Days of Discovery/Nights of Thunder: Hamilton Branch State Park, Modoc, SC 6/13/08

Today officially begins the migration back home. For the first time we began looking for road signs that said “West”, it made me a little sad as I don’t want this trip to end. Before we left the campground this morning we looked at the mileage and noticed that we have traveled 5050 miles and biked 110 . We decided to drive the “Discovery Trail” thru the heart of South Carolina towards the Uplands. The South Carolina Tourist Bureau put together a series of discovery roads to learn about the local history. One can either do the “Discovery Route” or the “Nature Route.” They issue a map with corresponding events or sites for suggested viewing. One can choose to see the African-American Heritage, Civil War Memorial Sites, Plantations & Gardens, etc. We spent the day seeing a combination of most of the above, including the first “company town” in the South. The adventures of eating our way thru the South was a little too, - how should I say - “real” for me today. Within the first hour of our drive, about mid-morning, we stopped at a roadside stand selling fresh green hot boiled peanuts. They were okay. Glad I tasted them, but won’t be craving them anytime soon. They were hot, salty, wet and a little mushy. About 1:00 we decided to stop at Duke’s Bar-b-Que, an all you can buffet. There was fried chicken, chopped pork, fried gizzards, fried okra, hush puppies, black-eyed peas, pork skins, cracklins (hard & soft), mac n’ cheese, collard greens, rice & hash. I’m still cracking up at Ned. After being much braver than me and trying a small sampling of everything, he said, “What do you mean that was hash? I thought I was eating Brunswick Stew!.” He scrunched up his nose and said, “What do you think I ate?!” He then went on to list all the ingredients in what he knows is in hash and couldn’t recognize anything in what he had eaten. Can I just say that I think I will officially be done with tasting bar-b-que when this trip is over? We eventually worked our way to the Piedmont area of South Carolina and camped on Strom Thurmond Lake. It’s in a remote area right between the Georgia and South Carolina border. We have a beautiful campground right on the lake. (See photo taken at sunset). We did our usual floating in the lake to cool off and hanging out in the hammock. We popped a Bacardi “mojito”, nibbled some left-over fruitcake (weird eating day for sure) and were becoming one with nature when all of a sudden the sound of cars revving their engines jolted us. Soon after the national anthem began playing. We assume stock car racing is happening close-by. Perfect end to a very southern day. Ned really wants to check this car thing out. – gotta run. Addendum: It’s about midnight and we just got back from the “Modoc Friday Nights of Thunder”. It was a BLAST!! Stock car racing on a dirt track. The stands were filled with mom & dads, little kids with blue snow cones running down their faces, and lots of beer guzzling. It was so much fun watching all the posturing, car spin-outs, fan cheering and ear splitting noise of the cars while hanging out on a warm night. I’ve decided to embrace the southern culture and become a Nascar fan!