Taking the Back Roads

What's summer in the South without a trip to the beach? I got to take a few days off recently, and enjoyed some time at the beach with friends. Picking the route to drive, I ignored the advice of my GPS and headed down Highway 74.

Driving on back roads to the beach took me back to my childhood. No matter where we lived, we’d make the trek to SC in the summer and go to the beach. Back then, interstates weren’t an option. I-40 ended in Raleigh, and that was the wrong direction from the SC beaches, anyway. We’d go thru all the small towns, driving past watermelon stands, a gazillion little churches, fields and fields of corn, and run down service stations that were few and far between.

All along the way were shacks where people lived. Most of the time the whole family was sitting on the porch, as the indoors was not air-conditioned. On Saturdays, they’d rock and watch the parade of cars going to and from the beach. I remember wondering, each year, what the occupants of those homes did for a living, where they bought groceries, where they went to the dentist. I still wonder that.

My father was always in a race against the clock to arrive at his destination. “Just took us 4 hours and 23 minutes this year,” he’d brag. If I was lucky enough to get in the car driven by my grandfather, however, I could be assured a stop at a fruit stand to pick up some fresh peaches, and a stop at a roadside ice cream hut as well.

This year as I drove, I passed many of the same landmarks that I remember from years ago. Some were still standing, some were crumbling. Rest stops were still tough to find. Forget about pay-at-the-pump. While bait and Mountain Dew's were readily available along the route, working rest rooms and good coffee were not!

All along the way, my GPS continued to encourage me to find the nearest interstate. But the way I figure, when going to the beach, taking the back roads is just part of the package. And yes, I did stop for fresh peaches.

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