Day 8: June 5, 2006 Charleston to Raleigh/Durham

(Day 7, or start from Day 1)

Day 8: June 5, 2006

We slept in the van last night. Not bad at all considering we have a full-size futon with a down comforter in the back of the van. We put all of our luggage in the front seats and were able to surprisingly be quite comfortable.

We woke up in an unusual way, though. At about 7:45 a.m. Tom Reed decided he would wake us up and scare us out of our minds by knocking loudly on the van window and yelling our names, as "on guard" as you have to be while sleeping in a car in a strange place...this scared the bejebus out of us. Tom just wanted to tell us that his wife left and that if we wanted to come inside and take a shower, we could.

Ford accepted the invite inside and has some good stories about the weirdness of Tom's house...I went down to the beach and sat watching the waves for awhile until it was time to go.

(I know I posted this photo of Ford, Tom and I yesterday but I thought it was so good I needed to do it again)

After we left Tom's house, we found a small diner to eat breakfast in Charleston's and then went to the Charleston Library to use the computers to E-mail, MySpace, all the essentials.

Back on the road we went. Driving up through South Carolina and into North Carolina was so gorgeous.

We headed to a friend of ours that we knew that used to live in Oklahoma City, Rob Yanovitch, or just "Yano".

(Us with Yano)
It had been a year or so since I had seen him so it was great to catch up again. He lives really close to the UNC campus and he took us there and we walked around for a bit and then ate dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, Yano bought dinner. You're the man, Yano.

Afterwards we headed back to his house to begin Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. We are not big NHL fans but the hometown Carolina Hurricanes were playing for the championships so that actually made it quite exciting. They were playing the storied Edmonton Oilers. After being down 3-0, the 'Canes came back and won 5-4! It was a great game to watch.

After that, we turned on some Seinfeld and fell asleep in a bed...not a van. Great day. Day 8, over.

(Day 9)

Day 7, June 4, 2006 Jacksonville to Charleston, SC

(Day 6, or start from Day 1)

Day 7, June 4, 2006

All I have heard about Charleston, South Carolina is how pretty it is this time of year...the rumor is true. Flowers are everywhere. Weather is beautiful, and there's a festival going on in downtown, life is good in Charleston.

Sleeping in the van tonight became a reality, but let's back up so you'll know exactly why we parked the van at a beach we had never heard of in front of an eccentric old man's house we didn't know...

As we arrived into Charleston, we found that the Spoleto Festival was going on which brought LOTS of people to the city center. Ford is actually wearing a shirt of Charleston that he picked up at a thrift store in OKC....after asking people to look at his shirt and point us to where the photo was taken, we finally found it and took some video (The photo I inserted of the church, St. Michael's is the one used on his shirt).

After we went through the church and checked out the centuries-old cemetery next to it, we headed back to the festival.

For those that don't know Ford, I'm going to try and describe him...he's very unique. He has the kind of personality that draws people in. When he just starts randomly talking to people, other people join in and start conversations. Having someone like him on a trip of this magnitude is great because if we're walking around looking for something to do or wanting to talk to locals, Ford just strikes up conversations and people are captivated...this was very evident in South Carolina.

Because of Ford's willingness to strike up big conversations with any random person, we got the opportunity to meet Tom Reed. Tom is man in his 70's with long grey hair. He graduated from Juliard and lives out on Folly Beach. He jogs an hour every day before heading to his family-run business tailoring clothes.

When Tom heard that we were traveling around the country he told us which restaurant/bar we should eat dinner at and then told us to head out to his house on Folly Beach which was across one of the inlets near Charleston.

At the restaurant, we experienced what it was like to actually talk to complete strangers about our impending trip. We discovered that when we started talking about the trip, more people joined the conversation and we all had a good time...and we left that restaurant with bellies full and not a dime spent. "Good people" is hard to come by.

Heading over the bridge and looking for Tom's house was a fun 15-min trip. The entire island is about two street wide and a half mile long with a gorgeous picturesque lighthouse about 100 yards out from land.

We walked around the beach for awhile and then headed over to Tom's. When we got there it was already dark. Tom said his wife didn't want us sleeping at the house but we could sleep in their driveway. :) Well, since we were already there, he brought us out a beer and we sat in his porch swings and talked...for about 2.5 hours. Thank you, Tom. It was a great day.

(Day 8)