ROAD TRIP 2004

6,745 Miles and 38 Days Later...

2004-09-15T13:53:00.000-05:00

Return Home
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

We've made it back to the Northeast in one piece. We skirted hurricanes, racoons, bears, gators and had the time of our lives!

We visted just about every major city east of the Mississippi, countless National Parks, and saw some magnificent things that hopefully others will be as lucky to see.

We'd like to thank everyone who followed our incredibile journey through the Internet. We hope you enjoyed viewing our blogs as much as we did posting them.

And a special thank you to all those who assisted us along the way. It meant so much to us to have everyone be so generous!

Until our next adventure...

Jonathan & Christina

Baltimore & Washington DC

2004-09-15T12:44:00.000-05:00

After fleeing the torrential rains of the Shenandoah Valley we arrived in Baltimore and walked around the Inner Harbor. The views are exquisite and later we met up with Rob, a friend of Christina's Mom. He was our tour guide for a few hours and took us to some of his favorite spots in the city. They included: Fell's Point, Federal Hill, the Washington Monument (Baltimore's got one too), and Camden Yards. The tour was so great that Baltimore is definitely high on the list for places to live! Thanks Rob!

Next up was DC where a gracious "Thanks-A-Million" should be extended to Jonathan's cousin Jaime who unselfishly offered up her place during our visit. We took in many sights including the Library of Congress (Thomas Jefferson Building), the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, and the International Spy Museum.

We did lots and lots of walking so we were able to get great looks of the Whitehouse, the Capitol, the Mall, the FBI Building, the Washington Monument, and many more we can't even think of.

We had tons of fun hanging out with Jamie, her boyfriend Chris, and her friend Liz. We caught the Pats game at a bar in the Capitol area. There were many more Patriots fans than Colts fans, which was extremely nice to see.

Jamie works as a photojournalist based in Washington DC. Her website www.jamierose.net is very cool so we have to give her a plug on our little home in cyberspace!

After Washington it was off to Philadelphia were we spent a day seeing as many sights as we could. We saw one of our nation's treasures, the Liberty Bell, which seems like a must for any Philly visitor. We walked up South street, an eclectic neighborhood full of interesting shops. Oh and if you're looking for the best Cheesesteak in the WORLD, then head to Pat's. It's the original and it's the best.

Alas, after our stop in Philly it was time to head home. Look for our final post coming soon.

Jonathan & Christina

Few notes and congratulations!

2004-09-07T12:16:00.000-05:00

Grace, Jonathan didn't get it into the basket on that picture, but we actually did pretty well. We only had one disc so we played 9 holes of "frolf" each going through an 18 hole course alternating turns. Some of the holes were VERY hard, 300 feet and through A LOT of trees. We definately need more practice, but we both played very well for first timers!

PA crew, congratulations on naming the correct "father of the blues"! William Christopher Handy's statue stands in a pavilion on Beale St. His childhood home, which is now a one room museum, stands at the end of Beale St.

Florence Martus

2004-09-07T11:53:00.000-05:00

Florence Martus
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

Known as the waving girl to residents of Savannah Georgia, this young lady lived in the Savannah lighthouse with her brother. After meeting a young man who left abruptly by sea, everyday she would greet the incoming ships with her signature wave in hopes that the ship would be carrying her lost love.

Lovers Oak

2004-09-07T11:49:00.000-05:00

Lovers Oak
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

This 900 year old living oak tree resides in Brunswick Georgia. The south is very much known for vast quantities of these living oak trees. Spanish moss hangs from the trees to give them their unique look.

CAS Holding Big Gator

2004-09-07T11:45:00.000-05:00

CAS Holding Big Gator
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

Unfortunately the picture is a little blurry but Christina is holding a 3 foot gator! The guide said he's big enough to take a finger off! She could feel him breathing! She tells me she wasn't scared at all.

Mirror Lake, Okefenokee Swamp

2004-09-07T11:37:00.000-05:00

Mirror Lake, Okefenokee Swamp
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

Instead of buying the post card, we took the hour long "Deep Swamp Tour" which brought us to this little lake for a perfect photo opportunity. No gators in sight, but lots of gigantic spiders!

