Tag: Georgia

Whats Next – Day 149

What’s Next?

Day 149 – August 27, 2003 – Wednesday

Fighting Injustice & More….
 

The trip Round America ended on August 26, 2003 at 7 pm. But we couldn’t “close the book” on the trip quite yet. We had to write the book, and we had to travel to Kingsland, Georgia to fight injustice….

Whats Next

Boz and I will be hard at work for months as we update the website. We have to write information for the days when we only posted brief reports. We still have thousands of photos to review and add…if we feel they are worthy. We have to transcribe our audio tapes, supplement the web site with that information, and organize the material into a first draft / outline for our book. We have awards to announce, news releases to issue, and much more.

 

We are already planning additional trips. In mid-September, we will be going to Kingsland, Georgia to fight our traffic ticket, and we will include a visit to see my Dad in Orlando for his 85th birthday. We will be attending the wedding of the son of a close friend in San Antonio in October, so we plan to see some sights we missed in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas as we drive to and from the wedding. We will also go from the wedding down to one of my favorite spots from the trip, Big Bend, so Bozzie Jane can see what I enjoyed so much. And, we will be going over to Savannah and up the coast to Washington, DC and back so Boz and I can spend more time seeing those sights.

 

We’ll take the camera, recorder, and other essentials on each of these trips…and on the next Round America trip (when we go around backwards). The plan is to update the web site from now on as we make additional trips and see more sights. We’ll just add the information for the states we visit, so the Round America site will continue to have more and more information about the places to go, the sights to see, the people to meet, and the pie to eat.

 

And yes, I will remove the cap and beads from the trophy case as they will now be an integral part of every trip we take.

 

We finally closed the book on the trip Round America on May 17, 2006!

 

The Kingsland, Georgia Convention & Visitors Bureau advertising says: “Kingsland Georgia is located on I-95 at the Georgia / Florida state line. The Kingsland area is a community of pristine coastal beauty where the meandering rivers wind through dense marshlands… where challenging golf quietly exists among tidal creeks and marsh grass… where river shores and lakes are brimming with wildlife.” What they didn’t say is that the Kingsland police love to write traffic tickets, and in our experience, the courts love to side with the police seemingly with little regard to the facts.

 

Round America “visited” Kingsland on April 3, 2003, Day 3 of the First Trip Round America. According to Mr. Rand and Mr. McNally, the distance from Savannah to Saint Augustine is only 180 miles. It took us 12 hours to get there, so we averaged just 15 miles an hour (though we ended up driving over 350 miles, so we actually averaged about 30 mph). I recalled passing just one vehicle all day. I hadn’t had a ticket in 9 years, and I had decided to drive at or under the speed limit throughout this trip. After all, we were driving on two-lane roads to see the sights — not racing to get somewhere. So it was the lowlight of the day when Officer Vincent Passarelli of Kingsland, Georgia claimed I was driving 55 in a 35…in a construction zone. I was just driving along at the same speed as a bunch of other folks. Officer Passarelli admitted he was coming from the opposite direction, so he decided to stop the white convertible instead of any of a variety of pickup trucks and SUV’s. I joked with him that we had driven only 500 miles of 25,000, and at this rate, I would lose my license before we hit Alabama. He didn’t laugh. I tried to get him to let me take his picture, but he refused. We did manage to get a shot of a sign nearby that said “Speed Checked by Radar.” On our Trip Scorecard, I budgeted 0 (zero) traffic tickets, so we were way over budget, and it was only day 3.

 

Officer Vincent Passarelli claimed on the ticket that he timed me on radar. I felt that was impossible, since it was rush hour on a weekday on a multi-lane road, and he was traveling in the opposite direction, flipped on his flashing lights, and then hooked a U-turn to pull up behind me in the curbside lane. His radar would have covered many vehicles, especially those passing us in the lane to our left. The ticket also indicated that we were stopped in a location where we were not stopped! I decided to fight the ticket.

 

I notified the court, and the hearing was set for September 23, 2003. I purchased an online book about fighting traffic tickets, and I became well-versed in radar. Barbara and I drove to Kingsland on the 22nd so we would have time to photograph the area and draw a map. I was well-prepared.

