Travel Journal

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="002285a1erlcgo.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>www.chapmansfriend.com</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="default.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.chapmansfriend.com"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="001d2c00dkelyh.gif"> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Traveling Man"><U>Traveling Man</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marky Went Down To Georgia"><U>Marky Went Down To Georgia</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pictures"><U>Pictures</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I><B>Travel Journal</B></I></div> <div> 6:38 AM </div> <div> August 7</div> <div> Midway Airport</div> <bR> <div> Just sitting here at the airport, awaiting the inevitable flight delay... It's supposed to be a 8:17 AM departure.</div> <bR> <div> <B>11:52 PM</B></div> <div> <B>August 7</B></div> <div> <B>Kannapolis, NC</B></div> <bR> <div> It turns out that the flight was on time and even early landing, but all that time was given back waiting for the shuttle to the rental car place. Heh.Actually, the deplaning consisted of walking down a set of stairs onto the tarmac. I felt like the president, except that... ah, go ahead and make up your own joke!</div> <bR> <div> After getting the car, I wanted to start out toward my planned destinations (I hope to be able to see a few things in Atlanta before my flight on Friday), but it was time for lunch... at <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="http://www.thevarsity.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.thevarsity.com/"><U>The Varsity.</U></A></FONT> Largest drive-in in the world!</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" >I'm headed toward the Outer Banks on Tuesday, so I drove northeast, detouring to see the </FONT><A HREF="http://www.cmgworldwide.com/baseball/cobb/index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.cmgworldwide.com/baseball/cob"><U>Ty Cobb</U></A> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" >grave in </FONT><A HREF="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=210" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi"><U>Royston, GA</U></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" > just off the interstate. See, there are graves to see even after running out of presidential ones. I could joke that I went there to see if the SOB was really dead, but that would be unkind. Cobb does stand at a strange nexus-- a bigger asshole than any other great player, and a better player than any other asshole that ever played the game.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> The rest of the day consisted of cutting through South Carolina into North Carolina, just past Charlotte. Counting NC, SC, and Georgia, that's 3 new states visited in a single day... the first time I've done that since Day 2 of my (with Tom Carter) Route 66 trip in 1985-- Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. Yes, I love arcane facts, why do you ask?</div> <bR> <div> It only occurred to me after I started on this route that I am conducting a kind of Marquette 1977 Championship tribute... Starting in Atlanta (where the championship was won), proceeding through Belmont, NC, home of Belmont Abbey (Al McGuire's first coaching job, I think), past Charlotte (location of the school we beat in the semis), and, if plans go right tomorrow, to Chapel Hill, the location of the school we beat in the title game. Ring out ahoya!</div> <bR> <div> On the other hand, I'm in the middle of NASCAR country here and I'm clueless about any of it...</div> <bR> <div> On to Hatteras country tomorrow...</div> <bR> <div> <B>August 8</B></div> <div> <B>Kill Devil Hills, NC</B></div> <bR> <div> Actually updating this the morning of the 9th, getting ready to leave... Yesterday started out just north of Charlotte, and I had wanted to check out the Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill campuses on the way to the coast. Maybe if I dropped in at Duke, I could find J.J. Redick and kick his smarmy ass. Heh. I did eventually find Duke, but it's pretty spead out, and I couldn't find very many notable landmarks. It took a while to get around Durham, so there wasn't time to check out Chapel Hill either. Oh well. I also, in the course of driving around Durham, stumbled across the Durham Bulls' park, but it's not the same one as in the movie-- it's a retro-modern one. A shame... Wouldn't you think <I>that </I>park would be one to keep, just to keep capitalizing on the movie?</div> <bR> <div> From Durham, it was time to head to the coast, passing through Raleigh and past the arena where the Oilers lost the Cup. Boo. </div> <bR> <div> Late afternoon, and I wasat the coast. I headed south along the Cape Hatteras shoreline to the old lighthouse, climbed up the lighthouse, hung around the beach area for a few minutes, then headed back to Kill Devil Hills in the north. I spent a little time on the beach here too-- it's kinda peaceful at night. And this morning, I got up to see the sunrise. Yes, the sun rises in Illinois too, but not over an ocean :)</div> <bR> <div> Before leaving today, I'll go to the Wright Brothers' historic site, then continue on...