Random of all Randoms

The Big List of Random Facts

Days on the Road = 67

Nights Slept in a Tent = 25

Horror Movie Campgrounds = 3

Nights Slept in a Hotel Room = 5

Nights Slept in the Car = 11

States Visited = 27

States We Spent Less Than 24 Hours in = 8

Country’s Visited = 3

Miles Driven = around 10,000

(This is a rough estimate due to our odometer not reading the distance of a mile correctly)

Music Listened to the Most

1. The Flatliners – Calvalcade
2. Eddie Vedder – Into the Wild
3. The Riverboat Gamblers – To the Confusion of our Enemies
4. NPR
5. Boston – The Hits
6. CCR – The Hits
7. Propagandhi – Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes
8. Brand New – Deja Entendu/The Devil and God
9. Envy on the Coast – Lucy Gray
10. My Chemical Romance – Three Cheers

Wal-Mart’s Visited = 19

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches Eaten = 37

National Parks Visited = 8

National Forests and State Parks Visited = Too many to count

Money Spent on National Park Pass = $80

Money Saved with Park Pass = $6, but it’s still good for another 9 months

Places We Plan to Visit Again (in no particular order)

1. Mississippi

2. Tennessee

3. Mammoth Caves

4. Minnesota

5. Pittsburgh area

6. Lassen Volcanic Park

7. Canada (yes, all of it)

8. Columbus, GA

9. Chicago

Gas Stations Visited = around 46

Oil Changes = 3

Free Oil Changes = 1

Movies Seen At Theaters = 5

Movies Paid For In Theaters = 3

Dead Armadillos = 36

Alive Armadillos =1

Species of Animals Seen as Roadkill

1. Deer

2. Raccoon

3. Owl

4. Marmot

5. Skunk

6. Rabbit

7. Groundhog

8. Kitty Cat

9. Coyote

10. Cow

11. Opossum

12. Weasel

13. Armadillo

14. Turtle

15. Hawk

16. Crow

17. Dog

18. Boar

19. Badger

20. Snake

21. Woodchuck

The Last Leg (WV, PA, NY, NJ)

Ohio

After waking up in the car, from a nice stay at an Ohio rest stop, we proceeded to make our way towards a surprise find. Two days prior, we had found out that West Virginia is home to the Fiestaware and Homer Laughlin ceramic factory. Fiestaware is a brand of pottery that makes everything from plates and gravy boats to pitchers and vases in a very neat art deco style with bright glazes that really pop. The pottery is very cool looking and Jen’s Grandma Sally even collects it, as they tend to retire certain glazes and they are sought out among collectors. With the knowledge that they gave free tours of the factory we jumped at the notion and signed ourselves up.

West Virginia (again)

The early tour started at ten a.m. and the factory was located in Newell, which is way up in the northern sliver of land known as the West Virginia panhandle. The Ohio rest stop we slept at was a short hour’s trip up to Newell which allowed us to not rush the morning drive. We made it to Newell and quickly found ourselves driving out of Newell. After figuring that we must have missed the turn somehow, we flipped a U and went back the other way. So, we entered Newell a second time and then proceeded to leave Newell for a second time. It was getting to be a little ridiculous and finally on our third time through the town we happened by chance to spot a giant billboard on the side of the road that told us to “turn here for Fiestaware.” I am not sure how we missed that sign the first time through, but it definitely saved us another trip through the damn town.

We came to the factory and parked the car and upon walking into the outlet store/factory tour entrance we noticed a garden outside that was filled with all sorts of broken ceramic ware. The stark broken shards of blue and red, among other colors, shot out from the soil showing off their best impression of a flower. It put a smile on our faces and started off a day that would turn out to be one of the best on the trip.

There was about a half hour that needed to be killed, so we walked through the outlet center looking through all of the ridiculously discounted and slightly irregular Fiestaware, although, most of the time the blemishes were hard to find. Eventually it came time to go on the tour. We were greeted by a long term employee of the factory. We quickly forgot her name, so unless it miraculously comes to us, she will be known as Barb. She looked like a Barb, as she was a short older lady that walked fast and talked even faster. It was hard to keep up with her, as she shouted out facts and random interesting tidbits as we walked through the factory.