 

We went to the court (behind the police station) early. We sat through many “trials” where it sounded to us like everyone was being sentenced to jail time. Barbara got very sick at the thought that I was going to be sentenced to jail because I fought the traffic ticket.

 

My case was finally called, and my evidence was overwhelming. My case was even better because Officer Vincent Passarelli gave testimony that was in absolute conflict with what was on the ticket. I believe I proved that he could not have had my car on radar; that my car was nowhere near a construction zone; and that Officer Vincent Passarelli entered erroneous information on the ticket and could not explain why. I rested my case, and I anxiously awaited word that I had won.

 

Much to my horror, I was found guilty and sentenced to 7 days in jail. I have never been arrested, accused of a crime, or been in jail as an inmate. A deputy then took me by the arm to a room where I was allowed to pay $350 in lieu of serving the jail time. I pulled $350 cash out of my pocket really fast!

 

This was a scary experience. In my opinion, Kingsland has what we have heard referred to as a “kangaroo court.” The police are always right, and the accused is always wrong, and it doesn’t matter what evidence you have. I was very, very unhappy with what took place.

 

There was no doubt in my mind that I would appeal the case to the next higher court, and I did. I filed my appeal on a timely basis, and I waited and waited. I never received anything — no written communication, no calls, nothing. I called repeatedly trying to find out who I could call to get things moving along. No one ever responded.

 

I finally emailed the mayor and every member of the Kingsland city council. The Chief of Police called, and he promised to resolve things. Nothing happened. I emailed the Kingsland mayor and city council again. I finally received a call from someone at the police department, and he promised a refund of my $350. I received a check for $350 from the City of Kingsland on May 17, 2006 — over three years after I was stopped and 31 months after I filed my appeal.

 

Something that was very upsetting to us and a real negative during the first part of our trip ended positively. As with so many other things on the trip, we have laughed again and again about the experience. We’d like to think that perhaps the City of Kingsland decided that life should be kinder and gentler in their small town, too.

 

Fighting Injustice and More – Day 149

Fighting Injustice and More

Day 149 – August 27, 2003 – Wednesday

The trip Round America ended on August 26, 2003 at 7 pm. But we couldn’t “close the book” on the trip quite yet. We had to write the book, and we had to travel to Kingsland, Georgia to fight injustice….

 

Boz and I will be hard at work for months as we update the website. We have to write information for the days when we only posted brief reports. We still have thousands of photos to review and add…if we feel they are worthy. We have to transcribe our audio tapes, supplement the website with that information, and organize the material into a first draft / outline for our book. We have awards to announce, news releases to issue, and much more.

 

We are already planning additional trips. In mid-September, we will be going to Kingsland, Georgia to fight our traffic ticket, and we will include a visit to see my Dad in Orlando for his 85th birthday. We will be attending the wedding of the son of a close friend in San Antonio in October, so we plan to see some sights we missed in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas as we drive to and from the wedding. We will also go from the wedding down to one of my favorite spots from the trip, Big Bend, so Bozzie Jane can see what I enjoyed so much. And, we will be going over to Savannah and up the coast to Washington, DC and back so Boz and I can spend more time seeing those sights.

 

We’ll take the camera, recorder, and other essentials on each of these trips…and on the next Round America trip (when we go around backwards). The plan is to update the website from now on as we make additional trips and see more sights. We’ll just add the information for the states we visit, so the Round America site will continue to have more and more information about the places to go, the sights to see, the people to meet, and the pie to eat.

 

And yes, I will remove the cap and beads from the trophy case as they will now be an integral part of every trip we take.

 

We finally closed the book on the trip Round America on May 17, 2006!

 

The Kingsland, Georgia Convention & Visitors Bureau advertising says: “Kingsland Georgia is located on I-95 at the Georgia / Florida state line. The Kingsland area is a community of pristine coastal beauty where the meandering rivers wind through dense marshlands… where challenging golf quietly exists among tidal creeks and marsh grass… where river shores and lakes are brimming with wildlife.” What they didn’t say is that the Kingsland police love to write traffic tickets, and in our experience, the courts love to side with the police seemingly with little regard to the facts.

