Texas to South Carolina: An Account of Our Excursions to Myrtle Beach and Back
We left Dallas on Thursday in a torrent of rain with a backseat tagalong – Brendon O’Reilly. We jumped right into traffic on 635, a thrilling way to start off vacation!
Our first night, we stayed over in Little Rock to make the 11 hour drive to Nashville seem not as long. Somehow all the hotels in Little Rock were full except for the smoking rooms, which Kyndra was highly opposed to because of her allergies. With nothing left to choose, we obliged to the cigarette burned sheets and stayed for the night. A vague hint of smoke still lingers on our PJ’s from that night.
The morning was better with a yummy breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We were off to Nashville trying to get the first generation iPod iTrip to work. The problem with this grandpa-version is that it requires a completely blank radio signal for the iPod music to take over the car radio. Each time you think you have a good signal, the sound becomes static within 5 minutes as the radio evangelist breaks into your Laura Veirs’ song.
We resorted to the CD’s we had with us ... Tunes for the trip were: The Weepies, some Rascal Flatts, DIDO, a little James Taylor, and the newer poignant Grammy award-winning, Dixie Chicks album. The music passed the time and before we knew it, we arrived. Brendon was in a whirl of cell phone calling in the backseat as he tried to locate where his vacation-ready friends wanted him to meet as they had shifted from location to location. After lots of texts and talking, we dropped Brendo off at Chris Mazure’s apartment and bid him farewell and a goodtime to his Alabama beach destination.
We went on to Hendersonville, just north of Nashville, to stay with Kyndra’s aunt and uncle and cousins for a few days. We enjoyed our time visiting with them, as always, along with great (really great) food, video-game playing (Guitar Hero), movie-going, and just hanging out.
By now, it was Sunday morning, and we were on the road again for our vacation destination: Myrtle Beach, SC. The drive from Nashville to Knoxville and through the North and South Carolinas is BEAUTIFUL – tall trees, wide rivers, rolling mountains, and blue sky.
About 10:30pm EST, we had made it to Myrtle Beach onto a road called 17, just near the ocean, and one that would thoroughly confuse us for the rest of the trip! As we drove through the streets, we saw plenty of marquis signs scripted with “WELCOME BIKERS!” Somehow we were on the biker vacation schedule, now two years in a row. Last year in Daytona Beach, we found that the bikers were actually not as annoying as we thought they’d be, so we were open to the experience once again … until we continued driving down Highway 17.
Our place was on Highway 17 & 17th avenue. When we got to that intersection, it was just craziness all around. There were TONS of people walking around, traffic terribly slow, and bikers zig-zaging inbetween all the action. The other stark truth about the area was that there people all around us were 98% African-Americans – and they were all having the time of their lives! ☺ I don’t quite know how else to put it, except to say that we were the only white people we could see, and the scene was a little barbaric. People were walking all around our car, everyone’s blaring music and dancing in the street, guys are whistling and grabbing girls everywhere we look, and the girl on the back of the bike that just zoomed in front of us is wearing nothing but a thong! Where are we???
After two hours, on the phone with Kyndra’s sister (on mapquest for us) and with a travel club helper-guy, we find out that our place is at a different Highway 17 & 17th avenue intersection, 12 miles down the road. All in all, there were at least four different 17th avenues! Our final destination was far away from the scene we drove in to.
Later in the week we found out that the week before had been “Black Biker Week,” and that the Sunday night before Memorial day was the biggest celebration night down there. Glad we got to be a part of it!
Well, after that first night, things really settled in and went great. We spent days just out at the beach outside our little condo-deal. We drove around and saw some really cool spots around Murrells Inlet. We went to a preserved plantation acreage, with a huge sculpture garden in the midst of flower and tree gardens. Brookgreen gardens was a paradise for us on the trip!
Another day, we went in to Huntington Beach State Park – and hung out on the beach and the jetty there. It was quiet and serene; we read books and got burned – a great vacation!
I finished McKibben's Deep Economy and Kyndra read most of Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. We both also read Taylor's Leaving Church - most of it read aloud by Kyndra while I drove. (Reviews are forthcoming.)
Then, on Saturday morning we took off for Nashville again, stopping in Knoxville to have dinner with friends there. Ted & Tracie and family showed us a cool burrito place and we just caught up with each other for an hour and a half. It was great! But we had to keep moving on.
We spent the night in Nashville again, and then shot home today. We’re delighted to be back after some good rest, to hang out with our dogs and be in our apartment. And yet, school and work are calling us in the morning! Hooray for life!!
And, hello summer.
Our Pictures are here on flickr!
peace,
-shaun & kyndra
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