We did a reverse process tour, as we saw the cooling racks and huge commercial sized kilns first and then continued towards the finishers that supplied the last bit of decorative glazing as we eventually would make it to the clay processing area. For a mass produced ceramic ware, there was a quite a bunch of people doing very specific and detailed work. It was quite fascinating to see how everyday items, like a plate for example, are made. It was like we were walking through a taping of “How it’s Made.” Eventually we came upon the first step in the process which consisted of all the slip cast molds that were used, and there were hundreds of them all waiting to be popped open to display the clay treasure hidden under the plaster. As we walked through the factory it was quite interesting to see all of the robotics and such that are used to create all of the ceramic ware. So much effort and work are put forth to produce a coffee mug. The factory also left me feeling happy that I was not working there. There were so many people who would do the same redundant job for eight hours, just to come back and do it again the next day. I would lose my mind if I had to come into work and sponge down the surface of clay cups for eight hours. The things they produce are fantastic, but I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way for the job of making them.

As we finished up the tour, we were led out of the factory and into the museum. This is where all of there models and signature glazes are on display. Barb gave us the rundown and as we finished up the tour, it was all just fantastic. We had a great time and were in awe of the way the factory turned out their products. We thanked Barb for all of her information and made our way back to the seconds area, where all the discounted stuff was. We fooled around for a while and before we knew it, it was nearly one o’clock. This was pressing because we had another appointment to make at four.

Pennsylvania

The grand opus of our day was to be spent in the granddaddy of all Frank Lloyd Wright homes, Fallingwater. The house is such a work of art that it was given a name. The house lies just southeast of Pittsburgh and was roughly two hours away. Since we lost track of time at the Fiestaware factory we had little to spare on our journey to Fallingwater. We drove as quickly as possible as we made our way through tunnels and bridges and then more bridges and even more tunnels. As we came up through a set of two long tunnels and then an even longer bridge, we were greeted by the city of Pittsburgh. It was fantastic how the city just shot up out nothing. The whole drive prior to the city was mountains and rivers and then, bam, welcome to Pittsburgh. It was a scene that seemed scripted from a movie. The city was very pretty looking, as it was surrounded by river ways on most all sides. It was a shame we had no time to explore it a bit. There’s always next time I suppose.

Following Pittsburgh, it was more rural highways until we pulled into the driveway of Fallingwater. Thanks to all of the traffic around Pittsburgh, the time was three forty five. We had made it, with fifteen minutes to spare. Since we had such little time to waste and the gift shop closed before the end of our tour, we stopped in for a quick peek. We found a cool bag that was fairly cheap and swooped up on some postcards. We then walked on the path that took us to the house.

Fallingwater is the house we wish could be ours. It is truly magnificent. Everything that Frank Lloyd Wright does right is displayed in Fallingwater. The main complaint I hear from people about Wright is that they don’t like that he designs and builds in the furniture. This to me is preposterous, considering that this is what ties his houses together. If Fallingwater was filled with accents of Victorian furniture, it would just seem so out of place. The fact that every little detail has a unifying theme tying the house together is what makes his work so great. The main attraction of the house is that it is set pretty much at the top of a waterfall. There is even a staircase that leads from the front room down into the stream that then falls off the rocks on the opposite side of the house. If this doesn’t make you want to live here, you may be crazy.

The whole house is typical Wright, with its accents of built in bookcases and bench seating along windows. The house has low ceilings and is designed in such a way that it literally makes you want to be outside. Now, you may ask yourself “Why would I want a house that leads me out of it?” Because that’s the whole point. The house was built to blend in and be a part of the outside world. There are even giant rocks that were left unmoved as the house was simply built on top of them as part of its foundation. They were left inside the house, as they are put on display for you to walk on. Wright utilized the surrounding land to fulfill the needs of the house. The approach was very unique at the time and is still not fully endorsed, which is a shame since it makes the house seem as one with the land. All in all, the house was sincerely amazing. We could have spent days just wandering through and checking out all of the cool little details that Wright placed throughout the house, but that would have led us to sleeping over and that is prohibited. We did however take advantage of the free reign of walking around the house after the completion of the tour to examine more of it.

Following the house tour we figured that our last night on the road should be spent in a tent, so we looked through our handy map and found some camping areas. We settled on a spot in the dead center of Pennsylvania. The air was quite nice and it was a good night’s sleep in the great outdoors. Following our last campout we ate some breakfast and went east towards New York to visit my Grandparents. We spent most of the day meandering through the rural and suburban areas of Pennsylvania and were treated to glorious weather while doing so. It was such a pleasant day to drive, especially since we were in no rush.

New York

We crossed over the state line and noticed the need for fuel. Following a full tank of gas, we pulled out of the gas station and noticed that sweet sight on the side of the road known as the hot dog stand. If you’ve never had a hot dog out of a cart, then you’ve never had a great hot dog. There is something about a hot dog that sits and brews in water for who knows how long, that just makes it taste fantastic. That crunch of the casing is the cherry on top. It was a great welcome home to the state that birthed me.