Oscar

2004-09-07T11:34:00.000-05:00

Oscar
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

We spotted this 80 something year old, 13 foot gator while on the swamp tour in the Okefenokee Swamp Park. He's well known throughout the park and unfortunately you can't see his massive tail in the picture here. We got pretty close though, there's no zoom on this picture!!

Waves Crashing: St. George Island, FL

2004-09-07T11:31:00.000-05:00

Waves Crashing: St. George Island, FL
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

We camped right near the beach shown here on St. George Island on the Gulf of Mexico. The camping was great and the beach was fantastic. Very quiet, only a few others showed up while we were there. A perfect place for some great swimming and a picnic lunch!

Touring the Gulf...

2004-09-01T14:34:00.000-05:00

We've spent the past few days enjoying the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. We started our drive along the coast in Louisiana, after we left New Orleans. The Crescent City was itself a fun stop. We checked out the French Quarter and had a fun night out on Bourbon street.

The most noticeable parts of the coast of Louisiana and Mississippi are the off-shore rigs. I'm not sure whether they are oil or natural gas, but there are lots of them. It's strange to look out from the beach and see these massive structures off in the distance.

Once we got to Alabama, we stopped into Mobile. For such a large city, it was suprisingly dead on a Sunday afternoon. Everything was closed up and we saw just one person walking their dog as we walked around the downtown.

From there we kept going east. We've camped on two beautiful islands, Dauphin Island (AL) and St. George Island (FL). Much of the coast that we've been driving along is protected by barrier islands which with their large sand dunes take the brunt of coastal storms, sparing the mainland.

The water and beaches were the prettiest along what they call the emerald coast, a 50 mile stretch from Pennsacola, FL eastward. Camping among the sand dunes is some of our favorite camping and we've had lots of enjoyable nights, though still a little on the hot side.

We're contemplating our next move as we speak, because Hurricane Frances looms large just a few hundred miles from the eastern coast of Florida. NOAA tracks it into Georgia by 8 AM Monday. We may have to suffer through a windy and rainy night, if the storm turns northeastward after it makes landfall. We've got our weather radio so we'll be keeping an "eye" on it!

We'll upload some more pictures the next time we get online!

Jonathan & Christina

BUGS

2004-08-26T11:52:00.000-05:00

BUGS
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

No worries about getting a speeding ticket out here in TX. 70 mph on steep, windy roads on an undivided highway with no center line. We have been doing all we can to keep up, especially with the huge logging trucks. As you can see, we are no match for the bugs! (The grill is just as bad!)

Thanks Lisa!

2004-08-26T11:21:00.000-05:00

We weren't sure where we were going to stay last night after visiting Houston. Christina was able to get in touch with Lisa, her friend from Bentley who recently moved to Ft. Worth, TX to work in hotel management (unfortunately not Houston). She was able to book us a room at the Marriot in Texas City, TX for a GREAT deal!!

The room came equipped with high speed Internet, not to mention a hot shower and continental breakfast. So again we have no horror stories to report. We've got to be careful, or we could start getting used to this!

Sorry that's not Satchmo!

2004-08-26T11:05:00.000-05:00

When we get to New Orleans we'll surely hear about Mr. Armstrong, but you're thinking of one of the founding fathers of jazz. Don't let the trumpet fool you!

So that means we still have an unidentified statue. Here's a hint, he's mentioned in the song "Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn.

And although we didn't learn it in Memphis, the name of Beale Street Blues Boy's guitar is Lucille! :)

Any takers?

We're not in Oklahoma, nor Louisiana!

2004-08-26T10:36:00.000-05:00

So I guess that means we're in Texas. Houston, TX to be exact. We spent the day yesterday walking around Houston and discovered one of the neatest things about the city. The city is full of air conditioned pedestrian tunnels. And these tunnels are kept exceptionally clean. You'd never know you were walking around the city. It's like walking through a corridor in a say a hospital. It's clean, safe, and lots of people are bustling to get around.