 

Round America “visited” Kingsland on April 3, 2003, Day 3 of the First Trip Round America. According to Mr. Rand and Mr. McNally, the distance from Savannah to Saint Augustine is only 180 miles. It took us 12 hours to get there, so we averaged just 15 miles an hour (though we ended up driving over 350 miles, so we actually averaged about 30 mph). I recalled passing just one vehicle all day. I hadn’t had a ticket in 9 years, and I had decided to drive at or under the speed limit throughout this trip. After all, we were driving on two-lane roads to see the sights — not racing to get somewhere. So it was the lowlight of the day when Officer Vincent Passarelli of Kingsland, Georgia claimed I was driving 55 in a 35…in a construction zone. I was just driving along at the same speed as a bunch of other folks. Officer Passarelli admitted he was coming from the opposite direction, so he decided to stop the white convertible instead of any of a variety of pickup trucks and SUV’s. I joked with him that we had driven only 500 miles of 25,000, and at this rate, I would lose my license before we hit Alabama. He didn’t laugh. I tried to get him to let me take his picture, but he refused. We did manage to get a shot of a sign nearby that said “Speed Checked by Radar.” On our Trip Scorecard, I budgeted 0 (zero) traffic tickets, so we were way over budget, and it was only day 3.

 

Officer Vincent Passarelli claimed on the ticket that he timed me on radar. I felt that was impossible, since it was rush hour on a weekday on a multi-lane road, and he was traveling in the opposite direction, flipped on his flashing lights, and then hooked a U-turn to pull up behind me in the curbside lane. His radar would have covered many vehicles, especially those passing us in the lane to our left. The ticket also indicated that we were stopped in a location where we were not stopped! I decided to fight the ticket.

 

I notified the court, and the hearing was set for September 23, 2003. I purchased an online book about fighting traffic tickets, and I became well-versed in radar. Barbara and I drove to Kingsland on the 22nd so we would have time to photograph the area and draw a map. I was well-prepared.

 

We went to the court (behind the police station) early. We sat through many “trials” where it sounded to us like everyone was being sentenced to jail time. Barbara got very sick at the thought that I was going to be sentenced to jail because I fought the traffic ticket.

 

My case was finally called, and my evidence was overwhelming. My case was even better because Officer Vincent Passarelli gave testimony that was in absolute conflict with what was on the ticket. I believe I proved that he could not have had my car on radar; that my car was nowhere near a construction zone; and that Officer Vincent Passarelli entered erroneous information on the ticket and could not explain why. I rested my case, and I anxiously awaited word that I had won.

 

Much to my horror, I was found guilty and sentenced to 7 days in jail. I have never been arrested, accused of a crime, or been in jail as an inmate. A deputy then took me by the arm to a room where I was allowed to pay $350 in lieu of serving the jail time. I pulled $350 cash out of my pocket really fast!

 

This was a scary experience. In my opinion, Kingsland has what we have heard referred to as a “kangaroo court.” The police are always right, and the accused is always wrong, and it doesn’t matter what evidence you have. I was very, very unhappy with what took place.

 

There was no doubt in my mind that I would appeal the case to the next higher court, and I did. I filed my appeal on a timely basis, and I waited and waited. I never received anything — no written communication, no calls, nothing. I called repeatedly trying to find out who I could call to get things moving along. No one ever responded.

 

I finally emailed the mayor and every member of the Kingsland city council. The Chief of Police called, and he promised to resolve things. Nothing happened. I emailed the Kingsland mayor and city council again. I finally received a call from someone at the police department, and he promised a refund of my $350. I received a check for $350 from the City of Kingsland on May 17, 2006 — over three years after I was stopped and 31 months after I filed my appeal.

 

Something that was very upsetting to us and a real negative during the first part of our trip ended positively. As with so many other things on the trip, we have laughed again and again about the experience. We’d like to think that perhaps the City of Kingsland decided that life should be kinder and gentler in their small town, too.

