Current location: Myrtle Beach, SC N 33 45.482', W 078 57.121', elev. 65 ft.

On Friday, I set out from Dover DE along US Route 13 South. My intention was to quickly be over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and at my sister's apartment in Myrtle Beach by 1 or 2 PM. This was a big mistake. First off, I thought Dover was a lot further south in Delaware than it actually was. I didn't look at my map close enough. Secondly, I didn't realize quite how far the the bridge tunnel was from Dover, it was about a three hour journey with all the stop lights and traffic.

Rt. 13 South was actually not that bad of a drive, except that it took forever. I probably would have enjoyed myself more had I not been in such a rush to get to Myrtle Beach. Having spent the night there, I was able to cross Delaware of my list of states I haven't been to.

About 2 PM, I reached the Bridge Tunnel. The toll going over the bridge was $12, which was reasonable compared to what I was expecting. I thought it might be more like $30, since my mom mentioned she went over it 30 years ago, and it was $18 at the time.

Here are some photos of the Bridge Tunnel. It was an astounding thing to cross. The weather was beautiful, soft fluffy white clouds in the sky, and a whipping wind flowing through my car. There was not a lot of traffic, and the Bridge Tunnel was very long, it seemed like it took me 20 minutes to cross it going 50 MPH.

Most of the early part of the day's drive, I spent listening to Opie and Anthony on XM radio. I never thought I'd become a fan of theirs, since I never listened to them when they were on in Boston, nor in New York, but since getting the XM, I do enjoy listening to them in the mornings. After O & A, I turned on the Red Sox game vs. the Cubs at Wrigley Field. XM broadcasts are the home radio team, so I had to sit through the Cubs broadcasters, one of whom is Ron Santo. These guys were awful; I really think I am spoiled by the great broadcasters in Boston, because it seems every other announcer sucks. During the broadcast, the Cubs announcers started taking emails from fans. One fan wished Ron Santo well in his quest to be inducted in the Hall of Fame. At this point, the non-Santo announcer started talking about how awesome his colleague is, and his qualifications for the Hall of Fame, which I thought was completely ridiculous and unprofessional for a broadcast. Santo then talked about how great his broadcasting partner is, and this love fest went on through out the game. A little later, they took another email from a fan, who was asking about fishing advice. I never thought I'd tune into a baseball broadcast and hear all the great fishing spots in the Chicago area. These guys definitely loved to hear themselves talk.

While I'm on the subject of baseball, let me mention how much I hate interleague play: I hate interleague play a lot. I probably wouldn't hate it so much if the Red Sox fared better at it. While listening to the game friday, Greg Maddux hit a home run. Greg Maddux, a 38ish year old pitcher. Chicks dig the long ball.

After crossing the Bridge Tunnel, I was in Norfolk, VA, and found US 58, heading west to get back to I-95, which would be the fastest way to get to Myrtle Beach at this point. Along the way, I was pulled over once again, and this time I was not lucky enough to get a warning. I have driven through Virginia maybe 4 times, and I have been warned by about 15 people that Virginia cops love to camp out, pull you over for minor infractions and especially love it if you are from out of state. The officer walked up to the car and asked for my license and registration. I handed it to him and asked what the offense was. He said speeding, so I asked him how much. I was shocked when he told me 61 in a 55, he pulled me over for 6 MPH over the speed limit. I asked him if I could get off with a warning, since I was on a long trip and would be ard pressed to appear in court, but he said unfortunately, he was required to give me a summons. I asked him how much the fine would be; he was unsure, but said $40 to $60. On the trip I have been tending to drive as if there is a 10 MPH cushion, but I don't think I'll be doing that anymore. The worst part about being pulled over is I was only about 6 miles from crossing the border into North Carolina.

I did eventually make it to Myrtle Beach, but not until 9 PM, 7 or 8 hours after I had intended to arrive. I went out to a quick dinner with my sister Liz and her fiancee Adam, at the restaurant she works at, and went back to her apartment and called it a night.

