Road Trip

13

29101 - McBeeMy favorite outtake from today’s Post Office Photo Safari, I like the way the raised letters toss shadows on the brick wall.

Yesterday evening I used Google maps and printed out how to get to nearly every Post Office in a rectangle with the lower left corner being the outskirts of northeast Columbia and the upper right corner being at Wallace because today we were going up to Chesterfield, SC to visit Donna’s cousin Laurie and her husband Ted. Depending on which route we took we could probably snag a bunch of fresh Post Offices. We took photographs of seven on the way up.

I was taking photos of the one in Chesterfield while Donna called Laurie for directions to her house. We had been there once before and I was only sure that they lived north of town, but little else. If we needed to find any of 16 Post Offices in north central South Carolina, I was ready with full color street level maps, but when we needed to know how to get to Laurie & Ted’s house for lunch, I was no help. Guess I should have printed out that map.

Because it was such a beautiful day, we took a different way home and added 5 more Post Offices to our trophy case, for a total today of thirteen. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have enough time to add them to the gallery.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 78

The One That Was Suposed To Be, Wasn’t And The One That Wasn’t Supposed To Be, Was

Spanish MossMy longest post title yet?

We went on another Post Office Photo Safari today. We started with a longish dip in Georgia for lunch. Ever since last November’s visit to the Blue Moon in Statesboro, GA we have wanted a return trip, today was it. The small iceberg salad & crab cake were for her and the roast beef sando was for him, but we mostly shared everything between us. Donna drank water and I had sweet tea to drink. This place is now 2 for 2 in excellent meals.

Meal Cost: $22.25
Tip: $3.75
Spent Today: $26.00
Year to Date: $493.74

We hunted and hunted all over the little, and I mean little, downtown of Hilda, SC for the Post Office that the USPS web site was located at 125 Broughton Ave. We drove up and down that street several times, any further cruising and I’m sure a resident would have called the sheriff on us if we did it one more time, but it just wasn’t there. The only thing we could think of was that it was located inside the one little convenience store located at about where 125 should have been, but there weren’t any outward signs of a PO. No flag, no blue mailbox outside and no sign. For the heck of it, on Monday I may call the phone number listed and see what happens.

Hilda was our last official Post Office destination of the day, but I was lobbying for a brief stop in Windsor to retake the picture there. They used to have a rundown trailer for a Post Office, but now they have a new building. Donna doesn’t want this to turn into a project like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, i.e. once you’ve finished one end, it has been so long that you need to start all over again at the beginning. I am arguing that it won’t be like that, as I won’t actively seek out newer structures, but if I happen to pass by one during the normal course of life it should be OK to retake the image. While we were spiritedly discussing the matter, we came across something that both of us felt solidified our argument.

Back when I first started this foolishness, I mapped out a couple dozen Post Offices that were close enough to us to make nice short half day outings. Some of the bitty towns strung out along eastbound US78 made for one. Between the SMALL towns of Windsor and Elko, both with Post Offices, sat the decent sized town of Williston without one. I didn’t see the logic in that. As we drove through Williston today, what should we spy on a parallel street to our route, that’s right, a Post Office. We stopped and took a picture.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 62

There’s No Place I’d Rather Be Roaming

29054 - GilbertHere is an outtake from today’s Postal shoot for my sister-in-law-in-law. Hi Beth We left the house at 8:00 AM and followed two-lane blacktop, except for a brief stint in Lexington, on a couple hundred mile loop through rural South Carolina gathering 10 new additions to the Postal Gallery, the nine listed yesterday and a last minute addition, home of the Annual South Carolina Peanut Party, Pelion.

Would have been more, but we only snapped one of the three reported post offices in Lexington, because when we got there around noon the traffic was thick as molasses. About the only thing Lexington was good for today was lunch. We stopped and ate at a Maurice’s BBQ there. One Little Joe basket, one Sauci-Chick, sweet tea for me and water for her.

Meal Cost: $14.62
Tip: None
Spent Today: $14.62
Year to Date: $439.66

 
It was around 40 when we started the trip this morning, so the top stayed up until White Rock. I’ve got all ten photos uploaded, but I have yet to write blurbs for them, so for tonight, you can easily figure out which ones are fresh (I wish there was a way to highlight the new entries into this photo album thing…). For an extra hint, they are all on the front page, except for the above mentioned White Rock.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 54

With the Tress and the Horses and the Rocks and the Sheep

Lunch at the Stoplight Deli. We split a California Pita and a bowl of chili with two waters to wash it down.

Meal Cost: $10.87
Tip Jar: 13¢
Spent on Lunch: 11.00
Year to Date: $385.17

 
Ate diner out with friends at the Patagonia Grill, a new South American restaurant in Evans, GA. I had an Americanized version of Anticuchos, marinated pork on a skewer. Donna had Anticuchos de Camaron, grilled shrimp on skewers and covered with a white wine sauce. Again, waters to drink. Good food that definitely warrants a return visit..

