The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

On the way to DeSoto the next day, I stopped for gas and found myself next to a Portillo’s!!! So exciting. Probably more exciting than DeSoto National Memorial.There wasn’t a whole lot to see here. I learned from the video that he was a real a-hole. Just obsessed with finding gold. The natives quickly learned they could easily get rid of him by telling him the gold was just a little farther away. When he died, they dumped his body into the Mississippi River. The expedition eventually gave up, but not before spreading disease and destruction across the southeastern U.S. Several days later,while visiting Ocmulgee Mounds in Georgia, I learned how DeSoto had totally screwed them.  That night I got to see my Uncle Joel in Gainesville! He took me out to dinner with a friend, and then we went over to his other friends’ house for dessert.  He took me out for breakfast the next morning, too, and filled up my gas tank. Oh, and he bought me this huuuuuge bag of snacks! He even included clips for

When we visited Florida over New Year’s, I was yelling, “Fucking Florida!” within about 10 minutes of beingin the car. After having driven in 48 states, I can confidently say that Florida and New Jersey have the worst drivers.  It was almost funny how, as soon as I crossed from Georgia into Florida, everything got stressful. First stop: Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine. I’ve been here several times, and Alex got the stamp forme a few years ago, but I thought it would be nice to stop and get my own stamp. Nope!!! So much traffic and no parking anywhere near the fort! This is the closest I got! Then I went to Fort Matanzas, the site of another Spanish-French massacre. (I felt really bad for the French!) The fort is just across this river, but there’s no bridgeso I would have had to wait over an hour for a ferry that they thought might not even run due to the weather. So once again, I didn’t actually get inside the fort. But then it was time to visit one of my old Florida kick-it s

Funny how I was complaining about not feeling comfortable in the South... that night I stayed with a couple in Beaufort, SC who were close to my age. We chatted for hours and are now friends on social media.  The next morning I got up early and drove to the Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah. This place was gorgeous, and the Spanish moss gave it a very eerie feeling. I read on some website that there was a clergymanwho drowned himself in the Wilmington River in hopes that he’d be buried in this cemetery... he knew he couldn’t rest in peace anywhere else. I don’t think I’d go that far to ensure my burial there, but it would definitely be a peaceful place to spend the rest of eternity. Lots of sculptures and big trees. I hadn’t meant to spend any more time in Savannah, but on my way through town, some cute little shops caught my eye. I pulled over and within 30 minutes, had finished my Christmas shopping for my brother andgotten some gifts for my mom, as well. I really want to go back ther

Today was not the most exciting of days. I think it’s starting to sink in just how much driving I’ve committed myself to this summer, and I’m tired just thinking about it. I’m not sure how I am going to drive all the way from Florida to Texas to Oregon. Luckily, I just discovered a bunch of new podcasts that seem awesome, so that is something to occupy the time. I think my new favorite is called “My Dad Wrote a Porno.” It is exactly what it sounds like; this guy’s dad wrote an erotic novel, and this guy and his friends read it out loud on the podcast and provide a commentary. I was literally laughing out loud today. Definitely makes the drive go by quicker! I started off my morning at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. It was a typical battlefield site- a long road that winds through the woods with lots of people walking, running, and riding bikes. That is a common trend at these battlefields, and it always feels a little strange to me. The museum had lots of artifacts from th

Another confession: I didn’t really spend any time at the Cape Lookout National Seashore, either. It looks like I would have to take a ferry over to the island, and I didn’t really have time. I slept in because there was a 70% chance of rain that morning, and was disappointed to get up and see that it was a beautiful day and I could have gone to the beach. After getting my stamp, I drove a few hours to Moores Creek National Battlefield. This ended up being a really interesting site! It was the first decisive victory for the Patriots in 1776.  There was a group of Highlander Loyalists who decided they were going to attack the Patriots. They were sure they had the advantage. When they went to lead the charge over the Moores Creek Bridge, they discovered that the Patriots had dismantled most of the bridge and rubbed wax on the remaining wood planks to make them slippery.  When they finally made it to the other side, the Patriots were there waiting behind earthworks with guns and cannons.

Monday was actually a surprisingly awesome day. I hit three national park sites, although I feel a little guilty because I didn’t actually hang out at the beach at  Cape Hatteras  National Seashore. It was rainy, and I had just been at the beach all weekend. I started out at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. From the website, it looked like it was just a memorial on top of the hill. But when I got there, there was more to see. They had a nice museum, and you could still see the runway with markers that showed where the plane had flown on those first few flights.  I climbed to the top of the 90 foot hill to see the memorial. I feel like I’ve seen about 9 million monuments and most of them look the same, but this one was actually really cool. My next stop was Fort Raleigh National Monument, which I thought would be another boring sport. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that it was on Roanoke Island, and there wasn’t actually a fort there. When I was a kid, I was fascinate

OK, so blogging has been a total fail so far this summer, but I’ll just start with what I’ve seen since Katie and I parted ways after New York City. New York will have to get several blog posts of its own. Sunday was a stressful day filled with traffic because it didn’t occur to me that everybody would be driving home from the holiday weekend. I made it to Thomas Stone national historic site about 10 minutes before they close. I was disappointed because this site has very limited hours and I’ve been trying to visit it for a few years now. I was looking forward to actually learning about his person I have never heard of. But the ranger was nice and said they would leave the gate unlocked if I wanted to drive around and look at the house even though I had missed the tours. So I did learn that he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a plantation owner. One of his descendants was a defense lawyer for one of the men who conspired to kill Abraham Lincoln. (I still feel like I’