding the Lord while in prison, so perhaps there's a connection after all.)

We arrived in Raleigh around 10:30 a.m.  And as noted, didn't have much to work with as far as sights to see went.  I'm sure it's a lovely little city, but we don't do research, and nothing was easily found.  Well, cops are a dime a dozen (figuratively, not to imply they're on the take), so we snapped a photo of one of their finest's cars.  I did manage to locate a park, so I wandered around there a bit as seen here and here.  There were also three television news crews within two blocks of the park.  I checked with our Marketing & Promotions people, and we didn't set up a press conference, but we were unclear why else the media would have been there during our visit.  Go figure.

Onward to Wilmington, since there was stuff to see there.  Or so I thought.  Cape Fear was mentioned in several maps, so I figured we'd start with the Cape Fear Museum.  I didn't even need to get to the front door to see it was not what I'd expected.  For starters, there was not one mention of Robert De Niro, or even Robert Mitchum for those who want to step back a few years.  Instead, only this museum van which set the tone of what would be found inside, had we not stopped ourselves in time. 

We headed to the waterfront instead.  From the pier like thing, we could get a decent view of the USS North Carolina, and even get some fresh air along the pier (as opposed to the odorous stuff in the car with whats-his-name's assorted snacks smelling things up).  The stroll took me past the federal building there, which I must admit is an impressive structure unto itself.  However, the Cape Fear desire was still fresh on my mind, so I made my driver head out to the place on the map nearest Cape Fear, and from there, I'd hoped to be creative.

Nearly an hour later, driving down the street at 25 MPH (the sign said "Speed limit strictly enforced.  Radar in use.  Unmarked police vehicles in use."), and given the warning in that sign, we stayed below 25.  And while I will admit the 23 mile trip got me closer to Cape Fear, it still wasn't even good enough for government work.  But if you squint really hard, you can almost make out... nothing!  In frustration, we stopped and looked at (you guessed it) historical markers again talking about the war of northern aggression (as seen here, here, and of course, here).

The boy being well-versed in geometry, and less in geography, concluded that the quickest means to get from Wilmington to Florence, South Carolina would be a straight line.  Of course, it was a thin red road line versus a pretty, well-maintained highway line on his map.  But no matter!  If nothing else, though, we did get to pass through a darling little town (Fair Bluff, NC) that was absolutely quiet; no sounds of traffic, planes, trains, (and automobiles), no sirens or anything else.  Just quiet, calm silence.  The downtown was quaint as you'd expect, and there was even a little cafe that's been there since '39.

We didn't stop and take a picture of the South Carolina sign given a lack of places to stop safely, and people being too close behind us, but it was amusing.  "South Carolina Welcomes You".  The "You" was spray-painted over to read "Yall".  We did get a nice scene in the clouds as the sun hid, and yes, it has been noted, I like clouds pictures.  But if you were trapped in a car for 10+ hours a day with a guy who wouldn't shut up about some girl named Amy he once knew, you'd be deeply fascinated with clouds, cows, or anything else you could distract yourself with -- of this I'm sure.

We stopped in the outskirts of Columbia, South Carolina for the night.  After 15 minutes, we gave up on finding something of great interest for photos, and stopped at Pizza Hut (yes, again -- I've dealt with it, now it's your turn, y'all) for snacks before returning to the room (which is quite adorable, I'll have you know... it's actually a well-designed motel.).  And that's all I've got to say about that.  Tomorrow should leave us on the sands of a Florida beach, if everything goes well.  :)

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