We then drove the short distance to the town of Beacon, where Gram and Pop live. We were greeted by hugs and kisses, which is always a great thing. We then shared stories from the road as they too have traveled the country…four times. They, however, had the luxury of a motor home to complete the task instead of a station wagon and a tent. It was fun to go back and forth about places that we had all been to and to hear all of their stories from the various stops. We were also graced by sleeping in a bed again.

We would spend the next few days relaxing and visiting some of the local points of interest, including the Storm King Art Center. Storm King is a fabulous sculpture park that is home to work by some of the greats, like Maya Lin and Richard Sera. The work that really takes the cake though was done by Andy Goldsworthy. Goldsworthy completed a dry stone wall that is comprised of stones from inside the park and weaves in and around the lands. The wall dives into a pond at one point to and cleverly pops back up on the side as if the pond was the afterthought. It truly is a great thing to admire as you walk along side of it.

During our stay, we visited family as we met up with aunts, uncles, and cousins that hadn’t been seen in a while. It was starting to sink in that we were finished. There were no long drives anymore. There were no new destinations. We had one short trip down to Jersey to make and then we were done. We had made it across the United States. We had seen the sun set on the Pacific and rise over the Atlantic. We did not want it to end.

This journey was far too great to be over and despite the times that were miserable, the trip on the whole is easily the best experience of my life thus far. It was through all of the talking with family and sharing stories and laughing, that this is what makes life worth living. The conversations that we held during our trip, no matter how in depth or simple they were, are how we came to judge a city. From the great kindness we found in Canada and Mississippi to the shrewdness of New Orleans, that is what we remember. Sure there are amazing and unique sights, but it was the friends, family, and strangers that we met along the way that are what makes traveling great. We also had each other. I couldn’t imagine doing this alone, and I am sure glad that I didn’t have to, because it was the best time of our lives.

After staying and talking with Gram and Pop, it was easy to see that they shared this same enthusiasm of traveling that we have. One of these days Jen and I will make it across this great country again…and again…and again just like they did and hopefully we come out of it with just as much love for each other as they have.

New Jersey

Despite our not wanting to leave New York, we had finally come to conclusion that no matter how much we didn’t want the trip to end, it needed to. We said our goodbyes and moved forth towards our last leg of the trip. So, we made our way to the freeway and headed down the Garden State Parkway.

As we drove over that final bridge onto Long Beach Island and the smell of the ocean was in the air. Grandma was waiting on the porch for us, just itching to dish out the hugs. What started with a shaky desert exit, ended with a smooth dive into the ocean waves.

Hey Ma, we made it.

Random Facts

None for now, as a complete retrospective of facts will arrive shortly.

What Is Wild, Wonderful, and For Lovers? (The Virginia's)

Virginia

The itinerary had us set to meet up with Jen’s friend Brandy and her family in West Virginia. After waking up in the nice Virginia rest stop, we decided that we needed to get some breakfast. On our way to find a restaurant, we drove through some of the thickest fog we have ever witnessed. The fog was so hard to see through that we tailed a truck and just followed it as best we could. After the fog thinned out a bit, we were reminded of the hunger in our bellies. As we drove the freeway, we could see the sign. We drove to one of the millions of Waffle Houses that we had seen on our trip. It was as if they were taunting us the whole time we were in the south with their bright yellow signs with black letters just waiting for us to come and eat. We finally succumbed to the pressure of eating at one and sat down at a table.

The place was decent enough and it was set up like a standard diner, with tables and a counter that you could also eat at. We got a small booth and looked over the menu. We ordered up and waited for our food. The whole system they had was very rudimentary as the waitresses/waiters would just recite the orders to the cook. To me this left a lot of room for error as the cook sort of just set up a plate to the order with certain cues that would let him know what went on that plate. They were definitely pros at it, because they got our order right, but it just seems like writing down the order and giving it to the cook, like they do in most all other restaurants would be easier. Long story short, the food was pretty good, and at a decent price.

West Virginia

We decided to take the scenic route through West Virginia for a couple of different reasons. For one, we had a good chunk of time to kill and another reason was that there were no tolls. It turns out that West Virginia is a very pretty state. Being in the Appalachian’s was nice scenery that was covered with green trees and mountains. The roads we drove were also covered with drivers that were insane.

The roads (not including freeways) in West Virginia are very narrow. They have room for maybe the exact width of two cars, which seemed like it was about only a car and a half wide. People also like drive really fast down the slim roads that are very curvy. It was hard enough to drive the road by ourselves let alone when an SUV is barreling towards you at easily fifteen to twenty miles an hour over the speed limit, especially when they are driving over the yellow dividing line in the street. So we drove the rest of the way to meet up with Brandy very cautiously.

