Musings from A Road Trip
Recently, Gracie and I took off on a road trip to visit Charleston, SC. Charleston is a place I have always wanted to visit. After seeing and hearing so much about it as I was growing up, I knew that if I was given a chance to visit, I would go. So imagine my surprise when Maddie, my oldest said she would be heading to that exact place for a conference. Remember that she lives on the west coast so any chance I get to see her I jump at it. And the fact that it was less than a day’s drive from our house I knew that I would be making the trip. So this post is all about musings from a road trip from our little neck of the woods in NC to Charleston.
First, let me say, I am sure I don’t have to say it, but just in case I have any new readers, we took backroads all the way to Charleston. This road trip was very scenic, to say the least, but there were a few things that caught my eye.
Near Disaster Avoided
One is how beautiful the Carolinas really are. There is some amazing countryside, but I will have to say we almost had a run-in with a tractor. And it was when we first started our journey- like 15 minutes from the house. We were going around a corner with another car riding our bumper and once we rounded the corner what do we see a tractor coming in our direction on the curve. I know what you are thinking that is unusual in the South. And it’s not, but the thing is the tractor was one of those big spraying tractors ( note to ask Hubby what they are called – because he did work for John Deere for over 10 years). You know the kind that you move over for because they are so wide. But get this the curve was bad, you couldn’t see around it, and we rounded the curve it was riding right smack dab in the middle of the road. Luckily I wasn’t flying – driving that fast – that I was able to react to avoid a disaster because folks my little Malibu would not have stood a chance.
The one good thing about that is the car that was riding my bumper backed off until we parted ways. This brings me to my next musings from a road trip.
Riding Someone Bumper
Why is it that people like to ride other people’s bumper? Especially when the bumper they are riding is going 5 over the speed limit. Or if they are gonna pass you on a two-lane one way why do people get right up to the bumper and then decide to pass? The lane beside them is clear so why don’t move over instead of riding the bumper?
I don’t know about y’all, but I have been hit from the rear so many times that when it comes to another car riding my bumper, my anxiety goes into overdrive.
SC Takes Littering Seriously
Did you know that if you litter in the state of SC that you can be punished with up to $1000 and/or get jail time? Y’all they mean serious business. Gracie is the one who drew my attention to the sign, and I was like man they want to keep their state clean. I will admit for the most part it was pretty clean, but I also saw a bigger population of homeless people in Charleston than I did in Nashville. So not sure if they really enforce this law.
Motorcycle Helmet Law
A motorcycle drove by us, and that jogged my memory about the fact there is no law that you have to wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle. Gracie says that is just stupid. I will have to say that I agree. But I guess it leaves the choice up to the individual driver. As we were driving, I told Gracie about the time I went to Myrtle Beach with hubby for a story, and it was bike week. There were so many bikers without helmets, and I was in shock, but then I did a little research and found out it is not required.
This brings us to another motorcycle sighting- not on this trip but on another trip – this time to California. Did you know that motorcycles are allowed to split lanes which means they can drive in the middle between 2 cars? Talk about scary. Right? But I guess it is all that you are used to am I right?
Church Signs
Y’all I have never before seen a yellow hazard sign with the word Church on it. I lost count of how many times both Gracie and I saw it on our drive from North Carolina to Charleston. I at first thought it was a South Carolina thing, but after doing research, I realized it is used in other parts of the county. Most of these signs were found on country roads and not in bigger cities. It is a way to let people know that there may be heavier traffic than normal in those areas. That is pretty cool, right?
SC Takes Road Construction Safety Seriously
Every time we saw signs for road construction, we also saw a sign reminding people to let the workers work and also to let them live. How cool is that?
Note I did ask my hubby and said the tractor in question was a John Deere Sprayer he wasn’t sure if it was a 400 or 600 Sprayer, but he knew for sure it was a sprayer.
