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
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