Now I don’t want to offend people from West Virginia, because there were certainly some stand-up people who are awesome in the state, but if you have an idea of backwoods folks, chances are they live in West Virginia. People run the gamut from characters straight out of the blue collar comedy tour. I thought we would meet and see some crazy people in the south but it wasn’t until we came to West Virginia that we would see the real back country folk.

(Note: The preceding paragraph is for random people found amongst the whole state and is not directed towards the nice people of the family we stayed with. The unfriendly people may or may not be included though, as I am not sure who the people placing comments are. Please read them and comment for yourself as they are entertaining.)

Hunting is really big in these parts, and they hunt just about everything. We were given the know-how of this when we came into Brandy’s Grandmas house. It was a Sunday and on Sunday the family has a giant get together dinner. As we walked into the house, we were introduced to about twenty or so people, not including kids. The family was pretty much very welcoming and allowed us to come into the house as if we’d been there many times before. They treated us to a nice dinner that included some chicken, dumplings, biscuits, gravy, corn, and all sorts of good food home cooked food. We grabbed a plate and loaded up. When we were asked what we would like to drink I asked what they had, and they said pretty much anything, so I asked for a soda. Apparently in these parts it is not called soda, it is called pop. One guy decided to correct me a couple of times, to tell me that they don’t have no soda in the house. It was funny the first time, but the guy said it a couple of times, and that’s when I decided to keep my mouth shut. Eventually I was given a coke and we sat down to eat our dinner.

At dinner we met an uncle of Brandy’s that liked to share his stories of hunting. We spoke of eating our first buffalo burger and he one upped us and told us that we need to eat deer and a bear and then we’d be in business. I didn’t even know you could hunt bears, let alone eat them, but this dude swore upon it. It was at this time that we were treated to the term holler. Now, where I grew up holler meant that you were yelling and arguing hence the phrase “don’t holler at me” or “stop all that hollering.” In West Virginia it holds a whole different meaning.

A holler takes on many different things to many different people around here. It was even hard to get someone to actually define it for us. They all just kept speaking of it in phrases like “just head on down that holler over there until you get up the mountain” or “my holler has all sorts of wildlife in it.” I asked if that meant that it was a street or something of the likes and was given the reply of not necessarily. I was never given a definitive answer, but my speculation is that it is a road or valley that leads up into a mountain and in some cases it can be the backwoods of the mountain. That’s the best I can do.

After staying up and talking to Brandy and her boyfriend Oscar and some of her family it was time to call it a day and hit the bed. We were treated to a bed that unfortunately was on the adjacent room to the police scanner that ran constantly in the house. This was another oddity that popped up in many-a-places. Apparently most everyone owns and listens to the police scanner pretty much all the time. The scanner ran twenty four-seven and that made it fun to sleep through. Needless to say we woke up sporadically throughout the night to random domestic issues and neighborhood disturbances.

We made it through the night and were woken to the sound of what else but the scanner. Following the wake up call, Brandy’s Grandma whipped up a great breakfast that consisted of eggs, bacon, and biscuits and gravy. It was fantastic and was the second best biscuits and gravy I had ever eaten (first place goes to Brian Addeo’s aunt in California.) It was a great way to start off our morning which was going to lead us into a fun filled day. The two of us went on a voyage with Brandy and Oscar to explore the nearby West Virginia area.

Brandy’s uncle Eugene allowed us to borrow his car, since ours was packed and Brandy’s planned rental car had run into some hiccups. The four of us set out to visit two attractions. On our agenda were the West Virginia Mystery Hole and the New River Gorge Bridge. First up was the Mystery Hole which intrigued us by its amazing brochure that was so damn cheesy and campy that it was impossible not to go. The Mystery Hole was set up on a cliff side and it supposedly has special mysterious powers. We pulled up to the building that looked like an oversized shed and it had all sorts of nik-nacks all over it like a crashed VW bug into the side and some statues of Bigfoot and all sorts of wacky stuff. We went on inside and paid our six bucks and got on the tour. The tour guide was perfect as he knew the exact amount of chessiness to milk the tour for all of its worth. The whole Mystery hole was pretty much a glorified magic trick that played on your senses and fooled you into believing that chairs could float/rest on the wall with only two of its four legs and that water rolls uphill and a bunch of other things that defy science. (spoiler alert) In reality the room was just tilted and it was all an optical illusion. All in all it was somewhat entertaining and it led to a bunch of jokes at the Mystery Hole’s expense. I will let you use your imagination as to what they are.

The next stop on our trip was to see the New River Gorge Bridge, which is the largest arch bridge in America and the third largest in the world. The bridge is also the site of what is known as Bridge Day, which is when a bunch of skydivers and base jumpers jump off the bridge and glide down to the river below. The bridge was quite a spectacle as it was pretty damn gigantic and was very high from the river in the valley below. We took a decent hike down a crap load of stairs to see it from below out in the lookout area.

