Day 2 On the Road - Sunday, June 1, 2008

Day Two:
Waldorf, Maryland to St. George, South Carolina
Be sure to check out my photo albums on Facebook.

This was a more eventful day for sure. We went through several states (Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and half of South Carolina) and I got my first photo op, and survived a harrowing tragedy!

On Route 301 one of the humans kept jumping out of the car to take photographs of old motel signs. (I think she is an archaeologist or something.) For a nice specimen of an old sign found in Bel Alton, Maryland, go to my MySpace or Facebook photo albums.

We took a huge toll bridge on 301 to cross over into Virginia and then took the scenic "Virginia Bypass" on Rt. 218 into Fredricksburg. Again, the humans took the scenic Route 1 (which runs parelell to I-95) so they could see more old signs and historic things.

The Stonewall Jackson Shrine (Virginia)
They finally took me out and got a photo of me at the Stonewall Jackson shrine near Guinea, Virginia. And also on the road that led there which was part of the Virginia Civil War Trail. Stonewall Jackson died at the Chandler Plantation after being shot by his own soldiers, in what may be the earliest recorded instance of the so-called "friendly fire" tragedy.

Tragedy at "South of the Border" (South Carolina)
Speaking of tragedy, I also got my photo taken at the North Carolina state line, which was kind of exciting. But that was NOTHING compared to what happened (or almost happened) at the South Carolina state line. There, we went to the must-stop South of the Border amusement park where I heard one of the humans saying she had stopped there 20 years ago on during a spring break from her college days.

Anyway, they took me out and got several photos of me in and around South of the Border, but the last photo was on the state line sign near the park. The human had to stand on her tippy-toes and squish in some of my delicate body parts to make me stay on the sign. I was still hanging there after she took the photo, and then IN HORROR! I watched her turn away and walk back to the car without me! I thought that "South of the Border" must be tourist-language for "abandon the bear." When she got to the car, the other human must have said something because the archaeologist came running back to get me. I got back to the car safely, but my-lands, I was MIFFED! They laughed and laughed (cruel humans!) as if it were hilarious, but I refused to pose for another photo the rest of the day.

We ended the night in St. George, South Carolina. I slept with one glassy eye open.