Carolyn and I got away for a much needed long weekend. We made the 681 mile trip there in about 12 hours. We’d have gotten there a bit faster, but I zigged when I should have zagged and we took the “scenic route” around the north side of Raleigh in rather heavy traffic. We split the trip home over two days and that was much more enjoyable. Most of our charging stops matched up with breaks we would have taken for meals, etc.. One that didn’t was at the Kingsland Supercharger, which is in the back of the Welcome Center. Unfortunately, they were closed on Sunday, so we’ll schedule a stop there on a future trip. The total trip to Durham and back was 1431 miles.
The reason for the trip was to visit Duke University to look over the personal papers for one of Carolyn’s Great Uncles in the library’s archives. One surprise discovery was that her uncle’s father served in the Union army during the civil war and was assigned to lead a “Colored” unit. Having watched the 1989 movie “Glory”, staring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, and Cary Elwes, it is pretty cool to learn that one of my wife’s ancestors was involved in one of these ground breaking regiments.
Carolyn advised me that she doesn’t have a “bucket list”, but if she did, the trip to the Duke University Research Library would have been on it.
I had a great time too. We took some time to walk through the Duke University Gardens. That was pretty cool. We also went inside the Duke University Chapel. Since it was the week before graduation, there were lots of students taking Senior pictures in front of the Chapel. Carolyn told one of the photographers that we were seniors of a different kind.
The Chapel was amazing and included one of the largest pipe organs I’ve ever seen. The biggest surprise about the whole campus is that it was built in the early 20th century, not hundreds of years ago.
We will make another trip to Duke University in the future, but we’ll definitely extend the trip by at least a day, so we can have a more leisurely trip and check out more of the cool stuff along the way. That applies to other future road trips as well. We’ll take our time and enjoy the trip.
On the way home, we saw a direction sign for a Tuskegee Airmen’s Monument. We jumped off the Interstate and checked it out. In addition as being a training base for the Tuskegee airmen, the airport had served as a POW camp for German soldiers and there were a couple of aircraft there that had participated in the Berlin Airlift. This made the airport an historic “trifecta” from our perspective. The fact that it wasn’t on our “radar” as some place to visit made it all the more fun.
We continued down a back road (US 17) through Townsend, where we came across the nation’s smallest church. Naturally, we stopped to check it out.
We also stopped at the Low Country Visitors Center and Museum on our way home.
All in all, it was a great road trip for a long weekend. We’re working on a list of future road trips, including several that are to destinations around Florida. For instance, I’d like to visit the Ford / Edison museum in Ft. Myers and Carolyn has identified several walking trails around the state that should be fun once the summer heat breaks this coming fall.
One of the criticisms I regularly see about EVs is that you can’t drive one a 1000 miles in a single day. At this point, I’m ready to ask the obvious question: “Why would you want to?”
Everyone always seem to be in a rush to get to their destination. I’m coming to the conclusion that perhaps we should slow down and enjoy the trip.
In my opinion, this applies to both road trips and life in general. Take time to walk around Orange Lake or explore the boardwalk at the James Grey Preserve. Check out a sunset a Green Key Beach. Life is an adventure, not a race to a destination. Take time to enjoy the adventure and those who are with you on that journey.
Rob Marlowe, Mayor