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/.