The tunnels connect major landmarks in and around downtown and are used by 130,000 people every day to get to where they need to be. In fact, most of the coffee shops, light restaurants and convenience stores are all located underground. It looks to me that each landmark, (many of them being high-rise corporate office towers) are responsible for their own section of the tunnel.

We had a blast at the Downtown Aquarium. The exhibits were fantastic and all looked relatively new. We saw some baby alligators, and lots of Angel fish and Tangs. The coral reef, my personal favorite, was great. We sat and watched the tiny little ecosystem for quite a few minutes.

Next up is Galveston, and probably some swimming in the Gulf of Mexico.

Jonathan & Christina

P.S. We had some steaks last night, they were pretty darn good. They'll serve you one as rare as you want down here. Medium rare was fine enough for us!

Quick Update from Hot Springs, AR!

2004-08-24T13:01:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

We're now enjoying the 130 degree water of Hot Springs, Arkansas. The city is surrounded by a National Park to the north. The park is comprised of the natural springs on the west side of Hot Springs Mountain as well as Bathhouse Row. The bathhouses are large Victorian style buildings that are what's left of the era when travelers came from all over to bathe in the hot water that bubbles up from the earth. The bathhouses piped the hot spring waters into tubs where many have and continue to enjoy the pure water.

The water is not hot from any volcanic activity, rather it is heated by traveling very deep within the earth's crust. The water eventually meets faults and joints in the earth's crust that lead it back up to the lower west slope of Hot Springs Mountain, where it surfaces. Here's an interesting fact: the waters issuing from these springs are more than 4,000 years old!

Before Hot Springs, we saw Branson, Missouri; which actually turned out to be pretty neat. We caught a show, called "The Number One Hits of the Sixties." It was lots of fun and we got to camp only a few miles outside of the tiny city. For all the theaters and attractions they have, it's hard to believe only 5000 people actually live in the city.

We're not sure where we're off to next. Could be Texas, could be Oklahoma, or could be Louisiana! But look for more updates later on in the week!

Jonathan & Christina

Mike and Rod

2004-08-23T17:11:00.000-05:00

Mike - Rod
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

Our friends from the US Army. We hung out with them after meeting them in a blues club. Read more in our "Lot's of fun in Memphis" post. There is a great story in there... Thanks again guys!

Statue

2004-08-23T17:07:00.000-05:00

Statue 3
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

This guy, the grandfather of the blues, was born in a tiny shack on Beale street. The house is still there, and it's available to tour. (It was closed for the day when we went to check it out.) This might be the hardest statue to figure out, anyone know who he is?

Statue

2004-08-23T17:03:00.001-05:00

Statue 2
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

Anyone know who this guy is? Here's a hint: he was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. A town which we drove through!

Statue

2004-08-23T17:03:00.000-05:00

Statue 1
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

How about this guy, any guesses on who he is? He's a blues legend and started his career in the Sun Recording Studio in Memphis.

Westin Tower - Atlanta, GA

2004-08-23T16:59:00.000-05:00

Westin Tower - Atlanta, GA
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

There you have the tallest hotel in the Western Hemisphere. (The building with the antenna tower). The building rises over 780 feet and we went to the top where we saw all of Atlanta.

Talladega National Forest

2004-08-23T16:57:00.000-05:00

Talladega National Forest
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

Over 21,000 acres of untouched land looking out from Bald Rock in Alabama. The digital camera doesn't do the view justice...

Sloss Iron Furnaces

2004-08-23T16:54:00.000-05:00

Sloss Iron Furnaces
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

We stopped at this National Historic Landmark in Birmingham, AL. One of the few remaining iron furnaces in the U.S. that has been left intact. Was in production for over 90 years.

Lots of fun in Memphis!

2004-08-23T16:46:00.000-05:00

Greetings all!

Memphis was a blast, it is definitely one of our favorite cities so far on the trip! Anyone with the oppurtunity to go shouldn't hesistate.

After you last heard from us in the coffeehouse, we wandered down to Beale street. For those of you who like us are unfamiliar with the landmark, let us explain.

Beale is an exciting street that shows off the great music heritage which Memphis is known for. The music history is literally written on the walls. One place, Alfred's, had dozens of original gold records from various music greats hanging on the wall. And not to mention the plethora of curbside beer vendors who are more than willing to quench your thirst with an ice cold beer.

