The inspiration for the 2021 Deep South summer road trip...
Taking this adventure by car...this not a "plane" adventure, for a month, throughout the Deep South has been on my mind for many years. I've accomplished many road trips across parts of this country, back when I worked for the bank (West coast 101 Highway, Illinois through the midwest, etc), but I'd never truly done a full road trip in the "Deep South". Once I became a social studies teacher in 2009, the idea of visiting historical sites related to some of the most uncomfortable parts of American history really became something I wanted to attempt.
A bit of background on why this trip...what really solidified this goal for me, was back in 2017, when I drove to my annual summer beach trip in Destin, Florida (the one where I've been meeting up with dad since 1983). Instead of the main interstate, I took a far longer driving route to my overnight rest stop in Savannah, Georgia, on old Highway 301. This old highway was THE route vacationers took to Florida "back in the day", so motels and restaurants and prosperous towns had dotted the entire route from South Carolina all the way down to the Panhandle of Florida. But then, in the 1950's, as President Eisenhower and Congress started building interstates all across our country as part of the Federal Highways Act, something happened to these towns off the white shield highways. "Death by interstate" as it became known. I read about the current state of towns dotting Highway 301 in Paul Theroux's "Deep South" travel book and about how abandoned this stretch of road became...motels and restaurants and gas stations all remained, hollowed out, overgrown and forgotten.
And of course, everyone knows I can't resist a good "when nature takes over civilization" photo op. So I drove this stretch from South of the Border in Dillon, South Carolina, all the way down somewhere outside of Bamberg...I think it took me 9 hours total with all the stopping to photograph. And a speeding ticket. It was fascinating. And sad. You can see the 2017 photos here of that stretch of highway if you're interested.
In any case, this...and then the return route from Florida through Montgomery and Birmingham, really inspired me to make a bucket list promise to myself to use one of my teacher summers to do a far more extensive, month long "Deep South" road trip, spending more time and visiting more spots. I blew through Alabama that time in 2017 pretty quick, but knew there were so many civil rights gems and lessons, I had to go back and visit. Fast forward to 2021...the "hot vax summer" and ready to get back on the road...all my blogs are the most memorable parts of my stops on this 2021 trip, much of with occurred with the company of various old friends that met me along the way...this "Not a Plane Adventure" adventure! I hope you enjoy and can visit some of these stops that inspire you in the future!
If you want to skip all my blog posts and just see all the sets from this trip, here's the link to the full collection.
A bit of background on why this trip...what really solidified this goal for me, was back in 2017, when I drove to my annual summer beach trip in Destin, Florida (the one where I've been meeting up with dad since 1983). Instead of the main interstate, I took a far longer driving route to my overnight rest stop in Savannah, Georgia, on old Highway 301. This old highway was THE route vacationers took to Florida "back in the day", so motels and restaurants and prosperous towns had dotted the entire route from South Carolina all the way down to the Panhandle of Florida. But then, in the 1950's, as President Eisenhower and Congress started building interstates all across our country as part of the Federal Highways Act, something happened to these towns off the white shield highways. "Death by interstate" as it became known. I read about the current state of towns dotting Highway 301 in Paul Theroux's "Deep South" travel book and about how abandoned this stretch of road became...motels and restaurants and gas stations all remained, hollowed out, overgrown and forgotten.
And of course, everyone knows I can't resist a good "when nature takes over civilization" photo op. So I drove this stretch from South of the Border in Dillon, South Carolina, all the way down somewhere outside of Bamberg...I think it took me 9 hours total with all the stopping to photograph. And a speeding ticket. It was fascinating. And sad. You can see the 2017 photos here of that stretch of highway if you're interested.
In any case, this...and then the return route from Florida through Montgomery and Birmingham, really inspired me to make a bucket list promise to myself to use one of my teacher summers to do a far more extensive, month long "Deep South" road trip, spending more time and visiting more spots. I blew through Alabama that time in 2017 pretty quick, but knew there were so many civil rights gems and lessons, I had to go back and visit. Fast forward to 2021...the "hot vax summer" and ready to get back on the road...all my blogs are the most memorable parts of my stops on this 2021 trip, much of with occurred with the company of various old friends that met me along the way...this "Not a Plane Adventure" adventure! I hope you enjoy and can visit some of these stops that inspire you in the future!
If you want to skip all my blog posts and just see all the sets from this trip, here's the link to the full collection.