Great Land

My wife and I just returned from a trip to and from the Charlotte area for a wedding. I took a different route going and coming, trying to find a route that didn't mean I was sitting at traffic lights on Independence Boulevard between Monroe and Uptown Charlotte.
This pursuit resulted in some long, beautiful drives through an area of South Carolina I haven't traveled through before; mainly Lancaster and Kershaw Counties, somewhere between--I guess--Rock Hill and McBee.
It really is amazing, to me, how big the Palmetto State is. I learned this the first time I rode with one of our photographers to a Clemson football game a few years ago. It seemed to take forever--minus that awful gameday traffic!
And don't get me started on North Carolina! Once, when I lived in Lumberton, my buddy invited me to hang out with him and his friends up at Kitty Hawk. It took me more than five hours to get there! Same state!
This leads me to my point. (Thanks for sticking with me so far!) My friends from Maryland--where I grew up and went to college--seem to think of The South as one big county.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard:
"Hey! We've got to drive to a wedding in Atlanta (from D.C.), so we'd love to stop by and see you!" or "Hey! We're going to visit so-and-so in Raleigh, is that real close to where you live?'
Stop by? Are you kidding me?
When I explain to them just how far away Atlanta, Charlotte, and The Triangle are from where I live, they seem astounded. And these are people who, like me, grew up driving an hour each way to work, and not batting an eye!
The Carolinas are some beautiful countryside, and it's nice to live here with my wife and be able to drive within a day or less to see some of my friends and family.
Now, if we could just get Interstates 73 and 74 finished, I wouldn't have to take those McBee backroads to get to Charlotte.
Oh yeah.
I just remembered, I'll have to pay tolls on those new roads.
Hello, McBee!

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