From Myrtle Beach through Charleston, SC, and Savannah, GA to Jacksonville, Florida.
Today was a long day, covering about 380 miles, but over 9 hours from North Myrtle Beach until arriving here in Jacksonville. It was a long day because I went back into Myrtle Beach to see it in the daylight and drive around it some more, and also visit Charleston in South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia on the way down to Jacksonville, Florida, where I’m staying tonight.
Myrtle Beach is a nice town for sure, with over 90 golf courses, and thus named Golf Capital of the World, but it’s dominated by giant high-rise hotels and condos, and I mean dominated, at least along the entirety of Ocean Boulevard it seems, and then some. In the daylight, it turns out the downtown strip of stores, attractions, restaurants, etc., is smaller than it seemed at night, and is really confined to just a couple of blocks along North Ocean Boulevard, with the rest of North and South Ocean Boulevard being populated largely by high-rise hotels, apartments, and condos, although coming into Myrtle Beach along North Ocean, heading south into the town, there are more homes and smaller apartment complexes (as well as high rise hotels) that line the road and overlook the Atlantic beaches. This is the road I took out of Myrtle Beach last night, on my way back to North Myrtle Beach. Coming in this way, before you hit the downtown area, the road is quiet and sweeps along the Atlantic coast, lined with palms.
A little more of a drive around some of the residential streets in Myrtle Beach, which are unsurprisingly lovely, and off I headed toward Charleston, about 100 miles and 2 hours south.
I remained on highway 17 south the whole way , which was flat and uninspiring, and for a long way lined with every kind of store and business, making it it into just another strip. Giant beachwear stores, gas stations, fast food, car repair, attractions and small theme parks, crazy golf, ice cream, specialty stores, you name it. Just what you’d expect to find on a highly commercialized strip of road like this, although it went on for miles and miles.
Still, the drive was pleasant, and the weather warming up some, and even though in the early 70s, the temperature seemed warmer on this lovely blue skied day. I listened to the audiobook CSNY biography, the news, a couple of podcasts, music, radio classics from the 1940s, and generally just passed the time. No problem driving, which I find kind of meditative, as I can lay out my thoughts and then explore and meander throughout them. That does get in the way of listening to things like an audiobook, as I constantly have to rewind after I get lost in my own thoughts.
By the time I neared Charleston, about 30 minutes north, the road had long stopped being a strip and was now just a long highway that had become really boring. I mean it’s a pretty tree-lined road, but because it’s a major highway it bypass small towns and other items of interest, including diverging scenery, so driving these kinds of roads for long distances becomes deadening and uninteresting, even though they’re usually the quickest (and sometimes the only) way to get somewhere. Side and country roads are the way to go though, whenever possible, although those routes can add hours to a trip.
Talking of tree-lined roads, down here there is less and less evidence of fall colors, although there is autumn colored foliage, just much less of it. I’m heading into the endless summer.
I reached Charleston around 1:30 (shouldn’t have left Myrtle Beach so late), and it was still 2-plus hours to Savannah and yet another 2-plus hours to Jacksonville after that, so I didn’t have much time. I had to keep reminding myself that Charleston and Savannah are really not my destinations, but are stops on the way. I spent a couple of hours driving and walking around the city of about 150,000, and found it to be exactly the charming and beautiful city I expected. It’s definitely worth a real visit here sometime. Lovely city scenes, beautiful architecture, warm and balmy weather, interesting and colorful homes, many of which are historic, with mixed architectural styles, including Colonial, Georgian, Federal, Victorian, and Art Deco. Not that I’ve been to New Orleans (but I will be visiting), but some of the buildings and homes reminded me of what I’ve seen of New Orleans architecture and a quick peek on the Internet assures me there are similarities. Although Charleston is British in influence, whereas New Orleans is more French, Spanish, and Caribbean in its influences and appearance.
I really enjoyed the bustling downtown streets and the warm weather, and seeing the town, and I really enjoyed those homes. Parts of the town reminded me of Hampstead in London, and it turns out that the Hampstead district of Charleston was modeled after Hampstead. Who knew?
Ken asked me why I hadn’t visited the USS Savannah, which is docked in Charleston. It was (Ken tells me) the first commercial nuclear powered vessel, and the steering pumps were designed by none other than Horace Sevier, Bev’s father (who also worked on the hydraulic system of the submarines in the Disneyland ride, 20,000 leagues under the sea).
But, around 3:15 it was definitely time to get on the road. Savannah is a little over two hours from Charleston, and the sun is starting to dip around 5:30 nowadays. Route 17 continued, eventually turning into I-95 south, and bringing me into Georgia and then Savannah.
I stayed in Savannah for even less times, as dusk was coming, and there just wasn’t enough time for more than a drive and small walk around parts of the city, which, as I said, reminded me of Charleston, although laid out differently and with different architectural influences and origins. It’s even around the same size of 150,000. Whereas Charleston is an interesting asymmetrical layout of streets, some of which intersect at odd angles, making the city even more interesting and idiosyncratic, Savannah’s street layout is designed as a grid, and parts of it also very much resemble Hampstead in London. But in my cursory visit to Savannah, it was reminiscent of my not quite as cursory visit to Charleston earlier.
Okay, so back on the road, and a deepening dusk is pretty well descending, so most of the remaining journey was in the dark, traveling down boring I-95 toward Jacksonville, Florida for about 140 miles.
I stopped for gas at Buck-ees on route I-95, which had the LARGEST bank of gas pumps I’ve ever seen.
Jacksonville is a different kettle of fish, size-wise. Compared to the small cities of Charleston and Savannah at around 150,000, Jacksonville is a city of over a million. But other than recognizing Jacksonville as large, I couldn’t see a thing as it was pitch dark well before I arrived around 8 pm, and I headed straight to the hotel. Then a little meandering, a little blog writing, and bed.
Tomorrow, I head to Boca Raton for the night, passing through and visiting St. Augustine and Daytona International Speedway on the way.
