It’s amazing how
awesome life is when it just happens. The coincidences, the experiences…life is
about those things, not grinding away 9-5 in order to purchase the latest
useless gadget or to pay overpriced rent. That’s slavery, a relevant point
after reading and thinking about Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Well in a little
state park over run by mosquitoes (Givhans Ferry)…life happened. I rolled in on Friday night,
no reservation (don’t get me started on how camping has been ruined for the
wanderer by people who require too much planning). Anyway I was
sans-reservation and the State Park guy (I want to call them rangers like back
home but I guess they are wardens or something like that) said to sit in an
empty site until someone arrived and maybe I would get lucky that they wouldn’t.
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| My fabulous hosts Trish and Chris!! |
So I grabbed my book, grabbed a snack and chilled out. It
was about 7:30 and the light was starting to go down a little, I was excited to
believe that I may have once again lucked out. Then…a white SUV pulled up and I
knew the gig was up…or was it.
Turns out that I ran
into a couple of the nicest people I’ve met on my trip so far. They not only
offered to share the campsite with me but also offered a spot to stay in
Charleston…life is a damn fine thing when it happens like this!
So we chilled out a
little at the campsite and got to know each other. Right from minute one they
felt like old friends, and I make friends easy so it felt great. They took a
super long river trip on day two that I declined (on hindsight that was the
wrong thing to do…sounded like a blast but I didn’t want to be a wheel and
didn’t really know about spending an entire day on the river with people I
didn’t know and be reliant on a ride from them…again on hindsight this was a
mistake).
On the last day they
went home to Charleston and I took another trip through Magnolia (they give you
a 7 day pass when you buy your ticket) and finished Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
When I arrived in
Charleston later that night I could only smile. They said they lived on the
Battery and already that sounded great…but to live where they lived, on one of
the most coveted streets in Charleston intersecting with the one of the other
most coveted street in Charleston…awesome.
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| When you live within throwing distance of the Piggly Wiggly CEO...you're doing ok for yourself |
And Charleston was
amazing…it was the true south in my opinion. The feel, the flavour, the
atmosphere…it was no surprise when they told me that it was America’s most
visited city.
It’s also the home of
the USS Yorkton which was a fun thing to see. Home of Fort Sumter (first shots
of the civil war were fired on it from Fort Johnston). Birth place of the
masons and a plethora of other historic stopping points.
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| I love these old custom houses |
The city is much
different from Savannah and I didn’t get the super touristy feel from it that I
had there. In fact the character of historic downtown couldn’t be nicer! There
are shops, but they felt less intrusive than Savannah’s tourist district.
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| The fountain on the waterfront |
I did fall head over
heels in love with something that is uniquely Charlestonian..the side porch.
They say it’s for the breeze…but to me it was just a great idea and I’ve sworn
that if I ever get the chance I will incorporate it into a abode.
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| The scene of the crime! There is so much known and unknown history with the Masons...are they evil? I don't know...but I sure like finding out tidbits like this on my travels! |
Hanging out with
Chris and Trish was fantastic and I’m sure it helped create an atmosphere in the
city that I didn’t get from Savannah. Chris sleeps late, and so does Trish, so
much so that on my last day I just about missed Sumter due to some heavy z’s. J However they treated
me to a fabulous time the entire time. From eating at Martha Lou’s to trying
out some bbq sauce a dude named Kevin gave me from the battery walk…they were
amazing hosts!
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| Hanging with Martha Lou! She's been whipping up southern style cooking for 29yrs! |
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| Fried pork chop...don't mind if I do!! |
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| One of the Lou kids (I'm assuming), smiling away even though it was dang hot in there! |
And a big big big
thumbs up to
KLB bbq sauce!! This guy was so nice, I met him while walking with
another person that I met. Her name was Barbara and she had stopped along the
battery to hang out with her kids. I ended up cracking a few jokes with her and
bamo…3.5hrs later we parted company after covering some serious ground,
swapping curious questions and digging each others vibe. She led a life that
was pretty wild compared to mine and I am always fascinated by peoples history
so digging deeper and finding out more is just something that I do without even
thinking about it.
Anyway when we
strolled by
Kevin (who has an awesome Issac Hayes look to him, only much much
bigger and not dead…haha…oh no you didn’t! Oh yes…I did! Anyway he was great
and he presented Barbara and I with bottle of his KLB mustard bbq sauce. I’m
not a bbq conasiour but I loves me a
good sauce and this KLB was a damn fine sauce! I was happy to try it out with
Chris and Trish, everyone gave it a two thumbs up and as my friend Bam says
“Bam…and so it is!”
So after a week of
fantastic I was ready to move on. My next place to visit was a place called
Prince Bay Farm in Tabor city, NC. I had decided (not sure if I told you this
in a previous post) that I was going to re-kindle my fire and resume my
original intent of volunteering on some farms as I travelled. Nick from Prince
Bay responded…it was pretty much enroute and his 1827 farm caught my interest
over most of the other helpx ads. I’m actually writing this part after I
already finished on the farm…did I know what to expect? No! Was I ready for the
heat? No! Did I realize how much I had been missing some form of
productivity…no!!! So…this might be a great time to segway into my time on
Prince Bay Farm…Hello North Carolina!!
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