Pirates, Time Machines and Ghosts in Myrtle Beach

This was one of the biggest surprises on my trip, I knew I would enjoy myself in North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) visiting my friends who I met last year at the car show in Florida, but I had no idea what was ahead for me!

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Oliver and Terry run 'Ghosts and Legends' Theatre in North Myrtle Beach, which is a fascinating automated theatre telling tales of local legends. They also own a DeLorean Time Machine car - as seen in the Back To The Future films. The car gets driven all over the country for events and fund raising, especially for the Team Fox charity which aims to raise money in curing Parkinson's Disease.
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We went out that evening for a fantastic Mongolian evening meal - so much good food there it was perfect, especially after having bought my dinner the previous night from a Shell station and consisted of nothing very nice!
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The following day unfortunately there were a couple of logistical problems back at the theatre, so Oliver rushed in to sort them out, so Terry and I went to the beach and had a very blustery walk!
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The beach stretches for miles both to the north and south, certainly as far as you can see. After having sand thrown in our faces thanks to the wind, and a nice amount of fresh air we headed back to the house to meet up with Oliver again and head out for lunch.
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Since I had missed out on a traditional Chicago Deep Dish Pizza while I was in Chicago, it was decided that would be on the menu for lunch!
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The Time Machine had its cover removed and was primed for a nice drive down to Myrtle Beach. It never ceases to amaze me how much attention the car gets. Looking out the passenger window I found every face to be staring right back at me! We parked the car up in the car park (how often do you see a time machine in a car park?!) and headed in for some food. We had a wait so booked a table and headed out for a wander around the attractions to see what is there - from building a remote control car to the joint biggest sweet/candy store i've seen! (the other being in Universal back in Los Angeles)
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The pizza was superb and it was remembered me saying how much I enjoy going to aquariums, and 3 free tickets are always a good reason to visit! It was so incredibly busy to begin with we could hardly move at all, but once we found our way around it was much easier. Terry even found a new friend:
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Like all good aquariums it has an underwater passageway, filled with some fascinating marine animals, including the very rare Sawfish - imagine a shark with a chainsaw on it's nose! Although it is related to the Ray family. there were of course, plenty of sharks and rays in the tank, some of the sharks carrying that very menacing look casually swimming around with their teeth proudly on display!
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This photo of me taking a picture of the turtle actually came out better than my photo of the turtle did! There was also some kind of a shark/ray mixture - we were not sure what it was as there was no sign to reference it. I have since researched the animal, and it carries the very unoriginal name of the Ray Shark... who would have thought?
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After the aquarium we headed back to Barefoot Landing, which is where Ghosts & Legends Theatre is. To my huge surprise and (what led to) excitement, Oliver handed the keys of the time Machine to me to drive! What an honour to have the privilege of driving the DeLorean along the highways and roads of South Carolina. There is no doubt that this is by far the coolest car I have ever driven, and I am not sure there is much out there that could ever take that position! And before I get asked, no I did not reach 88 MPH, firstly that would be speeding and secondly I am quite happy in 2009 right now! For a long time I have said I would like a DeLorean - I don't know why I hear such bad things about the car, no it is not a supercar nor is it a racing car, but it is a fun car none-the-less and there is a lot about it that I do like.
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Look at that smile in amongst the concentration!
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An unforgettable memory and experience, one that I think I will always talk about!
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I parked the Time Machine in the car park and we walked into Barefoot Landing; there are many things to see and do here - from seeing alligators to having your photo taken in the pirate stocks outside Oliver and Terry's theatre!
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The alligator park is called Alligator Adventure, home to some local alligators and some crocs from around the world. Really very interesting including some white ghost-like alligators.
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They had other animals too, I saw my first American Beaver, who seemed to be in a bit of a mood and decided to go into the water. We also visited the Lemurs, who had a new baby only a few days old, absolutely tiny and holding onto his mother wherever she would run and jump to! I've always liked the Lemurs and considered visiting Madagascar to see them in the wild, so seeing them here was really nice, especially considering they had a brand new little baby Lemur!
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I got to hold a little baby alligator, who was very patient being handed from one person to another, quietly letting everyone getting on with it, while watching them with his very alert eyes!
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Another attraction of Barefoot Landing are the T.I.G.E.R.S (The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species), where they have an enclosure with tigers or lions in, depending on 'who' they decide to bring out for that day. They have a much larger establishment elsewhere, but at Barefoot Landing they have some on display, and, the opportunity to have your photo taken with a tiger cub or a monkey.
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It was at this point I was already enjoying myself so much, and watching the Tigers relaxing in the afternoon sun while Oliver was on a business call I was feeling very relaxed and happy, having had a great day, which was just about to get even better! I insisted that Oliver and Terry joined me for the photo - not because I was afraid of the 3 month old tiger, but because I wanted this photo to have all 3 of us in as a permanent memory of a most wonderful time in South Carolina!
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I think it is fair to say this was not only the most active day on my 3 month trip, but has the biggest variety that I can remember! It was not all over yet though, there was a further eye-opener still to come.
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The evening rolled around fast and we made ready to go out for an evening meal at a show called Dixie Stampede. Now I had a rough idea what to expect, horses, sand, stunts and some food, but the reality soon dawned on me that I actually had no idea what I was about to witness!
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Something I can only describe as being 'disgustingly Americanised', and was pretty lost for words by the end of it - and both Oliver and Terry were expecting this and thoroughly enjoyed watching my speechless "what have I just seen?". all that said, it was a very entertaining evening, the food was simply excellent, served in a true 'feast' method with no knives or forks, a plate quite literally full with a whole (little) chicken, some pork, potato, and so much more, all cooked so well - quite amazing considering the amount they have to cook for each session.
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The show was based around (I think, i'm not too sure at this point, lots of pig racing and doves flying around, some horse obstacle racing and a nice country house as a backdrop) the early America and ended with all the bright reds whites and blues of America and something being sung about being American... well, you can see where i'm heading with this! It was, quite a shocking evening!!
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Truly a fantastic couple of days, huge thanks to both Oliver and Terry who planned and organised so much for me to see and do with them while visiting (although i'm still not sure how many lizards there are in total, i'm still at 48!!).
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Oliver and Terry also have a blog online for their travels in the Time Machine, it is constantly updated with more smiling faces and happy people seeing the car while they travel across the country! http://teamfox-tothefuture.blogspot.com
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Finally, a mention to a new friend, one of the 2 beagles who I stayed with in the house, I think this is the "do you have any food for me?" look rather than the "hello!" face!
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Richmond, Virginia

