The Palmettos

It is not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunsets, and the baths

Of all the western stars until I die.

-- Tennyson "Ulysses"

Welcome back! With the MBA program at Duke now complete, Cristy and I are turning back west from North Carolina and towards California. Probably to San Francisco; maybe to San Diego. Still a few details to work out. But the time for travel is now and like Ulysses we are ready to strive, seek, find, and not to yield.

Our general itinerary is as follows: Chapel Hill down to Miami (through Charleston and Tampa), hug the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans, cross Texas (Houston, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso), and then hopefully up to the Grand Canyon, out to Los Angeles, and finally wrapping up in Healdsburg, California. Google estimates it at 4,500 miles and we're estimating about 16 days. Unlike last time, though, this time around we are travelling with our faithful dog Kahlua. In fact, he's 'burying' his rawhide bone under his bed in the back of the Escape while I'm typing this.

Thursday was the first day of our trip and the destination was Charleston, South Carolina to visit Brad and Blair Boldizar. Brad went to Vanderbilt with Cristy and me and is currently doing his residency in internal medicine. He and Blair were married in a lovely ceremony last November in Memphis, and she is currently working for the Charleston Port Authority.

After dropping off our Time Warner Cable boxes and grabbing a drive-through breakfast at McDonald's (where they forgot to put my Egg McMuffin in the bag, largely negating the whole purpose of stopping) we hit the highway. For lunch, Cristy insisted we stop at 'South of the Border' where the Carolinas meet along I-95. It's a hard thing to describe -- sort of themed rest stop village with restaurants, tourist stores, a motel, miniature golf, and a ferris wheel. No chains either -- everything is owned and operated by the South of the Border people. The closest thing I've seen to it is Wall Drug in South Dakota, but this is more spread out and a little less awe-inspiring.

So we grabbed lunch at the Border Diner -- I had a hot dog and Cristy chili. The chili was served in a syrofoam cup -- not to be confused with a styrofoam bowl. But the whole thing was good enough; I-95 does not offer up too many options between Raleigh and Charleston.

We arrived in Charleston around 3:00pm -- later than we had hoped, but still with enough time to meet Brad and tour the city before dinner. The city is incredibly interesting. Located on a peninsula where two rivers meet the Atlantic, Charleston was one of the first British settlements in the 17th Century and was critical to Southern commerce for almost 200 years before  gradually being left behind. The famous Civil War Fort Sumter (Abner Doubleday!) is there defending the harbor, as is Fort Moultrie which was key in an early Revolutionary War battle. The story goes that the hastily constructed fort beat back British cannon fire having nothing more than stacked palmetto trunks as defense. The Moultrie flag that flew over the fort -- navy with a white crescent moon in the corner -- was the first 'American' flag flown in the South and with the palmetto tree added later, became the state flag.

And the city is terrific. Old architecture, and (rare for a Southern city) filled with pedestrians. We walked around the riverfront, shopped in the Charleston market, and then met up with Blair for drinks at 'Rooftop Bar' before heading to dinner. Brad picked a great place -- Cru Cafe -- which I would call French-inspired regional fare. Interesting atmosphere in an old house and the food was terrific. Brad blew the table away with his fried chicken (filled with mozzarella) and side of macaroni-and-cheese. Ate the whole thing too. Kind of meal that is likely illegal in parts of California.

We spent the night at the Boldizar apartment joined by Kahlua and their dogs Elvis and Nemo. Both are small bichon-like dogs; Elvis is older but Nemo is still a puppy of about one year. Nemo is made of some form of distilled energy, constantly running, jumping, and playing all over the house. Kahlua was mildly interested, but I think mostly bothered by all their pestering -- he no longer goes for that puppy-style unbridled enthusiasm. 

The plan for Friday is to drive to Tampa and catch the Rays-Marlins game at Tropicana Field. Rain is in the forecast, but no matter! The joys of indoor baseball. I've been to 23 MLB stadiums and this will be my first indoor game (games in Milwaukee and Seattle were both with the roof open). Can't wait.