 

Home in Atlanta – Day 141

Home in Atlanta

Day 141 – August 19, 2003 – Tuesday

Home in Atlanta. The final segment of the trip — Hawaii — starts tomorrow, August 20. Back from Hawaii on August 25.

We spent the day organizing information for the book and updating the website.

Today, I began sorting and filing the 500 pounds of brochures and information that we gathered over the past five months. Tomorrow will be a travel day — 10 1/2 hours from Atlanta to Honolulu.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

Home in Atlanta

Home in Atlanta – Day 140

Home in Atlanta

Day 140 – August 18, 2003 – Monday

Home in Atlanta. The final segment of the trip — Hawaii — will be August 20 to August 25.

We spent the day organizing information for the book and updating the website.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

Home in Atlanta

Home in Atlanta – Day 139

Home in Atlanta

Day 139 – August 17, 2003 – Sunday

Home in Atlanta. The final segment of the trip — Hawaii — will be August 20 to August 25.

We spent the day organizing information for the book and updating the website. We began collecting our thoughts about Pie today. See the Pie Report and the Pie Ratings.

We went over to visit Madison and her Mommy and Daddy this afternoon. Daddy Robert went wild at a toy store and bought Maddie all kinds of exciting new older girl toys.

One of the best things about traveling for the last five months was ignoring the newspapers, radio, and TV. It is so pleasant when you aren’t hearing all the bad news and the ridiculous politics that cause the Democrats to take positions directly opposite that of the Republicans and to say ridiculous things. It is amazing to me that the two-party system works, and it is so sad that just about everything has to be partisan.

Tonight I learned that 5.6 million living adult Americans have been in prison. That’s one in every 37 adults in the United States. If 2001 incarceration rates remain the same, about 6.6 percent of the people born in 2001 can expect to serve a prison sentence during their lifetimes. This compares with 5.2 percent of those born in 1991 and 1.9 percent of people born in 1974, according to the estimates in the study conducted by the United States Justice Department. These numbers do not even include those jailed — just those who went to a prison. How outrageous is this! As wonderful as our country is, we have real problems. I sincerely believe that we need strong gun control. When our forefathers said we should have the right to keep and bear arms, they had no idea that 7 percent of the children born the year Madison was born would grow up and go to prison.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

Home in Atlanta

Home in Atlanta – Day 138

Home in Atlanta

Day 138 – August 16, 2003 – Saturday

Home in Atlanta. The final segment of the trip — Hawaii — will be August 20 to August 25.

We spent the day organizing information for the book and updating the website.

I took the day off today. We went to see Kevin Costner’s “Open Range.” We went to the 4 pm show, and the theatre was full. We thought the movie was very good. Gave it an 8 on our 1-to-10 rating system.

Our favorite movies of all times are: Waiting for Guffman, Rudy, Hoosiers, American Graffiti, Something the Lord Made, Best in Show, The Big Chill, Braveheart, Brian’s Song, The Castle, A Christmas Story, City Slickers, The Commitments, Dead Poets Society, The Dish, Door to Door, Duets, Eddie and the Cruisers, Erin Brokovich, Father of the Bride, Field of Dreams, Forrest Gump, Frequency, The Full Monty, Ghost, Gone With the Wind, Good Morning Vietnam, Goodwill Hunting, The Graduate, Grease, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Hands on a Hardbody, I Am Sam, In America, It’s a Wonderful Life, Jagged Edge, Kinky Boots, Lean On Me, Les Miserables in Concert, Life is Beautiful, Little Miss Sunshine, Love Story, Meet the Parents, Michael, My Cousin Vinny, My Dog Skip, Mystic Pizza, National Lampoon’s Animal House, The Natural, Noel, October Sky, Pacific Heights, Paper Clips, Pay It Forward, Phenomenon, Pretty Woman, Primal Fear, The Pursuit of Happyness, Rain Man, Remember the Titans, Revenge of the Nerds, Risky Business, Rock, Rocky II, The Royal Tenenbaums, Saint Ralph, Seabiscuit, The Shawshank redemption, Shine, Simon Burch, The Sixth Sense, Sleepless in Seattle, Spitfire Grill, Stand By Me, Tender Mercies, Titanic, To Kill A Mockingbird, Unfaithful, The Usual Suspects, The Verdict, When Harry Met Sally, You’ve Got Mail.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

Home in Atlanta – Day 137

Home in Atlanta

Day 137 – August 15, 2003 – Friday

Home in Atlanta. The final segment of the trip — Hawaii — will be August 20 to August 25.