From the mountains of Virginia I head into the town of Richmond, towards the southern end of Virginia where I met up with another couple of members of my car forum.

Richmond is a very lively town, the sight of bicycles was refreshing - no matter the fact that they ride them like they have a suicide wish!!

Many towns along the east coast have very old origins, as it is where the settlers came to first (sounds obvious doesn't it? Makes perfect sense but I did not think about it until someone mentioned it to me).

Adam and his wife offered me a room in their new house just outside of Richmond for the night, which was lovely, very nicely situated close to a park we went to in the afternoon. The park is free and paid for by the residents of the county.

There is a farmyard animals centre and a local animals zoo which is interesting to wander around and see. There is also a Japanese garden section which is very pleasant.

Adam also introduced me to the very American "Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwhich", which was actually made of the slightly fancier Almond butter (as they were out of peanut butter) and strawberry jam. Well what can I say, the whole idea sounded revolting to me, but it works! It tastes really good!!

We managed to arrange Josh to come for lunch too, who is the other member from my car forum. It was really good to meet them both and spend some time in Richmond.

Josh, myself and Adam after a BBQ lunch in Richmond

Mountains, Caverns and Bats

After leaving the busy world of Washington DC it was lovely to escape to the mountains of Virginia. Known as Shenandoah, the area is a National Park, and is well known for the Skyline Drive, a 105 mile drive across the mountain range.

Spotted on both sides of the mountains are many caverns, each owned and operated independantly, although many believe they are all connected as they are impossible to navigate in the furthest reaches of each cavern and highly likely there are many caverns that we have not yet found.

I stayed in the town of Luray, a quiet town on the western edge of Shenandoah. Fortunately they also had a large Ford dealership, and as much as I fell in love with a very special Roush tuned Ford Mustang designed for the race track, they did a stunning job fixing the damage caused back in Colorado Springs from the table incident, giving the car a full service and new fluids all round. The car drove like a new car afterwards and was definitely worth getting them to look it over.

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My next Mustang???!

While my car was being serviced they kindly drove me down the down to the local caves, Luray Caverns. This was the first of 3 caverns I visited, probably the most spectacular of them all and guided by an audio tour meant that you could take your own time while travelling through.

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These caverns are hundreds of thousands of years in the making - and strangely all 3 caverns I visited were discovered in the late 1800's, all by children around the ages of 11 to 14 who were playing on their parent's farmland.

Luray is also home to the world's largest instrument, all 3 and 1/2 acres of it and 5 miles of electrical wiring. The Luray Stalacpipe Organ - an electric organ which operates rubbr tipped hammers to the press of each individual key. These hammers in turn hit a stalactite somewhere in the cavern. It is quite incredible, stalactites naturally have a sound when hit, and they have wired up this organ so that it may play music, which we were given a demonstration of. I bought the CD as I was impressed with it, and here is one of the tracks from it, to give you an idea of how it sounds: (Tip, you may need to turn speakers up, it is a little muted thanks to there being no sound resonance in the caves)

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Luray images here

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From Luray I collected my car and headed out to the northern section of the Skyline Drive, a lovely evening drive.

The next day was horribly overcast so I went to visit another cavern, Endless Caverns. It was a personal guided tour, and they were very friendly there as I got there early before the tour started - not that it mattered as I was the only person on it!

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Endless has a very friendly atmosphere, and it has bats too! Only little fellas and they were just coming out of hibernation, so most of them were sleeping, although a few were flying around stretching their wings.

Caverns are caverns at the end of the day so I have posted a few more pictures here.

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The following day the weather had improved a bit and I hit the southern end of the Skyline drive. I love how as the snow melts and all the rain water washes down there are literally hundreds of mini waterfalls along the side of the road. There were lots of eagles and hawks, deer and plenty of animals minding their own business.

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Images of Skyline Drive here

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The final caverns I visited were the Shenandoah Caverns, another guided tour in a group of many people - by far the least spectacular and smallest of them all. This is why there is even less said!

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Pictures Here.