Emma and Erik's Advantures in Van Burgundy

Monday, October 29th Drove straight from Kiawah Island to Savannah, GA that evening.    Crossed the Savannah River.    You get a pretty good view of the port city from the bridge.   Camped outside the city that night.   I was able to call my parents and catch them up on how things have been going.   I told my mom that she would absolutely love Charleston.   It is such an old city with spectacular architecture.   Tuesday, October 30th Drove back to the downtown area this morning.   Some of the first buildings we noticed were part of SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design).   The SCAD buildings were scattered between very old industrial buildings that served the harbor .   Emma was on the phone with her mom when we rolled into town.   After a few blocks of driving east, I turned downhill towards the docks and riverfront.   All of the sudden we were in the midst of a huge construction site! Half o...

Saturday October 28th The most prevalent sign on the highway in the south has to be for WAFFLE HOUSE. We had been seeing them since Virginia and we finally caved and went to one in Orangeburg, South Carolina.  I have memories of random waffle houses on the trip south for crew training in the winters both in high school and college, and think of them as an essential southern pit-stop. We got one "All Star Special" that came with a waffle, eggs, toast, hash browns, sausage, coffee and o.j. and it was more than the two of us could eat. Glad we went, and now we don't need to go ever again! We got into Charleston late in the morning and stumbled upon a little farmers market near the College of Charleston so we parked and took the bikes out. We biked from there, to the river, then the City Market, swung back to the car to grab PB&J's and an apple, then headed over to the aquarium and docks of the Fort Sumter tour boats, and back through the college again to have our...

Wednesday October 25th After leaving Eggleston Springs in Virginia we headed towards Bakersville, NC where my bro's roommate at Alfred College, Heron, and his girlfriend Cammie live. I drove and was really excited to finally be leaving Virigina where we had been for the entire duration of the van trip so far. We went along some highway that took us into Tennessee briefly, through some tiny towns, and over some mountains until we went up a mountain and crossed into North Carolina at the peak - a very cool introduction. We swung by the house and met H&C's awesome cat, Jupiter, and watched him scale some pretty tall trees in their yard. We were in the mood for cats after spending so long with Jinx and Icki, so Jupiter was a nice transition. Jupiter's super smooth exit. A better view of the cuteness. From there we took the van into Spruce Pine for a birthday party and taco night with a group of their Penland friends. The owner set me up with a delicious smoky r...