We stopped into Club 152 looking for live music, no cover charge, and some light food. It had all three. We sat in a large table on their patio facing Beale street. Since there was only two of us, we were hoping to meet some interesting folks who might join us at the big table.

A little while later we met Mike and Rod and their friends from the Fort Lenoard Wood Army base. (Hopefully we got the fort name correct guys...) We ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the night. They were super generous to us. Mike even graciously gave us his hotel room at the Marriot, (he stayed on the second bed in Rod's room), so we didn't have to sleep in the car again.

Together we checked out a few more bars on Beale street, the names of which escape us at the moment. But all had great live music and we had lots of fun.

They all have been serving our country for close to twenty years. And we'd like to thank them not only for their generosity, but for the work they do for our country! Thanks guys!

(Sorry to disappoint those of you looking for more motel horror stories, the room was immaculate and we didn't even have to wear our sandals in the shower!) :)

We are on our way to Branson, MO. Which according to Trivial Pursuit calls itself the "Live Entertainment Capital of the World"

We weren't planning on going to Missouri, but a wrong turn as we were leaving Memphis took us north instead of west. We don't like turning around so we spent the night in the Ozark National Riverway!

We got up this morning and hoped to tour the Round Spring cave, but alas, after packing up our bag and hiking to the entrance we found it gated and locked. Apparantly too many people have gotten themselves in trouble hiking the dark cold cave without a park ranger.

That's it for now, hope everyone is well!

Jonathan & Christina

Disc Golf

2004-08-19T18:53:00.000-05:00

Disc Golf
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

That's how you play (or at least try to) disc golf!!

Georgia Dome, Atlanta

2004-08-19T18:50:00.000-05:00

Georgia Dome, Atlanta
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

This is the view from the Westin Tower. You can see the Georgia dome in the background. (Tall buildings are off to the west.)

Escalator - CNN Center, Atlanta

2004-08-19T18:49:00.000-05:00

Escalator - CNN Center, Atlanta
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

The largest free-standing escalator in North America!

CNN Center

2004-08-19T18:48:00.000-05:00

CNN Center
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

We toured the CNN studios, located inside the building you see here. Centennial Olympic Park is in the foreground.

Stone Mountain Relief

2004-08-19T18:45:00.000-05:00

Stone Mountain Relief
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson are forever immortilized on the side of Stone Mountain, seen here as we ride the skylift to the top.

Birdhouse - Rock City

2004-08-19T18:42:00.000-05:00

Birdhouse - Rock City
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

A staple along the TN highways. We just had to take a picture of one! It's tradition to paint your barn with a "See Rock City" on your roof. Somewhere along the line they turned into birdhouses (as you see here) too.

Fat Man's Squeeze - Rock City

2004-08-19T18:38:00.000-05:00

Fat Man's Squeeze - Rock City
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

Our favorite stop in Rock City. We used the self-timer on the film camera, hopefully it worked!

Bridge and Aquarium - Downtown Chattanooga

2004-08-19T18:27:00.000-05:00

Bridge and Aquarium - Downtown Chattanooga
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

We walked around downtown Chattanooga and although we didn't go into the aquarium, this is a nice shot. The Tennessee river is behind the building.

Memphis, TN!!

2004-08-19T17:35:00.000-05:00

We have made it to the "Birthplace of Rock & Roll" and the "Home of the Blues!" We just finished walking up Beale street after visiting Mud Island on the Mississippi River. We walked the length of the entire lower Mississippi (Old Man River) in 1/30th scale on the Mississippi Riverwalk.

We've been pretty busy since our last post. After walking around Chatanooga, and seeing the Chatanooga Choo-Choo, we ventured into Georgia where we saw Rock City. A cavernous maze of man-made walkways through natural rock formations. There's a view from Lover's Leap that on a clear day you can see seven states, (VA, KY, NC, SC, GA, TN, & AL). It's not really a city, but we had quite a lot of fun touring the mountain side.