Meal Cost: $33.87
Forced Tip: $6.00
Spent on Dinner: $39.87
Year to Date: $425.04

 
The Emperor got a sponge bath (Meguiar’s Quik Detailer and a towel) this afternoon in preparation for tomorrow’s nine city Post Office Road Trip. Prosperity, Little Mountain, Chapin, White Rock, Ballentine, Lexington, Gilbert, Leesville & Wagener.

Started down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 53

Breakfast in America

Breakfast in NewberryWell, Newberry, SC is in America. This morning was the first of a monthly event called Miatas for Breakfast where the MMC will go for early morning eats. It will take place on the 3rd Saturday of the month at a place that is near or far and may involve a drive before or after.

Today we drove to Bill & Fran’s for eggs in the Milk and Egg Capital, Newberry. Capitol of what, county, state, country, or world the egg shaped water tower isn’t saying. One egg scrambled with bacon, grits and toast for her, one egg scrambled with sausage, grits and biscuits for him. Order of hash browns to split, coffee for him and water for her.

Meal Cost: $11.67
Tip: $2.33
Spent Today: $14.00
Year to Date: $369.17

After dining, I convinced the other Miatas to follow me to the Newberry Post Office so I could take PO Picture #50 with 5 Miatas filling the parking lot. From there we went into the heart of the small town and looked for early morning places that were open so we could get out of the wind and cold. Apparently when the sign on the doors of the downtown antique places say they open at 10:00 AM on Saturday, it is only a guideline.

One place that was open on Main St made $3 off of us, they had a selection of Girl Scout cookies, mmmm, Caramel deLites. They then directed us to another place that was open just one block over, a real live throw back of a hardware store. Very interesting place, stuff stuffed into every nook and cranny, everything from ax handles to bear traps, light switches to cylinders of welding gases, from snowboards (WTF?) to keys made, from spittoons near the wood stove to a Nobel Prize. Well, actually it is a bronze replica of William F. Shull’s (the owner of the store) grandfather’s prize. Clifford G. Shull was awarded the 1994 Nobel Prize for his pioneering work in neutron scattering, a technique that involves directing a beam of particles produced by a nuclear reactor at a sample of material.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 45

49 Down and 318 To Go

According to the idiots who started me on this quest, there are 367 Post Offices in South Carolina. After today’s 160 mile, seven PO trip we are 13% of the way towards the goal of getting a picture of everyone.

We stopped in Greenwood after getting both Post Offices there for some lunch at a place called T.W. Boon?s. We split a Shrimp Po-boy, Onion Rings and a Sierra Mist.

Meal Cost: $8.56
Tip: $1.44
So Far Today: $10.00

The Postal Gallery Database site says 367, but I can not get a definitive list from the US Postal Service site. If I search from Columbia (which is pretty much in the center of the state) with a hundred mile radius I get 488 results. This probably isn’t accurate because it may include surrounding states, when I search from Aiken for a 100 miles it starts to list Augusta, Georgia POs.

Wikipedia lists 541 Zip Codes in the state. When I went through that list and removed the ones that said PO Box after the name I end up with 404. But I know that isn’t right because there are only 2 Post Offices in Aiken and I was left with 4 zips. Plus there were 5 or 6 names I removed that I recognized as having buildings (because I have pictures of them), so I’m thinking that the PO Box designation means there is no carrier service in those locations.

The USPS site may not even be 100% accurate as to how many it has either. When we first started this quest it listed a Post Office in the micro-town of Snelling, SC and no amount of driving the few streets in that town using the USPS site’s map resulted in a find. Same thing happened in Hilton Head where we could only find two of the four the site had listed for there. Searching today lists no P.O. for Snelling and 3 for Hilton Head.

Anyway, we may never know if we get all of them, but we sure are going to try.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 39

Tonight we had dinner out with friends at Olive Oils right here in Aiken. Grilled Chicken Breast topped with Proscuito and Cheese for him. Seafood Ravioli for her. Water to drink. All the salad and breadsticks you can eat included.

Meal Cost: $29.68
Tip: $5.32
Spent This Meal: $35.00
Spent Today: $45.00
Year to Date: $333.67

4 PO Day

29921 - FurmanI had three maps to Post Offices I wanted to try and get pictures of on the way home from HHI. Ended up with only two of them, Ridgeland and Furman (pictured), missing Scotia as I had the map labeled wrong and didn’t realize we were by it, until we were by it. We did pass right by two more, Tillman and Estill, and so we took advantage of the opportunity and snapped their portraits. Drove right by Pineland’s Post Office, but didn’t stop as it was a little trailer with a small dirt parking lot that was full of folks checking their mail. Going to put Pineland at the top of the list for our next trip that way. May re-shoot Furman when I do that run too. It is such a cute little Post Office and I’d like to get a picture of it without the blue minivan in it.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 31