One Week Today

Thursday, March 26, 2009 – I tossed and turned all night long. I couldn't get comfortable and I seemed to have too much on my mind. When I finally woke up it was raining. I haven't showered in three days and I don't really have much of a plan for today. Am I crazy to think I can live in the van for so many months? When I started this trip I remember saying, "I want to LIVE everyday. Too many people feel there way through life in the dark, too numb to experience or remember anything worthwhile. I want to feel the adrenaline of life everyday, and take all feelings with it. Without hunger, cold, pain, loneliness and uncomfort how can you be clear in your head on what life is." Problems arise in my life just as they do in anyone else's, but that's life. Take em and be thankful your still alive. Even though today is off to a blah start, I'm going to make the rest of it amazing.

When I called Miller, he said he was up all night throwing up, and that Jackie was also sick. Between them being sick, nothing to do until he got out at 8pm, and the steady rain, I decided to head out of town a day earlier than planned. I headed south towards Moorhead city and the coast. Today ended up being the day for wrong turns, as I drove 5 miles past the westerly turnoff and started heading out to the Carolina peninsula. Catching myself before too long, I crossed onto the Barrier island of Atlantic Beach and took that route along the coast for an hour.

On the island, we passed empty hotel after hotel. Camps, villas and private beaches, all deserted. It was 60 degrees, yet it was still considered "winter" down here. At a quick stop to the beach, I didn't see a soul save a couple surfers in wetsuits. One of them had hit their head and they were running up the beach to take the bloody kid to the hospital. As they sped off, I was alone again on the dreary day. A couple of pelicans floated by and I was on the road again.

70 more miles to Myrtle beach now, and the rain is really coming down! I'm ready for a tornado. My second wrong turn in Wilmington takes me back over the bridge I just crossed, so I pulled over under a really cool tree to consult the map. It says I have to either take a pay ferry or go back over the bridge a third time in order to continue. Dazey liked the tree too so I snapped a couple photos.

Twenty minutes after crossing the bridge a third time, I realize I'm not on the right highway. For a third time today I had made the wrong turn. This one wasn't bad though, as I now got to drive a scenic highway through the "green swamp" which was a wooden pine forest standing in water and a maze of waterways. There were a lot of burned areas and young forests next to mature growth. The whole area reminded me of a really wet Yellowstone.

Finally coming into Myrtle beach, I am flabbergasted by the gaudy and extravagant measures businesses have to go through to turn a profit. Myrtle beach is nothing more than a showy strip mall. I passed dozens of themed and expensive looking mini golf course, seafood and country cooking restaurants, discount t-shirt and souvenir stands and hotels that rival Vegas in majesty. All this in the name of Spring break. There isn't anything special about Myrtle Beach other than its location near the beach. Somehow this spot was built up to become a Mecca for high schoolers and college students who want to party but don't want to travel all the way to Florida or pay for a flight to Cancun.

I finally got a hold of my sorority sister Krista after looking for her at the Hard Rock Café that she works at. The café is literally a pyramid made of glass. They went so overboard on this place I felt like I was in Disney world. She wasn't working but she called me and directed me to her house. I pulled in just as she was leaving for work. I had 6 hours till she came back, so I organized my stuff, my thoughts, charged my batteries, and myself by taking a much needed shower. I sat down to watch TV and dozed off.