Number 43
I had a different idea about this road trip before I took it than I have now. To some extent I guess that can be said about any trip, but this one in particular has been a surprise. I thought it would be a matter of completing the Southeast in my quest to put a checkmark next to every state that I've visited. But it turns out that I've discovered some things about the South that aren't so easy to just check off a list. The Florida panhandle contains some of those things -- the pure white sand beaches, the pine and palm trees, the vast vistas of the Gulf of Mexico -- compelling enough to make me want to drive through again on my way back home. Then heading North into the marshes and swamps creates another feeling entirely that's hard to put into words.
I first started to think about the low country of the Carolinas thanks to the writings of Pat Conroy and the movies made from them. You've probably heard of at least one of the ones I've seen: Conrack, The Great Santini, and The Prince of Tides. He wasn't famous enough for me to have heard that he died in 2016, but I felt his presence in my life over a long period of time, so it is now that I take a moment to mourn the person who let me see a different side to a hot, humid inter-coastal region where tides reign.
I may try to convey the feeling of being in the marshes and swamps in a later installment. If I try to do it now, I will never get this written and published and I already have another day's travels in my memory banks in need of recording. By the end of today, it will be two days' worth.
I'll just say that I told myself that dipping into Northeast South Carolina on this trip would be a matter of checking that state off my list, not adding another destination that I wish to explore further in the future. But it is clear that I only got the tiniest glimmer of what the region has to offer. I'll also say that it may not be an accident that I have no good photos. Perhaps I was too busy just being there to take pictures. The one I do have that is clear enough to use here is one I took to try to capture the bridge over the Savannah River on my return to Georgia. It's taken in South Carolina, and Georgia is on the other side of the bridge.
In case you have trouble picking out the bridge, here's the full size image cropped down to show the bridge as clearly as possible:
I've now visited 43 states plus the District of Columbia. I was under the impression that would complete all the states East of the Mississippi River, but now I see that's not true. Wisconsin is also East of the Mississippi River and I have not been there. However, six of the remaining seven states are clumped together (the seventh is Alaska). So it is time to retrain myself to say that I've visited all of the states except the Upper Midwest Clump (UMC) and Alaska. The UMC consists of: Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa.
Oh, and if you go to Hilton Head Island, be forewarned that your navigation software may not provide the level of detailed instructions that you're used to. Heading onto the island, I was given no advice about which lane to be in, and I wound up on a toll road taking me to a different part of the island than I was trying to get to. Not only did I take a wrong turn, but I got fined $2 for it. 😎
I first started to think about the low country of the Carolinas thanks to the writings of Pat Conroy and the movies made from them. You've probably heard of at least one of the ones I've seen: Conrack, The Great Santini, and The Prince of Tides. He wasn't famous enough for me to have heard that he died in 2016, but I felt his presence in my life over a long period of time, so it is now that I take a moment to mourn the person who let me see a different side to a hot, humid inter-coastal region where tides reign.
I may try to convey the feeling of being in the marshes and swamps in a later installment. If I try to do it now, I will never get this written and published and I already have another day's travels in my memory banks in need of recording. By the end of today, it will be two days' worth.
I'll just say that I told myself that dipping into Northeast South Carolina on this trip would be a matter of checking that state off my list, not adding another destination that I wish to explore further in the future. But it is clear that I only got the tiniest glimmer of what the region has to offer. I'll also say that it may not be an accident that I have no good photos. Perhaps I was too busy just being there to take pictures. The one I do have that is clear enough to use here is one I took to try to capture the bridge over the Savannah River on my return to Georgia. It's taken in South Carolina, and Georgia is on the other side of the bridge.
In case you have trouble picking out the bridge, here's the full size image cropped down to show the bridge as clearly as possible:
I've now visited 43 states plus the District of Columbia. I was under the impression that would complete all the states East of the Mississippi River, but now I see that's not true. Wisconsin is also East of the Mississippi River and I have not been there. However, six of the remaining seven states are clumped together (the seventh is Alaska). So it is time to retrain myself to say that I've visited all of the states except the Upper Midwest Clump (UMC) and Alaska. The UMC consists of: Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa.
Oh, and if you go to Hilton Head Island, be forewarned that your navigation software may not provide the level of detailed instructions that you're used to. Heading onto the island, I was given no advice about which lane to be in, and I wound up on a toll road taking me to a different part of the island than I was trying to get to. Not only did I take a wrong turn, but I got fined $2 for it. 😎
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