Guns, Chases and the rest of our last day

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Geo: 32.7812, -79.9316

Memorial Day was spent driving from Charleston to Raleigh, NC (so Renee
could cross both Carolinas off her state list) for our flight back to
O'Hare. We drove north up the coast of South Carolina along Highway 17
and then got on I-40 in Wilmington NC. We were only a little ways into
our drive when we saw a nice Escalade pulled over on a side street with
about 4 police cars and the officers standing with their guns pointed at
the occupants. Such excitement for 9 AM! The rest of South Carolina
was pretty boring compared to that. I was hoping to see the ocean on
our drive, but we were mostly surrounded by trees. We did drive through
Myrtle Beach, which was not that exciting. Lots of traffic and lots of
mini-golf courses. The water was again too far away to really see. We
crossed the NC border and stopped for lunch at a Wendys. The real
excitement happened shortly after we were back on the road. A
motorcycle when flying by the car and was closely followed by a police
car. Well, not far behind were several more police cars. Other drivers
did not seem to care that sirens were blaring and lights were flashing
as they weren't quick to get into the right lane. The motorcycle just
went straight down the middle of the two lanes. So Renee and I were
speculating about what the guy had done and if we would see him
stopped. She commented that at least he was wearing a helmet! Farther
along, the traffic came to a crawl. I spotted an ambulance coming down
the ramp, followed by a firetruck and police car. Everyone pulled over
for the ambulance and promptly moved back into line, apparently not
noticing the fire truck. Finally, the vehicles got through and we could
see them stopped. I was hoping to not see a squished motorcycle rider
in the middle of the street. Eventually, we pulled by and saw the
motorcycle in the ditch and the guy on a stretcher. Renee says his face
was uncovered so maybe he wasn't dead. There was a Jeep pulled over
that we assume must have hit him or he hit her. We counted and there
were 11 police cars at the scene! Guess the guy wasn't being pulled
over for a simple speeding ticket! The rest of the ride was
uneventful. We circled around Wilmington and were able to see the
Battleship North Carolina that is docked there and some views of the
harbor. Once on I-40, it was trees and more trees. We could not see
Raleigh from the interstate.

The Raleigh-Durham airport is really nice. The Hertz bus lady was super
friendly, there were no lines to check in or go through security. We
got to experience the full body scanner, which I thought was really
simple and no big deal. The airport was clean, quiet and spacious. Now
it may not be that way all the time, but at 4:00 on Memorial Day it
was. Our plane left on-time and even arrived early to O'Hare. We were
able to check our bags at the gate for free due to the flight being full
and they were already coming around the belt by the time we got down to
baggage claim.

I would like to mention that Sunday night we at a place called Hubee Ds
and it was delicious. We each got the junior chicken tender basket.
For $5.50 you got 2 chicken tenders, a bunch of fries, coleslaw and
cornbread. The tenders were just delicious and the cornbread was so
sweet and moist. They had lots of dipping sauces to choose from and
free boiled peanuts to sample. Renee and I sampled and we did not
like. For dessert, we got the fried banana pudding and that was just
heaven. 3 pieces of fried banana, creamy pudding and chocolate
drizzle. A great way to end our last night.

Charleston in late May is hot, humid and still charming. A little too
hot and humid for us, but that's ok. Next time, I would like to
experience it in cooler weather when walking around the various
historical spots isn't unbearable. The people are friendly, the city
accessible and the scenery beautiful. A must visit city!

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