Circumnavigating South Carolina – part seven

So, at last, we come to the close to the story about my South Carolina trip. About 800 miles in two days, but there were still a few stops to make. The first two were in the town of Greenwood, home of Lander University. Only the second stop was planned; the first was irresistible. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part seven” →

Circumnavigating South Carolina – part six

In today’s chapter, the tragic story of a traveler not eating what he intended to eat.

I made terrific time from Manning to Orangeburg, because I-95 connects the two towns. Once upon a time, US-301 had crossed over Lake Marion as a high two-lane bridge, but when the interstate was built, they rerouted 301’s traffic between the cities onto it, and the pair of new bridges, two lanes north and two lanes south that were newly built. The old bridge is now a pedestrian fishing pier, and Lake Marion is itself quite beautiful. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part six” →

Circumnavigating South Carolina – part four

So, here’s the situation: the sun had gone down, I was in very unfamiliar territory, my last four stops had been okay, and I was missing my family a bit. Nevertheless, I pressed on. I would be driving through the small city of Florence after dark, bound for one last meal in the town of Scranton before stopping for the night in Lake City. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part four” →

Circumnavigating South Carolina – part three

So, I’d enjoyed some pretty good barbecue at the last two places, and made my way north for my next stop. My friends at Roadfood.com had suggested that the next place that I needed to visit as I made my way east across the state was 521 BBQ & Grill, just south of the state line in the suburbs of Charlotte, and the best way to get there from Clover was to actually drive across Lake Wylie and get on Charlotte’s perimeter highway, I-485. After I made my way north across the lake, I spotted a strip mall with a Best Buy and gave myself a half-hour break to walk around, get at least a little bit of exercise, and shake my head at the quite ridiculous prices they charge for a USB cord to replace the one that I left at home. I figured it could wait until I got back to Atlanta. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part three” →

Circumnavigating South Carolina – part two

When I plotted my circle around South Carolina, it was natural that I’d use I-85 as my entry point, just for the sake of convenience. Continuing northeast up that interstate, my next stop was in Gaffney, the town that has attracted many a tourist’s eye with its gigantic water tower made to look like a peach. I thought about stopping to take some pictures, but it’s not going anywhere, and I had a lot of road to cover. I made my way over to Willard’s Hash, a popular destination in the area since the late 1960s, and was very surprised to see a familiar sign there. Earlier this year, the last time that Marie and I were in the Palmetto State together, we had a terrific meal at the amazing Midway BBQ in Buffalo, thirty-one miles south down SC-18. Here, on the side of the building, was the familiar red pig with the words “Midway at Willard’s.” Oh, man, was I ever ready for this. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part two” →

Circumnavigating South Carolina – part one

Earlier this year, I took a two-day “circumnavigation” of Alabama, just driving around the state in a big circle and eating a spectacular amount of barbecue. The resulting series of chapters here at our blog, which you can begin reading here, have proven to be among the most popular things that we’ve written in two and a half years. I’ve been planning a follow-up ever since. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part one” →