from port city...

we'd been looking forward to charleston since we started planning this trip over a year ago. in fact, we'd been wanting to visit charleston for years but couldn't bring ourselves to cough up the [ outrageous ] plane fare. so this was our chance. & when we finally arrived it was raining sideways. & it was flooding. & it was humid. but, have no fear, we found a parking spot by the city market & set out on foot with our umbrellas & a positive attitude.

as we expected, the historic district was very pretty. as we should have expected, the historic district was very posh. my short-shorts & luke's jean cut offs weren't exactly the norm. the price for a drink or a meal was out of our league. & with nowhere but either a truly shitty pub with cheap beer [ where we ended up having lunch - what a waste of money ], an overpriced restaurant, or the van to hang out in while the rain lashed [ we were so envious of the tourists that were able to return to clean, dry hotel rooms with cable television ], after a few hours admiring the city on foot we were about finished with it. but not all was lost.

what did we do with the rest of the afternoon/evening? we went to revelry brewery. & what did we find there? we found exactly what we'd hoped for; great beer, locals, friendly bartenders, a casual atmosphere & shelter from the storm. oh, & our appetites. after a few beer we hopped in the van & headed toward our chosen overnight parking spot.

what did we stumble upon while on the way to 'home' to buy food & eat in the van? lewis barbecue. LEWIS f'ing BARBECUE. luke's favourite texas bbq-er [ ? ] had relocated his austin based bbq joint to charleston & luke had completely forgotten about it.

needless to say, we swung into the parking lot on two wheels, hopped from the van & immediately got stuck in. we had the ribs, the brisket [ the texans have mastered brisket ], the sausages. we had pickled onions & pickles & white bread. & it was delicious [ but, as always, i ate too much. will i never, ever learn? ever? ]. then, much to our surprise, the manager treated us to a one-on-one tour of the smoke room [ luke was bursting with excitement ]. the two of them talked meat & smoke & bbq while i took photos. & then, to top it all off, he gave us beer coozies. on the house. [ i was pumped ].

not surprisingly, the next day we woke to more rain. sigh. but, hey, we were going to visit the angel oak [ we'd been told it was a must-see ] & a little rain wasn't going to get us down. in fact, a little rain made it all the more haunting [ & less busy, i would imagine ]. from there we made our way back to the historic district, found a parking spot at the waterfront [ lucky ] & waited out the rain, in the van, side door open, breeze blowing in. once the rain subsided we ventured out along the waterfront, zig zagged through the quaint streets in the battery district, &, after an hour or so we admitted to each other that the city wasn't for us so we made our way to folly beach.

oh folly beach. how we loved you...

beachy keen.

we're in folly beach, a coastal town with a true surfer vibe located just twenty minutes from downtown charleston. i'm sitting at a picnic table, in the shade, in my bikini, typing away while luke naps in the van, doors open, not a care in the world. [ a curious woman just spent about five minutes studying our home on wheels, completely oblivious to me. that was hilarious ].

ok, let's get you all caught up. after our stay at amber's cottage on the hill we drove to asheville, south carolina, craft beer mecca & one of the most beautiful cities we've seen. encompassed by the blue mountains & inhabited by a crazy mishmash of people, there was no lack of entertainment or awe inspiring view.

as you can imagine, we spent the first day visiting breweries. there are so many, a number of which we'd never even heard of, so we just winged it. & we weren't disappointed. we spent the second day driving the blue mountain parkway, taking in the stunning tree topped mountains that went as far as the eye could see. we ate sandwiches & hiked & we capped the day off with a visit to new belgium brewing [ this brewery was a must visit for us ]. though there were a bazillion more breweries we could visit, when we woke the next morning we agreed there was no way our budget could handle more craft beer. so we took to the road!