Continuing on our mountain theme, we saw (and camped within) Stone Mountain Park, which includes Stone Mountain, the largest exposed granite rock in the world. It's located 5 miles west of Atlanta. From there it was off to Atlanta, where we visited Centennial Olympic Park, and toured the CNN Studios. We searched for a neat little art museum our map listed, and upon discovering it's location we quickly learned that they were repainting the white walls, white.

Next up, or at least from what we remember, was Alabama's highest point. That makes two on this trip, (Clingman's Dome was the other). We asked for a primitive site, and that is what we got, I don't think anyone's camped in that area in years. A cross between backwoods camping and a rundown, overgrown bee-infested mud puddle. We had enough of trying to make that site work so we drove around to the other sites. Semi-primitive was just as run-down and still had no grill. We moved up to first class, the improved site, with water and electric hookups.

We passed one guy in a trailer that looked like he lives there, but all of the other sites were empty. We setup camp, fended off the bees, and wearily went to bed. Morning came, we were still alive, and we wanted to wash up (we hadn't the night before). The bathhouse, the first one with paper towels we've seen the entire trip, had no running water. Fantastic... While brushing our teeth at a water spout, we were approached by multi-millionare Wal-Mart builders, Brian and Jennifer Healy. We thought we had an early start at 7:45am, however it was 10:00 am by the time we were finished hearing stories about their life, their company, their plane (a Challenger 604), their bus, and taking pictures of the coyote who stopped in for a visit.

He did inform us of a beautiful hike to Bald Rock which was a much better view than the observation tower. The bald rock hike looked upon almost 21,000 acres of untouched land in the Talladega National Forest.

After an unknowingly long drive through western AL and eastern MI, we started looking for a campground. Our first attempt lead us into the sticks, where we saw cars up on blocks on peoples front lawns, and lots of long stares (but friendly waves) from the locals. We never did find that campground so we got back to Highway 78 and found Wall-Doxey State Park, a very empty, but well-maintained park.

Before venturing to Memphis this morning, we played some disc golf, (aka Frolf). For all those unfamiliar with the sport, it's basically golf with a Frisbee.

We think that's enough writing for now, we're going to have a few beers on Beale street to payback this coffee shop for letting us use the Internet for free!! And hopefully we'll catch a live Blues band tonight...

Rock on everyone!

Jonathan & Christina

Sliding Rock

2004-08-15T15:18:00.000-05:00

Sliding_Rock
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

We found "Sliding Rock" on our map and decided to stop along the way to GSMNP. We didn't know what we'd find, but it was as literal as you could get, a sliding rock! A natural waterslide. We plunged right in, straight down into an eight foot deep pool of water with temperature readings between 48-53 degrees! That'll wake you up from highway hypnosis!!!!

Great Smoky Mountains

2004-08-15T15:13:00.001-05:00

Great_Smoky_Mtns
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

View from 441 North through the National Park!

Great Blue Heron

2004-08-15T15:13:00.000-05:00

Great_Blue_Heron
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

Canoeing on the Pocomoke River, VA

Cape May Lighthouse

2004-08-15T15:11:00.000-05:00

Cape_May_Lighthouse
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

Cape May Lighthouse in the early morning after sleeping very uncomfortably in the car.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

2004-08-15T15:10:00.000-05:00

We climbed all the way to the top, very nice views of the Outer Banks.
cape_hatteras_lighthouse
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

Ponies on Assateague Beach

2004-08-15T15:08:00.000-05:00

Ponies_on_Assateague_Beach
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

It seems people did not listen to the warning about not bringing food on the beach. One mother was even yelled at by the lifeguard because she was talking a picture of the pony while her 4 year old daughter was about to be kicked by one!

Kill Devil Hill

2004-08-15T15:07:00.000-05:00

Kill_Devil_Hill
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

Wright Brothers National Monument, NC

Camping Oregon Inlet - OBX, NC

2004-08-15T15:06:00.000-05:00

Camping_Oregon_Inlet
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

Camping among the sand dunes in Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks of NC.

USS Wisconsin

2004-08-15T15:05:00.000-05:00

USS_Wisconsin
Originally uploaded by jpreston02.

