Tobacco Road

Roanoke Rapids NC to Myrtle Beach SC 280Miles

Day 52

Thursday June 18, 2009

The light was so bright that was shinning through the cracks on the sides of the pleated shades this morning, that we thought for a moment that we’d overslept! But it was only the sun.

It was steamy and there were plenty of clouds around too, but the sun was a welcome sight as we left Roanoke Rapids heading south. We chose to take the ‘scenic’ route today because we didn’t have too far to travel. Jim’s mother grew up in this tobacco, cotton, corn and soybean growing part of the state. He spent time during the hot summers here. The city kid on he farm with the country cousins. We traveled past rural farms and small towns where we make note of the required buildings: The church, post office, general store, filling station, movie house, cafe, inn and sheriff/fire dept.

We took RT43 down to Kinston, then RT 258 to Jacksonville and finally US17 for the remainder. Thunder storms were all around us, but we only hit a few periods of intense rain. The frequent showers have this area looking like a rain forest. I soooo prefer the green to the brown of the desert. Although I must admit that we have suddenly become reacquainted with the heat and humidity and we are having difficulty acclimated this quickly. Normally, we have several months to go from winter to summer!

When we reached Wilmington Jim HAD to stop at a barbeque place that he always took his mother to. I’m not particularly fond of the eastern North Carolina (vinegar based) type, but I had a small plate too. This stuff sits like lead and once every year or two is enough for me.

On the way out of Wilmington we stopped at the cemetery where Jim’s mother and father are buried. There were two funerals going on and we did get some strange looks as we drove through the narrow lanes with the big RV dragging the Jeep behind.
We also took a little nostalgia time and drove past his parent’s house and the house his mother lived in after his dad died. Then hit US17 again toward our home state of South Carolina…which we haven’t been in since late April.

I’ve thought to myself how fortunate we’ve been to not have witnessed a serious accident in all these miles, but I won’t say it out loud until we park in our driveway. We almost made it. We were nearing the SC state line on US17 when a car blinked his lights at oncoming traffic. Jim remarked that police might be around the corner. We turned the corner only to see several cars stopped, no flashing lights, or police. Then as we drew nearer we were horrified at what we saw. People were leaving their cars and running back and forth between two cars that had collided. A full size Ford sedan had broadsided a pickup, apparently rolling it several times. A woman was lying, face down on the pavement, about 100 feet from the pickup which was now in a ditch in the median. My first thought was how a fastened seat belt would probably kept her in the pickup, that was badly damaged, but the passenger compartment looked intact.

We managed to ease to our right where we got access to a back road. We had no idea where we were going, but knew it had to come out somewhere. The cars in front of us were going to be tied up for quite some time with the accident, the road would be closed down for some time. There were several cars stopped, and people were trying to help, there was little we could do to help. Needless to say, this upset us for the remainder of the ride, which, thankfully, was almost over.

Yesterday, we called the Apache Family Campground to see if there were any sites available for the next two days. We were surprised when we said yes, we had tried three others. These are the HUGE seaside campgrounds, with mostly permanent sites. I thought with so late a reservation we’d be waaaaaaay back by the highway, but couldn’t believe it when we discovered we are only feet away from the beach! Of course, we’re wedged in here like sardines in a can, but every ocean side campground is that way.

Tomorrow and Saturday the weather is forecast to be extremely HOT, temps nearing 100 with high humidity. Our beach time will be limited….morning sounds good to me. Some people don’t understand ‘too hot for the beach’, but believe me, it can be!

My daughter called earlier this evening. She and her brother were checking on the house and discovered that it had been hit by lightning yesterday during some very severe storms. YIKES! I am very glad that I took the time to pull every wire connected to my computer out of the wall….surge protector or not. I’m just very, very glad that I wasn’t home at the time of the strike, they said that photos were knocked off shelves, I would have FREAKED!. It went through the vinyl ceiling of the porch and there is a scorched area about a foot long. We’re thinking it’s an exit…so where did it enter? I see an electrical inspection in our near future, I won’t be at ease until the attic is thoroughly checked.

Tomorrow, Myrtle Beach and whatever!