& the road took us to florence, south carolina. a town we'd never heard of & no idea what to expect from. the only reason we stopped here was to break up the drive [ we'd agreed at the beginning that we'd never drive more than four hours or so ] & what we got was an unexpected evening in a local bar on the side of a highway where we drank four dollar beers for three dollars [ thank you brandy! ] & had laugh after laugh with the locals. we'd intended to stay for an hour but ended up having such craic we couldn't tear ourselves away until we absolutely had to.

next morning we were off to myrtle beach. now, we knew it would be a shit show, & we fully expected to dislike it as much as we did the other shit show style american beach towns we'd fled, but because we ended up caving & renting a motel room [ we'd not slept in what felt like forever due to the oppressive heat & my cough, which i'd had for about a week by this point. it had been keeping us both up every. single. night ], it felt like a vacation. &, though it may sound crazy, we needed a vacation. living in a van is an adventure but it's often not very relaxing, to be honest. if we're in a city, there's metered parking, for example. & paying a few dollars an hour nap just doesn't make sense, you know? on top of that, the van gets up to about five hundred degrees by midday. not exactly a comfortable hanging-out-in-the-van reading & chilling out temperature. but i digress.

we spent two glorious days & nights in shit show myrtle beach, enjoying the air conditioning, the pool & the beach. we worked out, chilled out & hung out. on top of all that glorious-ness, we experienced such generosity from strangers we couldn't believe our luck.

we stayed up until 2 o'clock in the morning the first night because an enthusiastic group of women in town for a softball tournament were sitting at a table out front of the motel listening to old school r&b & drinking budweiser. & they very kindly allowed us to join them. we sang along to the music, interacted with everyone walking by & had a million laughs.

next morning there was a knock on our door. if you can believe it, it was one of the women from the previous night. & she had bags of groceries for luke & i. instead of taking their leftover food with them, they generously gave it to us, knowing we were on the road. the bags were full of bottled water, crackers, cheese, turkey bacon, sandwich meat, pickles. we couldn't believe it. & just when we didn't think things could get better, another one of the women knocked on the door & handed us twelve budweiser. she & luke had bonded of a shared love for the beer so she passed it to me & said 'beer for my bud'. what a start to the day, right? & it just got better from there.

once we were up & mobile we did a work out & hit the beach. the waves were huge & kept us out there for what seemed like hours. on our way back in, a young man we recognized from our motel approached us - two boogie boards in hand - & offered them to us. said he couldn't take them home on the plane & wanted us to have them. i mean, what a day. i swear, we ended up with the equivalent of one night's stay in booty.

the next morning we reluctantly packed everything back into the van & left the comfort of our motel room. we knew we couldn't stay any longer, as much as we'd have loved to. we had a date with charleston.

the cottage on the hill.

chimney rock, south carolina. home of, well, chimney rock [ $15 PER PERSON to climb five hundred stairs for a view that we heard wasn't all that fantastic, frankly. so we didn't do it ] & temporary home of amber, the dear, dear, dear friend i mentioned in my last post.

i reached out to amber a few months ago [ we've been pen pals since the camino ] to let her know that luke & i were headed across her beautiful country & would be finishing our journey in british columbia, not far from tacoma, washington where she is from. but, lucky for us, it turned out she had moved to north carolina which meant we wouldn't have to wait until the end of the journey to see her. [ the world works in mysterious ways ].

we arrived in the chimney rock, lake lure area & were immediately taken with its beauty. the lake itself was lovely [ but cost $8 PER PERSON to spend the day at, & apparently the water isn't all that clean. so we didn't do it ] & the surrounding area offered lush forests, a stunning river, waterfalls &, you guessed it, a brewery - our first stop when we arrived in town & couldn't find amber's cottage. [ needed wifi. the brewery had wifi. no fee to enter the brewery. went to the brewery ].

after a chat to the brewer, the bartender & the owner about all things beer, a sticker exchange & some tasters we made our way to the agreed upon meeting spot; a stone wall on the side of the highway upon which she would be perched. & when we arrived we found her, as promised, perched on the wall, a huge smile spread across her face. i swear, i jumped from the car before luke even came to a complete stop, i wanted so badly to hug her [ those of you that know me, even just a little, know that i am a hugger, born & bred. no one can stop me & very few hug as well as i do. i've been honing this talent for years ].

a half dozen hugs & an introduction later, we three made our way up the hill to the cottage where luke & i would spend a few days relaxing thanks to amber's generous offer to have us stay with her. [ the cottage, it was beautiful. it had a front veranda with rocking chairs, tomato plants & a view of the mountain side. it also had air conditioning, a warm shower & amber ].

the two days luke & i spent with amber were glorious. we rocked on the veranda, drank wine, ran the hills, cleaned our clothes, cooked meals together, aired out the van, found ourselves happily lost in the forest, played in a waterfall & talked & talked & talked. we caught up, learned things about each other & from each other & we confirmed that this bond we formed two years ago was still very much there [ & now includes luke ].