After getting some ice cream, we headed back to Eugene’s house. Eugene is a great guy. We sat around talking with him for a couple of hours. We talked about all sorts of things, like how the town is built on the coal industry and how he used to drive the trucks into the mines. The coal industry is pretty nuts, especially given how dangerous it all is. It’s so dangerous that Eugene, the man who bow-hunts and even hunts bear, says it’s too dangerous and quit working it as soon as he could. He was filled with all sorts of stories and interesting takes on things, especially since he comes from somewhere so different from where we are from. We talked way beyond sundown and before we knew it was almost ten o’ clock. We had a good time with Brandy, Oscar, Eugene, and family, but it was time to move on out. We had a full day ahead of us and a strict time schedule to keep to.

Random Facts

Definitions of Holler Given = at least 5

Domestic Disturbances on the Scanner = 4

Crazy Drivers in West Virginia = all residents

The Palmetto State, South Carolina

Charleston, SC

The temperature was already borderline unbearable when we got to Charleston, and it was still before noon. Much of the things that we wanted to do around the town came with a hefty price tag. We wanted to do a plantation tour but they were all around twenty five dollars and up. The other point of interest was Fort Sumter, which was free, but the catch was that you needed to pay thirty bucks for a ferry to take you there. So, in the spirit of conserving our money we decided to drive through the historic district and head down to the waterfront..

The drive through the historic part of Charleston was a real treat. There were plenty of amazing buildings that dated way back in time to the civil war era. The houses ranged from small one family homes, to huge mansions that sprawled right out of the cityscape. We walked around the park for a bit and took in the sights. We came across a very cool looking bird in the park. He was all alone and seemed like he might have been fairly young. He was playing around with a nut or something. It was quite a handsome bird that looked as if it came from prehistoric times. To me the resemblance to the dinosaur times was uncanny.

It was now creeping closer to noon and the heat kept bringing it to the point where it was just damn uncomfortable to be outside. If the high temperature wasn’t enough, a storm was brewing and rain looked not too far off. We decided to go to the movies, and remembered that Scott Pilgrim had just been released. We checked movie times and decided on a time. We then had an hour or so to kill, so we were on the look out for a thrift store. We found one that was over the bridge and we went shopping.

The store wasn’t much of a great thrift shop, but we did find some cool stuff. Some stuff was neat, but fairy impractical for us to take with us, and some things were really cool and were able to join us on our voyage. We found a couple of mugs that were pretty sweet. We got a sweet Mississippi mug that had a decal of the state on it and the mug itself was shaped and colored like a wood barrel. Jen found an awesome Philadelphia mug that has the state building and liberty bell etched into the sides. It is pretty awesome especially since it’s not just printed on the mug. We paid for our goods and headed to the theater.

In our regular fashion we planned out our movie theater experience so that we could see Scott Pilgrim and then cruise over and watch The Kids Are All Right. First up was Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and it was pretty damn good. Both of us are big fans of the comic and the movie did it pretty good justice. It was different at times, but due to the different mediums it made sense that they changed the things that they changed. It was everything that you can ask for in an entertaining movie. It had action, comedy, romance, subspace, and ridiculous video game inspired graphics and fighting. It was great. Following the movie we walked over to the other theater and sat down to watch The Kids Are All Right. It had the makings of a good movie with Annette Benning, Mark Ruffalo, and Julianne Moore starring in the film and an interesting plot. All in all it was pretty decent. We had a good day at the movies and when we walked out of the theater it looked like armageddon was approaching.

The sky was dark and there was a light rain coming down, which only got worse as we proceeded further. It rained and rained all the way up until we found a campground at the Frances Marion National Forest, where it rained some more. We plotted a campground that had a spot under a tree to protect from the rain and headed to the bulletin board to pay for it. As we paid for it the camp host decided to show his lovely face. This guy was straight hillbilly, as he came out of his RV with shorts, hat and no shirt. He explained to us that all the sites were reserved. We called his bullshit and told him that there were three tent sites without any reservation posted on them, to which he was taken aback since we obviously knew what we were talking about. He then looked at his clipboard or something and said that it was okay. The only explanation for him telling us there were no sites was for his own benefit of him not having to do any more work than he needed to, as if being a camp host isn’t easy enough. The guy gets paid to camp in an RV and has to basically just keep it running.

