Charleston to Chicago

morphinex

Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2011
Location
Charleston, SC
TDI
2012 Golf 6MT
Took about ten days off work to make the drive from Charleston to Chicago and back, with a few stops on the way. Although I didn't start the drive on Friday, I did start the vacation by seeing a great show at the Charleston Pour House: The Royal Tinfoil, Jonny Corndawg (weird guy), and Shovels & Rope. Because of how the crowd was, I couldn't get any good pictures, but here are the best ones I could get.

Here's Jonny Corndawg and the incredible Nashville fiddle player Josh Hedley:



Here's The Royal Tinfoil:



After a slow morning on Saturday, I headed out to Johnson City, Tennessee, to see Raleigh, NC's own American Aquarium. I was rushing and didn't have a ton of time for pictures, but did snap a few along I-26 in North Carolina north of Asheville. Love the way the Golf chews up the highway miles, and how easy it is to climb the mountains in this car:






I didn't know what to expect from Johnson City, but it was a happening little town, with lots of live music on Saturday night, and several different activities going on. The crowd was fun, if not extremely friendly, and each time I see American Aquarium, they get better. They didn't seem thrilled to be playing to such a small crowd (couldn't have been more than 100), but they took it in good humor and the small crowd was into it:






I don't think Walt, the lead guitar, was too thrilled that his side of the stage was directly against that wall. The venue was long and narrow with a very high, very cool tin ceiling.



On Sunday morning I headed out for Cincinnati, where I'm staying for a few days and visiting a friend in the hospital.

No pictures yet -- but I will update the thread. When I head up to Chicago on Thursday I hope to get some shots of the Golf in front of that huge wind farm along I-65 outside Chicago in Indiana.
 
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jbright

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Location
Indianapolis
TDI
2009 Jetta DSG
You should drive through that wind farm at night. There are turbines from horizon to horizon and each one has a red light on top and they all blink in unison. A strange sight.
 

morphinex

Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2011
Location
Charleston, SC
TDI
2012 Golf 6MT
Once I got off I-26 north of Johnson City, the drive down US-23, US-58, and US-25E to I-75 was scenic and very fun. The roads are mostly good and smooth, but they wind around, up, and down the mountains. I had a lot of fun in 4th gear twisting my way around at 65 mph.

My first full day in Cincinnati today. I visited Jungle Jims this evening - it is a huge, weird grocery store with a "jungle" theme. This thing is 300,000 square feet of food from all around the world.

Out front, Jim has a bunch of animal sculptures to set the mood. Here's the Golf:







You should drive through that wind farm at night. There are turbines from horizon to horizon and each one has a red light on top and they all blink in unison. A strange sight.
Yes, I've done the Cincinnati-Chicago drive several times, and I lived in Chicago for a couple years. I always find those lights blinking in unison to be hypnotizing and dangerous - I try to avoid it!

I'm working on the formatting and picture size from my first post - Firefox seems to work better than Chrome for posting.
 
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