when it came time for us to move on to asheville i found myself wishing we could stay longer. amber made us feel so welcome & made me feel so loved. i hope one day i'll have the chance to return the favour.

back on mainland u-s-of-a.

hello from a motel room in myrtle beach [ yes, you read that right. hello from a motel room in myrtle beach. it is hot af so we had to either upgrade to something with air conditioning or risk melting &/or divorce ]. as i write this luke is snoring in the 'eating' bed [ there are two beds so we deemed one the 'eating' bed & the other the 'sleeping' bed. can't risk getting crumbs in the 'sleeping' bed if we find ourselves snacking while watching television - television! ] & it is lashing rain on the other side of the door. but i don't mind either one bit because we've had so much sun the last week or so i can't be mad about a couple of temperature reducing thunderstorms &, hey, i'm starting to realize that naps aren't all bad [ i never, ever thought i'd say that. ever ].

ok, so, back to the ferry ride to the mainland. if you read my previous post, you'll remember that we woke feeling pretty darn groggy that morning in ocracoke [ it was worth it for all the craic we had ]. what i didn't mention is that luke was in worse shape than me so i took the wheel for this leg of the journey [ i hadn't driven even a city block up to this point so was a little worried but, at the same time, i was happy to be of assistance ].

the ferry to cedar island was at 4 o'clock & it lasted two & a half hours. now, normally that would feel like FOREVER but we have a converted van [ ! ] so we were able to nap [ luke ], read [ me ] & even get in a workout [ me ]. & we managed it all while everyone else was either sitting in their vehicle or inside the ferry [ poor suckers ].

when we arrived at cedar island [ not actually an island ] we were pleasantly surprised by the landscape. we had no idea what to expect. it began with marshland & bendy roads [ which i very poorly navigated. turns out i am not a natural born van driver ] & turned into farmland & straightaways. & it was beautiful [ a huge departure from the sand dunes & ocean views we'd gotten accustomed to, which made for an interesting drive ].

now, that day's goal was simply to get from ocracoke to either beaufort or morehead - whichever town we felt like stopping in [ aka, whichever town we could find a decent spot to park for the night ].  it was about covering ground, getting us closer to our TRUE destination, which was chimney rock, north carolina, home of my dear, dear, dear friend amber, whom i met while walking the camino de santiago two years ago & hadn't seen since. to say i was excited was an understatement. we only spent two weeks together, but those two weeks were intense. we slept, brushed our teeth, showered & shit [ same room, different stall ] & ate together every day. & all while walking four to eight hours a day, often together. she was my rock. she got me through the tough bits. she listened, was a shoulder to cry on, lifted me up when i was at my lowest. she was a true friend. a bosom buddy. a soul mate. she got me through everything until my dad arrived & i walked the last three weeks with him. i was going to get to see her again & i was going to get to introduce her to luke. needless to say, i couldn't get there fast enough, & all that was standing between me & a hug was one night in a shitty anytime fitness in parking lot in morehead city! [ yep, we ended up in morehead city, beaufort was beautiful, but posh, & didn't have a walmart or anytime fitness & we weren't sure we'd get away with stealth parking ].

island life.

the pace has slowed since i last wrote. we spent four or five days lazily making our way through the outer banks & back to the mainland, drove north west to chimney rock village to stay with a friend, & are now in asheville.

the outer banks was beautiful. the coastline was wild, with its dunes & winds & waves. we stayed in kill devil hills where the wright brothers successfully conducted the first free, controlled flight of a power driven airplane & where the beach goes on forever. we wandered over massive sand dunes at jockey's ridge state park, ran from the water to the top of the wright brothers national memorial & saw storms roll in. we watched hockey with locals at the bonzer shack, washed our dishes in the outdoor showers & saw both ends of a rainbow. there were beach access points with parking lots every two hundred & fifty meters which meant finding a quiet spot to pull into at night was simple. it also meant we could cook & eat all of our meals al fresco.

after a few days there we drove an hour south to hattaras island where we stayed the night in another beach parking lot, though this one was busy with locals coming & going until all hours. we went to the local bar/restaurant that evening & met two men on a father-son road trip. the father, john, was kind enough to invite us to stay with he & his wife in arizona should we choose to see the south rim of the grand canyon. so we just might.