Following our encounter with the camp host we went to the campsite and set up the tent in the rain, which at that time was more of a mist. With the cooler temperatures brought in by the rain it was a much nicer camping experience than the last bunch that we had, despite still being fairly humid out. We woke up from a good night’s sleep and made some oatmeal for breakfast. It was at this time that the camp host decided to make his rounds. He called us rednecks to the people that camped out next to us, and I’m not too sure if he was joking or not, considering just how clueless this guy was. He then proceeded to let us know that we could stay another night if wanted and we told him we needed to get back on the road. We finished eating and after a quick shower we made our way up to Myrtle Beach.

Myrtle Beach, SC

We made it to Myrtle Beach and the weather was not in our favor. It was raining on and off and grey skies covered the city. We were due for an oil change, so it seemed like it was a good enough time to see if we could wait out the weather. We dropped the car off at Wal-Mart and took a walk over to Costco to grab a hot dog for lunch. We killed about an hour and a half and we checked in on the car. The guy behind the counter said that the tires had been rotated and that they were waiting on the oil change. Figuring that it shouldn’t take that much longer we walked around Wal-Mart for a little bit. After about another half hour or so we went back to check on the car, and it was still not in view. I asked the guy again and he said they were still waiting. We then went to sit in the waiting room, which had Spaceballs playing on the TV, so that was a bonus.

Car after car went through the bay and yet ours was not one of them. We finally went back up to the counter and asked about the car. The guy told us the same thing and it was at this point that we noticed an invoice on the table that was for our car. On the invoice were the words unable to complete. We picked it up and noticed that it had been printed out well over an hour prior. It goes without saying that we were pissed. We had been waiting around for at least an hour and a half because they couldn’t find the specs to complete our oil change. Wal-Mart had completed about 5 different oil changes on our car all in different locations without any problems before, but somehow this shop managed to screw it up.

Jen was really heated about this and as we got to our car we noticed the icing on the cake as an empty Gatorade bottle was left on the passenger seat. This prompted her to call up the customer service number. While she was chewing some people out I drove us to the beach, because is there isn’t a much better way to ease frustration than the beach. When we parked at the beach we received a call from the manager of the auto department and the guy told us that we could bring the car back and that they would complete our oil change free of charge. Jen let him know that we had just arrived at the beach and that we would be up there in about an hour or so. Things were starting to turn in our favor. The weather had cleared up a bit as there was no more rain. The beach was great, the water was nice, and we had a free oil change coming our way. We sat around at the beach for a little while and then cruised back to Wal-Mart where we were shuffled to the front of the line and were out of there in under a half hour.

The plan after the oil change was to drive as far as we could, so we could put a decent enough dent in the trek towards West Virginia where we would be meeting friends. On our way, we saw billboards, much like the Wall Drug signs in South Dakota, for a place called Sparky’s. Sparky’s only wishes that it were Wall Drug, because it was pretty much a bust. There was a lot of crap in the store and over all it was built up far too much, where as Wall Drug was justifiably built up, because of how crazy of a place it was. We then hit the road again and crossed into North Carolina and then into Virginia, where we would be spending the night at one of the nicest rest stops we had seen on the whole trip.

Random Facts

Oil Changes = 3

Free Oil Changes = 1

Movies Seen At Theaters = 5

Movies Paid For In Theaters = 2

Oh Savannah, Oh Don't You Cry For Me. (Savannah, GA)

Savannah, GA

The road to Savannah, Georgia was filled with green surroundings and farms. There were quite a few peach and other fruit farms along with a couple of nut farms. We ended up stopping at one of the street side markets to sample one of the peaches for which Georgia is so famous for. The roadside market turned into a peach supermarket that came complete with an ice cream stand amongst other things. The market was also connected to the warehouse, which unfortunately was closed and therefore not available for tours. We bought a couple of peaches and continued on our way.

Savannah was a nice little town that had a lot of historic houses and buildings to look at. There were many trees threaded with Spanish moss that covered over the roads. The town was very laid back and had a decent amount of things going on. We drove around for a bit and decided that we would take the highway towards the coast to which there was a fort that you could visit. With our luck, we made it to the fort and it was closed. We turned around and pressed towards the ocean and the much publicized Tybee Island.

Jen didn’t want to put her bathing suit on, but I couldn’t have been more the opposite. I dropped trough behind the wagon and threw my suit on so I could get in that great salty water. I was adamant about getting in the ocean, as this was the first time we had actually made it to the great Atlantic. We made it to the gulf, which was very nice, but it is nothing compared to the Atlantic Ocean. It is like the Pacific only better, because you can actually swim in it and not freeze your balls off, which is nice. We walked over the dunes and there she was in all her greatness.

