Over my 48 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States. I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning. Working in alphabetical order, we continue today with the 8th state to be added to the Union: South Carolina.
State: South Carolina Joined the Union: 1788 Visits: 1
I’ve made a single visit to the Palmetto State, during the ill-fated road trip to Disney World through Virginia back in 2016.
Around 300 miles into the 750-mile journey from Roanoke to Orlando, we decided to stop for the night at the Hampton Inn in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Once again, we got three hotel rooms and, since everyone was feeling relatively good and it was still pretty early, we decided to order in some dinner. Our first attempt failed when the BBQ joint did not have a dinner-time vegetarian option, so we ordered Papa John’s, threw Pitch Perfect II on the television, and then decided to call it a night and retreat to our separate rooms.
The following morning, we enjoyed the free breakfast before heading out to try and finish up the remaining 450 miles to get to the Reach For The Stars conference on time.
Will I return? Possibly, though there is nothing specific drawing me back to the state.
Over my 48 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States. I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning. Working in alphabetical order, we continue today with the 17th state to be added to the Union: Ohio.
State: Ohio Joined the Union: 1803 Visits:1112 (I think)
Over the years, I’ve made at least eleven trips to the Buckeye State, first in 1996 and most recently in 2019.
My first trip would have been in early May of 1996. At the end of finals week, a group of us headed out from West Lafayette for a day trip to King’s Island amusement park. Things I remember from this trip: stopping at or near the campus of Miami of Ohio for food, I’m assuming on the way there and a group of Ferengi characters chasing after the ladies in our group and asking them to stroke their ears. I don’t remember any particular rides, though I’m sure we partook.
I would return to Ohio on Friday, April 7, 2000 to see the Cubs battle the Reds and their newest acquisition, Ken Griffey Jr. An eclectic group started the morning way too early with Krispy Kreme donuts at the house before heading towards Cincinnati. Along the way, there was a brief stop in West Lafayette, because why not, and further along in Indiana for the trifecta of a KFC/Taco Bell/Pizza Hut for lunch. We arrived in Cincinnati well before the stadium opened, so some time was spent walking around the bustling metropolis that was, and continues to be, Cincinnati. Our tickets were in the upper deck and, to be honest, I have little to no recollection of the game itself, which the Cubs won 10-6. My one and only memory of the game is losing my balance and tumbling down 5-10 rows, landing on a group of fans below. Certainly not my proudest moment.
I returned to Ohio, and the Cincinnati area, in at the end of April in 2003. My friend Scott had moved to Ohio at some point, and I went for a weekend visit. Aside from a trip to the local comic shops, the highlight was visiting the brand new Great American Ball Park. The Padres were in town to battle Reds and we got to check out what the new stadium had to offer.
The next season, the Cubs opened their season in Cincinnati against the Reds, so another trip was in order. My friend Pete and I headed out early in the morning, meeting up with Scott and walking across the bridge from Kentucky back to Ohio to get to the ballpark. Vice President Dick Cheney was on hand to throw out the first pitch, and the Cubs pulled out the victory.
I returned to the Cincinnati area in August of 2005, where I attended the Reds game against the Diamondbacks, kicking off a string of three stadiums in three states in nine days.
In 2006, the Cubs once again opened their season on the road against the Reds and again it constituted a road trip down to see, where this time President George W Bush threw out the first pitch.
I made a return trip that summer for interleague play to see the White Sox battle the Reds.
In 2007, when the Cubs were looking to clinch the division, I made the trip down, but missed it by one day.
The next year, I made my final, to date, trip down to Cincinnati and saw the Rockies defeat the Reds. Continue reading →
When we left off last time, we were two days into the road trip and had finally made it to Virginia. We pick up the tale the following morning.
Sunday
Things got off to an early start, for me at least, as I found Saturday night’s dinner not agreeing with me very well. After taking care of that particular problem, I found that the guest bathroom in Jeff’s apartment was missing one very important item: toilet paper. Nothing on the roll, nothing under the sink, and nothing in the little closet. Thankfully, there was some Kleenex on the back of the toilet, so I was forced to kill that off in order to go about my night.
When I woke up for real on Sunday morning, Jeff had been out to the market and had returned with bagels and other items and fresh coffee being brewed. After some initial difficulties using the toaster (turns out you need to push the handle all the way down for it to work), I was good to go. Eventually, Val woke up and the three of us spent the morning eating breakfast and watching the Sunday morning news shows.
At some point, either while waiting for Val to wake up or while she was in the shower (I forget the exact order), Jeff pulled out some of his art books for me to look through, most of which focused on the fantasy realm. While I’m not the biggest fan of fantasy, my years of comics reading means I can appreciate good art, so, aesthetically, I could appreciate it. Later, he pulled out his old portfolio and showed Val and me some of his work from college, when he was an art major. Seeing as I can hardly draw a stick figure, I was impressed by his talent.
