When looking at a map of South Carolina and noting its size in relation to its surrounding states, North Carolina and Georgia, it doesn’t seem that it would be only half the size of Georgia and in fact much smaller than North Carolina. When estimating our time in each state before departing on this adventure, we thought a month in all of these states in the south would have been appropriate time. We spent a month in Georgia, slightly less than a month in Alabama, around a month in Tennessee, a bit shy of a month in Georgia, but only two weeks in South Carolina.

If you were curious as to whether or not there are still dirt roads in the United States I can without a doubt confirm this with a yes.  There were many red clay roads we passed on our two-lane routes also we witnessed cars covered in red dust who travel these roads frequently.  The small towns we passed through seem to operate in the old school manner.  Nobody is in a rush, it’s too hot to rush, everyone knows everyone, and there are a few local establishments that every town member frequents.  If you happen to pass through one of these towns on Sunday you won’t find a lot of places open, as Sunday is still observed as a day of rest.  It’s kind of nice to witness this simple slower pace of life where God and family remain the center focus; it sort of slows you down and makes you reflect on your priorities.  

Prepping for a road trip is exciting and unnerving at the same time. You try to decide what you will need and strip away everything else. In prepping for our adventure we did an ok job, but learned a lot very quickly during our trial run trip down to the tip of Florida. It would have been hard to predict some of these issues, so I would like to share some of lessons we’ve learned so far.

A summer and one OBXMAS trip ago I spent a great amount of time speaking with both Freg and Ant about a great 50 States Road Trip project they wanted to embark on.  Ant wanted to go because he has the capability to work mobile and enjoys traveling and Freg for the opportunity to take as many images and videos wherever he wanted.  My conversations with Ant revolved around the amazingness of the opportunity, how it would be awesome for Freg to ‘stretch’ his photography skills and expand his talent, and how to get Freg on board.  My conversations with Freg revolved around why he needed to go on this trip, why it made sense, and why it was a great opportunity for him and his talent.

All recommendations Ant and I received from our friends or Alabama locals regarding Montgomery, AL were very slim and unexcited. Because this adventure we have chosen to endure revolves very heavily around what suggestions we receive, we almost decided to bypass Montgomery altogether, but thankfully our path through Alabama was close enough to Montgomery to, “just go ahead and stop here anyway”.