Day 8: When nature calls

DAY 8: Abbeville, South Carolina
Miles traveled: 1,254
States visited: 6 (just added: South Carolina)
Weather: 66, overcast

I just spent the past two days in a secluded campground in South Carolina. I joked in my last post about needing a vacation from my vacation, but it was actually true. In the first week of my adventure, I rarely had time to catch my breath. Most of my free time was spent in a frantic scramble to find wifi. I didn’t get to relax enough.

My travel schedule afforded me two days in South Carolina, and after I decided not to go to the ocean because that was pretty far out of my way, I made the decision to find a campground. I found one in Sumter National Park. Here I enjoyed peace and solitude, hot showers, and the surroundings of nature, all for the low, low cost of $7 a day.

Somehow I survived the past 60 hours without Internet access. I’m completely refreshed and ready to hit the road again. One thing I realized is that I shouldn’t kill myself to blog everyday. If I can I will, but the world won’t end if I don’t.

I did next to nothing while I was at this campground, except for an afternoon hike, which took me past some old gold mine shafts from the 1800s.

I caught up on a lot of reading as well. I have 3 books that I’m reading on this trip. One is On the Road by Kerouac, a book I started years ago but couldn’t finish because I found it boring. I’ve picked it up where I left off, and it’s more readable now. He met some crazy characters on his journeys – hopefully I will do the same.

I’m also reading The Andy Warhol Diaries. For the last 13 years of his life, Warhol kept a detailed journal of his daily events, and this 800-page book presents most of those diary entries. Warhol not only writes candidly about his encounters with other celebrities (like a ‘70s version of Kathy Griffin), but he also lists all of the purchases he makes in a given day and the cost for each. His entries include lines like “We had office pizza lunch ($5)” and “Cab ride downtown (cab $7, tip $3).” I’m fascinated that Warhol kept track of such minor details. It offers an interesting window into his life. This book is huge and I bought it specifically for this trip because I figured I’d need 4 months to complete it.

The final book is one Robin gave me called Book of Unforgettable Journeys. It has several short articles about trips to different places in the world. So far I’ve read the ones about Florida and Georgia, since I’m traveling there next. This seems like the kind of thing I could write. I’ve been thinking about trying to pursue writing in some capacity after this trip is over; perhaps I’ll blog more about that in the future.

I have a great week coming up. Today I’ll be checking out Athens, Georgia, and the next two days I’ll be couchsurfing in Atlanta. Then it’s off to Knoxville and Nashville and possibly the Smoky Mountains this weekend.