We spent the day organizing information for the book and updating the web site. As part of this process, we reflected on the various aspects of the trip. When we began planning the trip, we established 10 Rules of the Road:

Rule #1 — See the real world. Stay off the interstate highways.

Rule #2 — Eat pie. Eat where the locals eat. Avoid franchised restaurants. “Slow food” rather than fast food.

Rule #3 — See the sights that others miss. No need to visit many theme parks.

Rule #4 — Plan to enjoy the unexpected. When something catches your eye, check it out.

Rule #5 — Try new things — new places, new people, new food, new experiences.

Rule #6 — Stop and smell the roses…or whatever. Don’t rush; enjoy the journey.

Rule #7 — Think local. Listen to local radio stations; read local papers; and watch local TV.

Rule #8 — Make the best of every situation, If it seems boring or ugly or wrong, look again.

Rule #9 — Be smart. Be safe. Be prepared. Exercise every day. Keep the gas tank full.

Rule #10 — Preserve the experience. Maintain a journal; keep records; and take a lot of photos.

We did a very good job of following these Rules. We primarily drove on two-lane roads, so we were able to see the “real world.” We ate where the locals eat, and we ate a lot of pie (181 pies in total). And the food was so good; we had only a few disappointing meals. We saw many sights that others miss. We most definitely enjoyed the unexpected. In fact, following tips from people we met along the way or checking out something that we just happened to see or learn about were among the most enjoyable experiences. We tried a lot of new things! We were “smart.” We absolutely preserved the experience — detailed notes on tape, hundreds of pounds of brochures and maps, and 13,884 photos thus far.

There is room for improvement, however. The trip took longer than originally planned, yet we didn’t really have the time to “stop and smell the roses” as we might have liked. To leisurely see all the places we went, one could spend a year-and-a-half or more on the road, and we just couldn’t spend that much time. While we thought local, we never had the time to listen to the radio, read the newspaper, or watch TV. We made the best of most situations — at least for the first half of the trip. Truth is, we got tired and a little lazy for the last 30 days or so. The web site was a very important part of the trip, but it really sapped our energy. The trip was also MUCH harder when Bozzie Jane was not along. It’s hard enough to drive and navigate and take photos, but the big loss when traveling alone is that you don’t have time to review the research and the brochures gathered along the way to make sure you see the best sights. And too much sightseeing time is eaten up with the work of travel.

There isn’t a lot that we will change when we do this again. We’ll try to improve on the areas that need improvement, but we’ll basically just try to live by the Rules of the Road. There are a few changes we’ll make on the preparation for the next trip, so I updated that web page accordingly.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.

Home in Atlanta – Day 136

Home in Atlanta

Day 136 – August 14, 2003 – Thursday

Home in Atlanta.

Miss Madison came over for a visit and dinner. What a cutie. She walks like a pro, and she’s speaking a few words. Madison’s mommy, Brittany, came too.

Boz fixed a GREAT Peach Mountain Pie for dessert tonight — an award winner! Aunt Wendy’s recipe.

Each day until the Hawaii segment is complete (August 20 to August 25), I will update the website with the progress for that day.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.

Home…Again – Day 135

Home… Again

Day 135 – August 13, 2003 – Wednesday

Home… Again.  Home in Atlanta. I managed to sleep 10 hours last night — that’s a first!

The weekly radio show with Dan McGrath was this morning. We talked about Washington, DC, the rain on the East Coast, and the Banana Cream Pie at the Atlanticville Restaurant & Cafe in Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina.

