Texas to South Carolina

Well I have made it to South Carolina! After traveling all week it was a relief to unpack and sleep in my own bed again!

I last updated from the panhandle of Texas. The next day I ventured into Oklahoma, found an amazing coffee shop, The Brick, as I drove south into Oklahoma, I was surrounded by beautiful fields! I loved it and I have to say I turned my music up loud and proud! :D

Down into Texas and across, across, across Texas. It took me the entire day to cross Texas. But I was very happy because I decided to maunder through country highways and small towns rather than to take a state highway. I was thrilled to get a real taste of Texas as I wandered through small towns and back roads.

The next day I was blessed with gorgeous weather as I stopped to explore Vicksburg, MS. Vicksburg, an important part of the civil war campaign, has an incredible battlefield and memorial park. I spent all day Thursday exploring the meticulously mapped out battlefield. I have read lots of books on the Civil War, but Vicksburg was the first civil war battlefield I had ever been to and it is amazing to see it in person. To fix places in your mind with the dates and names you know, to see where they stood and died, in a place that looks so ordinary and normal, like the woods you would find in Oregon or Washington.At the end of the war, each state built a memorial in honour of their fallen soldiers. In the end as you drive through the 17 mile loop that encompasses the memorials, each memorial seems bigger than the last.

After a sobering afternoon, I indulged in my first real Southern meal; fried chicken, collard greens and biscuits! A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. :D

The next day, I drove quickly across Alabama and Georgia, as I will come back and visit these states later this summer, arriving in South Carolina, my home for the summer, by early evening.

I honestly wasn’t sure what I would feel like once I was actually was here; as all week long I have felt that I was on vacation. Arriving here made me realize that I am a long way from all my family and friends, and yet I am excited for all the new places to see and people to meet! :D