This great warship is docked in the Norfolk harbor in Norfolk, VA. The last of the Iowa class battleships (The USS Kentucky was never built.) She was docked here in 2000, quite a project to get her into port too...

Knoxville, TN

2004-08-15T14:32:00.000-05:00

Had a wonderful time in the Great Smoky Mountains! They are amazing and we were able to camp at Smokemont just into the national park. We then drove along the Newfound Gap and drove up Clingman's Dome, the highest point in TN! (Yes, we drove up to save time, although from the parking lot there is a 1/2 mile hike straight up to a viewing tower which has an amazing 360 degree view of the mountains).

We headed on 441 North and drove EXTREMELY slow through Dollywood, bumper to bumper traffic for almost two hours traveling just about 4 miles. Just coming out of a serene, peaceful national park with virutally no traffic to a massive parking lot... next time we will opt for the alternate route.

We are now at the public library in Knoxville, TN. (The libraries have strict time limits, which is why we were unable to do as much with the pictures as we would like.)

So far our favorite campground has been at Keowee Toxaway for $9 we had the place virtually to ourselves in the mountains of South Carolina with exceptionally clean facilities.

Off on more adventures!!

Greetings from Greenville, SC!

2004-08-13T14:33:00.000-05:00

We've made an abrupt turn west towards the Great Smokey Mountains to avoid oncoming Hurricane Charlie. Our NOAA weather radio predicts tropical storm conditions tomorrow in what was to be our next destination, Charlston, SC. So given that information, we thought it prudent to head toward the cover of the mountains. We'll be heading back to the coast of the Atlantic later on in the trip.

So where have we been so far? After visiting Christina's old college roomate, we headed for Cape May. We saw the Cape May lighthouse at day break, which was very pretty. That was after sleeping in our car the night before, which as you can imagine, was not so comfortable. All of our supplies limited where we could sleep, and how far the front seats go back. Needless to say, we haven't attempted that again yet.

As we ventured down the coast we stopped in Lewes, a quaint little town, then camping on the Pockomoke river in Virginia. We rented a canoe and saw lots of Eastern Painted Turtles as well as a great blue heron.

Bet you all didn't know that Norfolk, VA is pronounced NAW-fik. Neither did we, so we had an amusing time practicing it. One can even put a little Boston accent into it and then it sounds really funny. We scooted off to the Outer Banks of NC and saw the Wright Brothers National Memorial. Very interesting. We camped for two nights on the islands and got all the way down to Ocracoke Island.

We've seen many lighthouses and road our fair share of ferries. That seems to be what a drive down the coast entails. The Hatteras lighthouse on the Outer Banks was quite remarkable. We climbed all 286 stairs to the top, and were rewarded of spectacular views of the Islands and shoreline.

Though Charlie is keeping us from continuing down the coast of the Atlantic, we'll be back at some point. I've heard great things about the Great Smokey Mountains so I'm excited to see them. Maybe we'll even get a little hiking in.

Oh and if anyone needs a review of the Economy Inn, in Tabor City, NC, I'd give it ZERO stars. Even at $35 we overpaid for what turned out to be barely liveable quarters. The toilet was broken, the mirror was broken in half and propped up next to the toilet. We had to duck under spider webs as we walked around our room.

We just took it all in stride, and reminded ourselves to just stick to camping. I think the first sign that something was amiss was when we went to get the room. The lobby window is a double sidded mirror, those glass mirrors that they have in police interrogation rooms. So yea we couldn't see the attendant, just our leery faces as we forked over our cash.

Many more stories to come, but for now I think I'm signing off.

Happy Trails!
-Jonathan

The first post

2004-08-04T11:07:00.000-05:00

Last day of work for Jonathan is tomorrow, August 5th!

Preparations are underway for the trip. A trip to Walmart is in order for some necessities. We've got quite a checklist going right now. More on the preparations later...

Christina just seam-sealed the tent today, hopefully that will keep us dry when the rain starts pouring. And I'm sure it's coming, last year it only rained once in two and a half weeks so mother nature will surely have to make up for last years dryness! Come to think of it though, some rain might not be so bad to cool things off. My cousin tells me the south can get pretty hot around this time of year.

-Jonathan