Wrightsville Beach, NC to Charleston, SC

Friday I drove from Wrightsville Beach, NC to Charleston, SC - another 178 miles on my trip.

I signed up for a surf lesson with the people at Surf Camp and met Brendon, my instructor, at 7:45am. Check their website out WB Surf Camp.
The lesson was great, I learned about rip currents and a better way to "pop up". While I love my teachers in Long Beach, NY, my main teacher runs the lessons a little like surf military camp, lots of "paddle like you mean it!!!" gets yelled in the ocean. It's cool anyway and kind of funny. One of the things I really liked about my lesson with Brendon was his easy going nature and encouragement. It was actually really funny, before we got into the water he tells me "I'm gonna yell at you in the water a bit, because otherwise you won't hear me, but I'm not really yelling. Ok?" Very charming, as I am used to trying my instructors patience and getting yelled at quite a bit.

It was a great way to start the day, being outside, in the ocean, catching some waves, learning new things, chilling and talking (also nice when your surf instructor is a nice guy and a hot one to boot!).

So after checking out, I hung out in a cool internet cafe and eventually moved on and got some lunch.

Wrightsville Beach seems like a cool and relaxed beach town where people are friendly and ride around on their bikes and seem to have a laid back approach to living. However it was time to move on and head to Charleston.

I drove along the Atlantic coast line on I17 South.

I17 was a weird stretch of road. There were lots of pawn shops, fireworks shops, strip clubs and trailer parks along the way. I drove through Myrtle Beach, which was apparently holding a bike week and I don't mean bicycles. I was literally surrounded by a pack of bikers at one point, they were in front of me, next to me and behind me.

I don't think I have ever seen so many Harleys and handlebar mustaches at one time. Here is a picture but it really does not do the situation justice. Personally I do not understand the appeal of Myrtle Beach, maybe it's nice along the ocean but I17 was riddled with neon and weird stores. Not my thing at all.

I kept driving on I17, I drove through beautiful desolate parts of "Lowcountry", which essentially runs from parts of North Carolina to parts of Georgia, where the land is actually below sea level. I passed a number of big plantations and felt that the whole area has a spooky vibe to it.

Finally I made it to the outskirts of Charleston and crossed the Cooper River Bridge. I have a bit of a fascination with bridges, I find them to be both engineering and artistic masterpieces. The Cooper River Bridge is no exception, it is the longest cable stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere. It is seriously gorgeous and left me truly astounded. You can read more about it here http://www.cooperriverbridge.org/.

Brooklyn, NY to Wrightsville Beach, NC

Well I drove 618 miles yesterday. I left home at 7:30 in the morning and some will attest to the fact that I am not a morning person. At all. I do enjoy my sleep quite a bit.

I drove across the Verazzano Bridge, through Staten Island, all the way through New Jersey with the truckers running the Northeast corridor, across the Delaware Memorial Bridge, across Key Bridge (which is my favorite way to circumvent Baltimore - I do not like the harbor tunnel). The sun finally peeked through the clouds in Baltimore. I waved at the National Monuments as I bypassed Washington DC, and drove all the way to Ashland, Virginia.

I decided to stop in Ashland on a whim for lunch. I was not really interested in eating at the rest stops along I95, that's fine for the bathroom and refilling coffee and gas but that's it. Ashland is just north of Richmond, Virginia and it is where Randolph Macon College is located. It is a cute little town, with railroad tracks that run right through it. I had yummy lunch at the Iron Horse, where a very nice waitress told me the the ice cream place across the tracks was really good but keeps weird hours. I decided to take my chances, turns out they were open. (Nicki Ouch - this is for you) I had "deertracks" flavor which was vanilla with chocolate chip and peanut butter cups. It was better than Coldstone.




What was funny to me is that the further South I got, the slower everything got. The driving on I95, the service at the Starbucks.... that is until I reached I40 - which is the SCARIEST highway (with the exception of one around Orlando where my sister and I got lost once) I have ever driven on. By the time I hit I40, which takes you east off I95 toward the Outer Banks, it was dark already.

The speed limit is 70mph, which nobody drives, and there are NO LIGHTS on the 4 lane highway. At this point I had been driving for a long time and was really tired and over caffeinated, not an ideal combination. So nothing but pick up trucks passing me at what felt like 135mph and I probably got flipped off by a number of Southerners - good thing I don't have NY plates or I might have been shot for being a slow driving yankee. Once again, my playlist saved me and on came some music to pump me up and help me drive at least 75mph for the last 50 miles. Fait Accompli by Curve, if you are tired is a good choice, take it from me.

Finally made it to my hotel a block from the beach at 9:30 at night. It was a long day - but a good one.