The water was everything I remembered and then some. The water was a good temperature that was easily around seventy eight degrees or so. That is right around that perfect temperature where it’s refreshing and at the same time very comfortable. The Tybee Island Lighthouse was near the beach we went to and it sported the classic lower south Atlantic lighthouse style of black and white, ala much of the Carolina’s sport so fashionably. The only bummer was that the sun was going down and made for a poor picture of the lighthouse, which really isn’t much of a bummer because it was still a sunset. We sat around on the beach for a bit until our stomachs started to remind us that we need food to survive.

We drove back through the Tybee Island town, which was very interesting setup for a beach town. It was similar to the Jersey Shore at the ocean front houses, but when we were inland, the houses liked to remind us that we were very much in the south, by having very bayou like houses and setups with the draping trees in the surrounding. It was very different from any other beach area I’d been to, which was a nice surprise. Tybee Island was definitely a place that would be fun to spend a couple days on the beach exploring the island, especially since they are supposed to have a great dolphin congregation in the area.

We made back into Savannah with the intention of eating some pizza. The last time we had pizza was in Chicago and we were aching for some. We drove around and found a place that had a pretty sweet special that supplied us with two slices and a drink for three bucks. Now with a deal like this, the pizza has to be fairly crappy, right? Right. Well, it wasn’t necessarily crappy, but just rather bland. But hey, for three bucks you can’t really complain too much.

Following our pizza we drove across the very cool looking bridge that would bring us into South Carolina. Our next big stop was in Charleston, SC which we planned to hit the next day, so we had to find a place to stay. We did a little research and found a couple of campgrounds and settled on a cheap one with showers, because why spend a bunch of money on a campsite that’s going to be hot and probably uncomfortable no matter where or how much it is.

Arriving at the “campground” was quite a quest. The directions given to us by the owner were that when we arrived at a certain gas station it would be on the opposite side of the road and that there would be two lights at the opening for the road. Thinking that we were going to get lost, we prepared and both had our eyes peeled as we entered the town. Surprisingly, it was fairly easy to find. We made it into the “campground” and followed the rest of the directions which consisted of driving down the road until we saw the bathhouse and setting up our tent anywhere in the grass around there. So we meandered our way through the “campground” until we found the bathhouse. You may be asking yourself “What’s the deal with the quotes around the word campground?” To answer your question, they are necessary because the campground was much more of a trailer park than a campground. The trailers that were parked there were definitely not moving anytime soon and it looked as if they hadn’t moved since the 90’s, at least. This mattered little to us, other than the fact that we just felt really weird about pitching a tent in a random patch of grass, but we did just what the guy said and set up.

The one thing that was redeeming about the “campground” was that it had showers, and they were surprisingly kept up very well. It’s amazing how a nice shower can change your attitude the morning after a hot and sticky nights sleep. We showered up and drove across the street to pay our bill. Jen was driving and I tried to convince her to skip on the bill, because it was just so damn weird. We had to go the gas station across the street to pay for the site. I had told her to just drive by and no one would ever know, and she did. However, she turned the wrong way on the highway and we had to drive back the other way. She then pulled into the gas station so that we could pay for the site, because she said she couldn’t drive by it and not pay. Ridiculous.

The gas station was just as crazy as the “campground.” It was part convenience store, part boot and shoe store, part hardware store, part hunting store, and part woodcarving headquarters. They even had a sweet stuffed Lynx, or some variety of small wild cat, that was posed in the position of catching a stuffed bird. It was amazing. We told the lady at the counter that we needed to pay for our campsite and she looked very surprised as if she had never heard of such a thing. After about ten minutes of her doing everything but taking care of us, she came back to the counter and pulled out a huge handwritten receipt book. We paid our bill and left the crazy gas station in a cloud of dust.

Random Facts

Dead Armadillos since Mississippi = 36

Alive Armadillos since Mississippi =1

Horror Movie Campgrounds = 3

Nights Spent Camping in the Tent = 23

Nights of Columbus, GA

Columbus, GA

I wasn’t exactly sure how our trip to visit my Great Aunt Joan (My dad’s aunt) was going to turn out. I couldn’t even remember the last time that I had come in contact with her. She had married my grandpa’s brother, who was a priest for a good amount of twenty or thirty years, and she herself had been a former nun. Long story short, they left they felt the need to explore other options for their lives and ended up together and lived happily ever after. Now, with the two of us not being religious, I had been a little nervous about showing up to her house. However, my dad and grandma reassured us that everything would be alright, so we traveled away and made our way to her house.

All of our nerves and doubt had been slowly erasing from talking on the phone with her to let her know when we would be arriving, and it was all erased when we pulled into the driveway. She came out to greet us with wide open arms, as if it we had known each other for our whole lives. This was very reassuring. She welcomed us in and treated us to a nice spaghetti and meatball dinner. This was the icing on the cake.

