southbound and down
our daylong break in new york marked the start of the second half of our trip. more than a month had already passed, and yet it felt like we’d just gotten started! at this point we were enjoying our fifth week on the road, and living out of our car felt totally normal.
after spending a couple of weeks in the north, it was time to head south. atlanta was the next big city on our list, but on our way down we decided to pass through charleston. it was brutally hot and muggy, but despite the heat we enjoyed a few hours strolling around (just plain walking doesn’t seem to be a thing in the south). we took a historical detour and visited the old slave mart. we set foot on the same ground where slaves were bought and sold in the 1850s. it was an eerie reminder of how terrible it was to be different back then. overall though, we really liked charleston’s relaxed vibe and beautiful architecture. every street corner was full of quintessential southern charm.
after alex’s map wizardry helped us dodge a slew of storms, we made it to atlanta. we spent the weekend with ashley and aaron – two really good friends we miss dearly and wish had never left new york. they were the best hosts ever! we enjoyed some amazing meals, hung out by the pool, and met a bunch of their friends out for some drinks. aaron also gave us a tour of where he works – he’s an animation director at bento box and leads a team of 60+ animators (no big deal). they’ve been working hard on seth meyers’ new series called “the awesomes”, which just premiered on hulu. pretty sure it’s going to live up to its name!
we then continued south to the sunshine state and met my family in naples after a long day of driving. we spent a few days relaxing at our family friends’ amazing condo. it’s hard to believe that it’d been more than five years since our last family vacation (which also happened to be in florida at disney world!). even though the forecast was full of lightning bolts, we managed to get a couple of hours of sun each morning. there were also many late night mah jong, catan, mega man x, and catchphrase games played. on our last night, we snuck out to the hot tub after hours and hung out under the stars.
when thursday rolled around, my brother eric became our second (and last) lucky passenger in the beemer as we cruised towards new orleans.
// road trip to date: 22 states, 1 federal district, 4 canadian provinces, 8,300 miles