After taking in a 5th episode of the new season of Daredevil, we decided to head out on the second leg of the trip, with Disney World our next destination. Our first stop was at the Wendy’s in Ridgeway, Virginia, about an hour into the trip. While certain people tried to once again get their bearings, I went in and bought lunch for both Jeff and myself. Val expressed interest in some curly fries, perhaps intrigued by the previous day’s stop at Arby’s, but the Hardy’s across the street did not offer them and there was no Arby’s in sight. Over Val’s objections, Jeff vowed to stop at the next Arby’s we found to get her those curly fries, but we oddly did not see one for the rest of the day.
While traveling through the Carolinas, we kept passing signs for a restaurant called Zaxby’s. Those of us from Chicago have never encountered such a restaurant, to the point that the website won’t even tell me the closest location to my house. Anyway, Val asked what type of restaurant it was and Jeff explained that it was a department store, similar to Nordstrom. Because in the deep south, there is no difference between Zaxby’s and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Around 300 miles into the 750 mile journey, we decided to stop for the night. We found a Hampton Inn in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and, thankfully, this one met with Jeff’s approval. Once again, got 3 hotel rooms and, since everyone was feeling relatively good and it was still pretty early, we decided to order in some dinner. Our first attempt failed when the BBQ joint did not have a dinner-time vegetarian option, so we ordered Papa John’s.
When dinner showed up, we found the smash hit Pitch Perfect II on the television, which apparently every one had seen except me. Once the movie ended, we decided to call it a night a retreat to our separate rooms for the night. Continue reading →
A few weeks back, I headed out on a road trip to Florida and Disney World by way of Virginia. To say things did not go as planned would be an understatement. This is the story of that trip.
Friday
The plan was to leave work around noon, thanks to a meeting I had with the fine folks in AF. Our first stop was across the street at Mariano’s, to get lunch, snacks for the trip, and a opaque container that would allow Jeff to drink during the drive outside the view of law enforcement. An hour later, we were on the road, with Val behind the wheel, me in the passenger seat, and Jeff and a case of Blue Moon in the back. Our destination, Roanoke, Virginia, lay 700 miles away, with an estimated arrival time of 11:30 PM. Jeff, thinking this road trip was taking place in the early 2000s, had brought along a collection of CDs for us to listen to, which lasted through much of the Illinois portion of the trip. Eventually, though, we switched to the playlist I had put together, which led to the first amusing tale of the trip.
When Lily Allen’s hit song Fuck You came up on the playlist in Indianapolis, a not-so-slightly inebriated Jeff instantly took to its charms, seeing it as an anthem against his perceived work antagonists. As the song played, he dialed it up in the iTunes store on his phone, passed it up front to make sure it was the right one, and then purchased it. More on this later.
Speaking of drunk Jeff, his plan on drinking throughout the drive had an unintended consequence: our estimated arrival time. He made the cardinal sin of breaking the seal, after which we needed to stop for him to use the bathroom practically ever hour. Once you added in his smoking time, we spent approximately 20 minutes of every hour standing still, which pushed our expected arrival in Virginia well past midnight. During one of these stops, in the lovely town of New Castle, Indiana, we even had to find a WalMart in order to replenish the supply of Blue Moon. Eventually, we made it out of Indiana and into Ohio with Val still behind the wheel. However, around 7 PM, things started to go wrong.
We were starting to go through some mountainous terrain when Val suddenly started to feel sick. She pulled off at the next exit, found a driveway next to what appeared to be a trailer park, and stopped to walk around and catch her breath. Meanwhile, Jeff, claiming he was now sober (but lying through his teeth) decided he would drive once we got back on the road. I tried to stop him, but he had the keys, it was his car, and Val was in no position to back either one of us, so he won out. Eventually, we tried to get going again, but had to pull off again at a gas station before we made any real progress.
While Jeff and Val came in and out of the gas station, I started looking for local hotels. It was obvious at this point that we would not be making it to Virginia, so this was as good a spot as any to stop for the night. The closest Hampton Inn was about 10 miles back in the other direction, so, after purchasing some Pepto-Bismal, we slowly reversed our course and found the hotel, where Jeff decided he and he alone could help Val, leaving me to babysit the car which he had left in front of the door. Unfortunately for us, the hotel did not have any double rooms, so, after a bit of finagling, we ended up with 3 rooms for the night in Chillicothe, Ohio, a mere 300 miles short of our intended destination.
Saturday
Waking up in beautiful Chillicothe, I showered and headed down for the free breakfast in the hotel lobby, where I ran into a now sober Jeff. The day was off to a great start, as he had thoughts about this Hampton Inn and how it did not live up to his expectations for the chain. I had a bed to sleep in and was able to make my own Belgian waffle, so I was content. Neither one of us had heard from Val since the night before, so we were both anxious to see how she was holding up, hoping, of course, for the best.
Over my 48 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States. I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning. Working in alphabetical order, we continue today with the 8th state to be added to the Union: South Carolina.
Saturday