I’m going to drop the “Great” from Aunt Joan’s surname not because she isn’t great, but because she is not “Great Aunt” material. She is still holding onto her youth and working and living a good life, besides she is better than great, she’s fantastic. We sat around talking through the night, which we ended up feeling kind of bad about, since she had just started back up at work that week, for the school district. We talked and talked about everything from the trip to family and such and before we knew it, the time had passed to almost midnight. She said it was not a bother, and although we had a good time talking we were mighty tired as well. Plus, we had the comfort of a nice bed to sleep in with air conditioning, which was a great welcome from camping out in the southern heat.

We had taken that first day after arriving to sort things out and relax a bit. It was much needed as we were roughly a month and a half strong into our travels. We went over our various options of routes and came up with figures relating to cost of each route and so forth. Coming out of New Orleans we were seriously contemplating heading straight up the eastern seaboard that would put an end to the trip in roughly three days. After going over the numbers and sleeping a good night’s sleep in a bed, we decided that we had enough in our tank to make it through our original route. In fact the whole stop in Columbus was a great recharge that would be key to our surviving the rest of the way.

When Joan came home from work she took us on a tour through the town. She took us down to the riverfront and showed us all of old town along with some of the museums and other local hotspots. We drove through old neighborhoods and looked at houses that had been there for over a hundred years. It was all very nice and we had planned to explore a little more on our own the next day. After going around town, we ended up at the restaurant where her son Noel (hope the spelling is correct) worked. The restaurant was a nice Italian place that had splendid food. I had a nice dish of chicken parmigiana, for which I had neglected to eat for far too long. Aunt Joan was really spoiling us. We had gone from eating PB and J’s to fancy Italian restaurants in two days flat. We could really get used to this. Did I mention we were sleeping in a bed with air conditioning? We were contemplating giving up the rest of the voyage and just dropping anchor with Aunt Joan.

The next day we had made those plans to explore the city more and visit some of the museums, but we just couldn’t kick ourselves into gear. No matter how hard we tried, sitting around and relaxing was just way too easy. It had been a long time since we had sat around and did nothing and I think we earned it. When Aunt Joan came home from work, we were spoiled by another dinner out on the town. This time it was some good old barbeque. The dinner was great as well, as we ate until our stomachs nearly exploded. Once again we were being spoiled into comfort and this further inclined us to just stick around in Georgia.

Through talking with Aunt Joan there were surprises around every corner. She had great stories about my grandparents and especially my grandpa and his family. She listened to quite a bit of NPR which was a good common ground for which we had many a conversation about, especially since this was our main source of news. Aunt Joan also had an interesting taste in music that included none other than Lady Gaga and Coldplay. She really is quite a lady. She also had a spectacular collection of old family photos.

There were photos of my grandpa when he was so young, it was amazing. It was also nice to see so much of his family in the photos, of which I had not seen or met many of. The real topper of everything that Aunt Joan had was a recording that she had made of my grandpa’s brother and sister, Brother (nickname, for his real name is Phil) and Margie, telling stories of their youth growing up in New York. Most of the storytelling was done by Margie, who is a fantastic character and great storyteller. Aunt Joan got the great idea to stick a tape recorder on the table while Margie was telling stories to the kids, all the while, dishes are being washed in the background and laughter is all recorded, it truly was an amazing thing. For me to paraphrase these stories would be doing an injustice because it really is something amazing. (When I can get a good recording I will make an mp3 of the file and add it to the post.)

When we were finished listening to the near hour’s worth of story, we sat in awe of everything that just invaded our eardrums. The only word that came to mind was, wow. This is the history that seems to be lost on our generation. Sure, we can sit around and bullshit with friends and family telling “remember when” stories, but to have concrete evidence of generations removed telling it with their own voices, was something marvelous. It was truly one of the best things I had experienced on the trip and I never would have expected to find it in Columbus, Georgia.

I could tell that Aunt Joan had some difficulty listening to the recording and she told us afterwards that it was hard for a long time for her to listen to it, because Uncle Brother’s voice was on it. You see, Uncle Brother passed away a couple years ago, and you can tell how much she loves and misses him by the way she speaks of him. She spoke nothing but the best about him and of all the things that they did together. Every word that came out of her mouth about her husband was filled with echoes of love buried deep within them. I really wish I could have met the man that she loves so much.

The stop in Columbus was truly a great stop. We can’t thank Aunt Joan enough for opening up her house to us as if we were her own children. Visiting her was truly one of the best things on the trip and hopefully it will happen much more often in the future.

Random Facts

Days We Spent Relaxing = 3

Number of Old Dudes We Saw Cleaning Their Shotguns on the Porch = 1

Aunt Joan is Awesome