The next morning, we got up late, and had a late breakfast with Adam's family from Tennessee, who had been in town all week for vacation. After breakfast, they set out for Tennessee, and we went to the beach, and had a great time. The weather once again was astoundingly perfect for the beach, the water was high 70's and very comfortable, and the beach was nearly devoid of other people, so we had plenty of room to spread out and just chill with the roar of the surf and the gulls cooing overhead. The ocean had big big waves, and at one point a lifeguard came over and told us there was a rip tide warning and that we could only go in up to our knees. We didn't stay much longer, but we did get a photo of Adam and me in the water.



Two Atlantic whales

After the beach, we went to Broadway at the Beach, which is this big mall /restaurant - bar plaza, with lots of great bars; it is semi-private, so you can walk around outside with alcohol. We went to a bar called Crocodile Rocks, where the main entertainment is dueling pianos. The place is tons of fun, as the piano players only play requests, and make crude comments to the audience throughout the night. It is just a great place to get drunk and have a great time. The place is so fun, tourists and locals alike intermingle and carouse. We had a table up front, but the place gets so crowded, people come and sit at your table. At one point this sickly looking drunk woman was sitting next to me, and the pianos were playing I Will Survive and the woman started touching me and telling me how that song was popular 30 years ago when she graduated from high school. So I'm thinking, great, its come to this, a drunk woman nearly twice my age is hitting on me at a bar. The worst part is, there was this woman sitting next to her who had to be at least 70, and was likely her mother. She persisted hitting on me throughout the rest of the night too. To show how hip she was, she was singing along with all the "modern songs" for instance, the piano players played Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day, and Holla Back Girl by Gwen Stefani, and she was singing right along. At one point, Liz and Adam got up to dance, and the woman says to me, is that your sister? I can see the resemblance. Which I'm pretty sure drives Liz absolutely crazy. :) We finally got out of there and met up with some of Liz and Adam's friends at another bar. By this point we were quite drunk, so we caught a cab home and went to bed.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day; we got up late, played with their puppy, hung around a bit, went to go see Mr. And Mrs. Smith, hung around a bit, had dinner and watched a DVD, played with their puppy, hung around a bit and went to sleep.

Today, Monday, Adam had to go to work early, so Liz and I slept in a bit, then went back to the beach. I didn't use any sunblock on saturday, but didn't get too burned, because we were at the beach in the late afternoon. I did get some color on my upper body, but none on my legs, so today, I applied sunblock to my upper body, and not my legs (with the exception of my tattoo), thinking I could use a little more color on my legs. I think this was a mistake, because my upper body didn't really burn, but my legs are very burned, except a small area around my tattoo. On the bright side, it was another fabulous day at the beach, the weather was astounding, which is magnified by the fact that the rest of the city got drenched by a thunderstorm. While sitting listening to the crashing of the waves, and enjoying digging my feet into the sand, I mentioned to my sister that I could just sit there the rest of my life. I took some photos at the beach, and also decided that I am going to start a beach sand collection, so I collected a small sample of Myrtle.

After the beach, Liz did some grocery shopping while I did some work and watched the puppy. I fell asleep shortly after the ludicrous Michael Jackson verdict was declared. Liz made us all a neat dinner of fried chicken topped with peach salsa, and we just drank some wine and had a great final night.

On Tuesday I set out once again. My itinerary for this week: Charleston, SC, Savannah, GA, Florida: St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Cape Canaveral, Tampa Bay, hopefully I'll be able to see a Devil Rays' game Wednesday night, and I have to be in Ft. Lauderdale on Friday morning to pick up my dad; we're going to head to Key West for Father's Day weekend. I'm hoping I can convince him to check out Everglades and Key Biscayne National Parks with me. Not sure when I'm going to get to see Miami, but I know for sure I won't get to see a Marlins game, since they are not back in the state until the 27th of June.