</div> <bR> <div> <B>11:22 PM</B></div> <div> <B>August 9</B></div> <div> <B>Charleston, SC</B></div> <bR> <div> After seeing the Wright Brothers site this morning, the rest of the day was spent driving, driving, driving. The idea was to get to Charleston and Fort Sumter today, but it's difficult to get quickly from the Outer Banks to Charleston because of the way the highways are laid out-- instead of going directly down the coast, you have to go inland to pick up the interstates. So The <I>new </I>plan is to see Fort Sumter in the morning and then proceed toward Savannah...</div> <bR> <div> <B>11:47 PM</B></div> <div> <B>August 10</B></div> <div> <B>Perry, GA</B></div> <bR> <div> Last night of the trip, and it's going to be a busy day tomorrow. But first...</div> <bR> <div> Went to Fort Sumter in Charleston today, though it took longer than I'd hoped. The boats going out to the fort don't leave on a very frequent schedule, so missing the first one meant pushing the trip back over an hour. It was a half hour out and back, with an hour on the fort. I've now seen nearly all of the major Civil War sites, with the exception of Vicksburg and Chicamauga. Maybe Andersonville also, which is fairly close to where I am now, but which I won't be able to see tomorrow.</div> <bR> <div> Before the trip to the fort, I spent a few minutes walking around Charleston (I'd also driven through some of the historic sections earlier). I might have stayed a while after seeing Sumter, but I had wanted to get to Savannah to see that city too, and I'm glad I did. I got there late in the afternoon, and was there a very short time, but I liked what I saw. I wondered whether being called "America's most beautiful city" by snooty Europeans might prepare me for a letdown, but Savannah was ridiculously pleasant to stroll through. I eventually parked near one of the many squares and walked through the neighborhoods. Maybe another visit in the future? And from what I saw in <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119668/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119668/"><U>this movie</U></A></FONT> it has a nightlife too... not talking about Lady Chablis, though!</div> <bR> <div> After Savannah, I tried to get close enough to start on tomorrow's sights as soon as possible. Hopefully Plains and Warm Springs will be seen tomorrow. </div> <bR> <div> Now, I have to get busy. Apparently I have a bottle of shampoo to throw away...</div> <bR> <div> <B>4:58 PM</B></div> <div> <B>August 11</B></div> <div> <B>Atlanta Airport</B></div> <bR> <div> Sitting in the airport, waiting. As of now my flight is listed as on time, but there seem to be a lot of delays, so it could still end up being late...</div> <bR> <div> With the new security rules and stories of longer lines, I needed to get to the airport earlier than I'd planned, and if I wanted to complete all the stops I wanted, I'd have to be more efficient than usual today. Amazingly, I think I did it!</div> <bR> <div> Starting in Perry this morning, I needed to leave early enough to be in Plains at around 9 AM... I got to Plains a little earlier than 9, and walked up and down the main street (it doesn't take long!) before checking out the main visitors' center. It's all there from my 70's memories-- the old depot campaign headquarters, Billy's old gas staion (closed down now), ect... I was able to cover Plains thoroughly in about an hour. One of the things about Plains that impressed me the most was a little thing-- the roads leading into and out of town are all still small two-lane roads. No massive pork-barrel spending to upgrade them for the President's hometown, as opposed to, say, the big 4-lane heading into and away from the LBJ ranch :)</div> <bR> <div> From Plains, it's about 70 miles north to Warm Springs, FDR's home. It's a pretty small home, comparatively, and it's been kept pretty much as it was in the 40's when FDR died there. There are even scratch marks still on the windows from Fala's paws. Heh.</div> <bR> <div> There was just enough time to get to one more stop-- back to Atlanta to the M.L. King center. I didn't have a lot of time here, but it's a compact area, so it wasn't hard to see the King tomb, Ebenezer Baptist, and some of the surrounding neighborhood. Then, on to dropping off the rental car (nearly 1800 miles' worth of driving!), and here to the airport, where I'm currently waiting.</div> <bR> <div> All in all, not a bad few days. I made every sight I had on my "A" list, and only the "If I Have Enough Time" sights were left unseen-- I knew I'd have to have everything go right to be able to get to Montgomery, for example, so I can't be too disappointed at not making it there. Sometimes it seemed like there wasn't enough of a "theme" to the travels, ceratinly not compared to my presidential-graves tours. But I did see a part of the country for the first time, saw a bunch of interesting things, and anyway it's always good to be out on a roadtrip!</div> </td> </tr></table></body>