from hattaras island we took a forty five minute ferry ride to ocracoke, a laid back island full of lively bars & restaurants, & a stunning beach. we spent our first day there on the beach cooking, drinking cans of beer & frolicking in the waves. mid afternoon we opened all the doors, including the back, climbed into our bed & took a nap in the fresh air, not caring that the other beach goers knew we were living here. it was a glorious day. one of my favourite.

post nap we wandered into town & happened upon a wine tasting. we intended to purchase wine by the glass but the woman, penny, insisted we try the wines that appeal to us [ for free ] instead. couldn't argue with that so we stayed a while. i chatted with penny, who was a new arrival to the island & a very interesting character while luke found himself at a picnic table of kooky middle aged americans.

from the wine tasting we moved to a harbourside spot where we sipped craft beer from plastic cups & watched the watermen clean their catch while pelicans & gulls swooped & dove, hoping to snag a morsel.

& then we headed back to the beach to make dinner & get ready for bed. there were no 'no overnight parking' postings in the lot so we decided this was where we'd sleep. & that's when we noticed vehicle after vehicle pull in, & group after group head toward the water with flashlights. we were intrigued so we put our clothes back on & followed them.

when we got to the beach all we could see were the shadows of small groups of people, headlamps dancing in the pitch black. so we stood there. & stood there. until one of the groups made their way toward us to exit the beach & explained that everyone was out there, on the beach, in the dark, looking at crabs. 'crabs?', we thought to ourselves & aimed our flashlight toward the sand. &, my gosh, we were surrounded. there were crabs everywhere. everywhere. they were scurrying every which way. it was exhilarating & terrifying. after a minute or two we completely freaked ourselves out & beat it toward the boardwalk & back to the van.

once we started settling in we observed a park ranger making the rounds, requesting all over-nighters find somewhere else to stay the night. it was obvious. sigh. luke wanted to just ignore the ranger [ not sure how he thought we'd get away with that ] but i hopped into the front seat & opened the door when he shone his flashlight through our van window. the park ranger was so apologetic i almost felt badly for him. he said the issue was that it was memorial day weekend. he suggested we park in a motel or restaurant parking lot where we could blend in for the night [ at least he had a suggestion! ]

so, we got dressed [ again ] & made our way back into town. we pulled into the first lot we came across & hopped out. we were wide awake by then & figured if we were going to stay in the lot, the least we could do was make a purchase at the establishment. so we did. & i'm so glad we did because i struck up a conversation with the gentleman next to me at the bar & it turned out he was the owner of the local campground. & after hearing our story he offered a camping spot to us for free [ for free! ]. so, after our beers he grabbed his golf cart & lead us to our [ free, free, free! ] camping spot.

now, i notice i haven't mentioned that although it was dark out, it was only 10 o'clock by the time we were following this golf cart [ yep, we go to bed early these days ]. so, after arriving in our spot we decided that we may as well take advantage of the fact that we could stay in town by wandering over to the fireman's ball that had started at 4 o'clock that afternoon & was still going strong.

the fireman's ball was entry by donation [ i had $4 ] & all alcohol was free [ talk about a van lifer's dream! ]. we drank cans of cold beer, listened to the band & giggled at our good luck.

once the band finished & the ball started to wind down we walked back to the campsite & upon entering said campsite we were greeted by a group of [ self described ] rednecks. they were hard to understand, one of them was a fourteen year old boy chewing [ ? ] chewing tobacco. another was his girlfriend, a very drunk eighteen year old girl that insisted on taking selfie after selfie of she & i. and then there was a family. they were all there, including the mother, who took us on a wild golf cart ride around town. after more laughing & drinking & carrying on we [ eventually ] made our way to bed. much too late, after far too many cans of beer, but happy & in awe of the way things work out.

we woke feeling groggy [ as you can imagine ] & decided we'd move on. we'd seen the town, we didn't want to have to pay for a campsite that night [ we've not had to pay a single night thus far & didn't want to start ] & i wanted to get to lake lure to connect with a friend i'd made on the camino de santiago. so, we spent the first part of the day at the beach playing in the waves &, by 4 o'clock we were on a ferry back to the mainland.