I spent some time with Kitty B Kitty. She watched me work from her favorite spot on top of my computer monitor. Miss Madison is coming over to visit tomorrow; she was off on a play day today. She is both walking and talking since I last saw her.

Our Internet Service Provider changed while I was gone, so several hours were spent trying to get my email and Internet Explorer working again. Once accomplished, I began processing photos. I also made a list of all the steps necessary to complete the web site, which includes work needed for writing the book. It’s a big list. It will take quite some time to complete.

Some of the major tasks to be completed on the web site include the following: Update each Daily Journal report and add additional photos; finalize the Best & Worst by adding additional nominees, choosing the Best and Worst in each category, and adding explanations of the awards); update each of the existing sections of the site; adding links to web sites for the various towns, attractions, restaurants, etc. We will also be creating separate web pages for many of the towns we visited as well as for key sights that we saw. The goal will be to make the Round America web site into a helpful tool for anyone wanting information about a particular place or sight that we’ve seen. As we take additional trips in the future, we will make that information and those photos part of the Round America web site.

Bozzie Jane has been working on the reservations for Hawaii, as the trip is not complete until we see the 50th state. We’ve been to Hawaii several times with the kids, but we HAVE to go again as part of the Round America trip. It looks like the flight to Honolulu will be August 20, returning on August 25.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.

One of My Favorite People – Day 134

One of My Favorite People

Day 134 – August 12, 2003 – Tuesday

I had a great time visiting Karen Jones in Charleston. She gave me a wonderful tour, and it was a pleasure to meet her boyfriend, Travis. Karen is one of my favorite people in the whole wide world, and while I was only with Travis at lunch, he seemed like a really special person, too. Looked to me like a match made in heaven!

We had a great hamburger at Your Place, a true “hole-in-the-wall” local restaurant. Home cookin’ at it’s finest. The BEST burgers for a fraction of what you would pay at fancy places. Two nice ladies served us.

Apologies to Charleston, as the magnet of home grabbed me and kept me from seeing sights the way I normally would have. Bozzie Jane and I will return to Charleston soon, and we will see everything then. So, I said goodbye to Karen and hit the highway. I drove down “the coast” to Savannah to complete the circling of America (as that was the coastal city where the trip began on April 1), and then I drove from Savannah to Atlanta.

I took a picture of the giant chair at Richardson’s Barber and Beauty Supply.

Dublin has very pretty Georgian-style and Victorian-style buildings and homes on Highway 80.

It rained most of the way from Savannah to Atlanta, so I didn’t see much, and I was simply tired and ready to be at home.

Lon was the first person I saw upon returning to Atlanta after 134 days. He was an actor. I met him at the gas station near our home.

I arrived home at 9:22 pm. I thought Boz would be surprised, but she was expecting me.

38,127 on the odometer. We logged 29,062 miles in our cars. I need to calculate the mileage in the rental car in Alaska and the loaner car in North Dakota plus the mileage we’ll do in Hawaii, and that will be the grand total for the trip. We could hit 30,000. We originally thought the trip would be about 20,000 miles, but we really didn’t know. It’s impossible to calculate the mileage on two-lane roads, the time you spend in towns, the mileage you’ll spend lost, the unexpected side trips that you’ll make, backtracking, etc.

The trip began 134 days before on April 1. The trip had been a spectacular experience, but I was happy to get home. We need to make reservations for Hawaii — state #50, and we will go just as soon as we can get a flight that will let us use our frequent flyer points. We hope this will be within the next two weeks.

I planned to spend a lot of time updating the website, processing photos, and writing. I planned to continue to maintain the Daily Journal until the Hawaii trip completed the journey.

And we do plan to take the trip Round America again. Next time, BACKWARDS! We’ll start in Atlanta, drive to Savannah, and then head north rather than south. The fatigue factor kept me from seeing as many sights in the east as I should have, so we’ll correct this the next time by starting there.

The lesson I re-learned today is that as enjoyable as travel can be, there is little that is more enjoyable than good friends and family.  And while there are fabulous places to see all across our amazing country, home is a mighty special place.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Charleston South Carolina — Your Place — Dublin Georgia — Atlanta Georgia