Author: Larry Kooper

Montgomery, AL to Birmingham, AL In Montgomery Monday morning, 8:20 AM. Plenty of cars but almost no one walking on the streets. I have a theory about why the downtowns are deserted. It’s because life is lived in the suburbs, not in the city. And what life there is in the city is not downtown.…

Athens, GA to Montgomery, AL Still in Athens, I was looking for a Starbucks and unwittingly drove onto a deserted U of Georgia campus. I parked right next to the football stadium — as lavish as an NFL one. Starbucks turned out to be in the student center and was closed. Going through Atlanta, I…

Jacksonville Beach, FL to Athens, GA To get ahead of schedule a little, I took one day instead of two days to go from Jax Beach to Athens. I also tried “shunpiking,” that is avoiding Interstate highways. The shunpiking worked out well. I love seeing assemblies (those groups of highway shields) and I love a…

Savannah, GA to Jacksonville Beach, FL A restful day. I drove down from Savannah to Jacksonville Beach to visit two more old friends, Phil and Susan. They’re retired. They have a big, affectionate dog named Cash (after Johnny). There were no places on my list to visit there. They took me to the ocean beach.…

Charleston, SC to Savannah, GA After some great Louisianan coffee, said a fond goodbye to Ethan and Allison. Into Georgia – State #10! I drove to my Savannah hotel, the Hampton Inn Historic District, an old building beautifully renovated. Savannah seems like a much more livable city then Charleston, or is it just that the…

Georgetown, SC to Charleston, SC 1,000 miles since leaving New York. Paid a visit to my friend Ethan, an old colleague from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s web site. Really glad to see him. He got older. Well, it’s been 15 years. Drove downtown to visit Fort Sumter, where the Civil War started. Fort Sumter…

Pine Knoll Shores, NC to Georgetown, SC Wilmington, NC I got there around 2 pm, the temperature hovering in the high 90s. People were scarce on the streets, other than a handful of tourists like me. I went to a riverfront park and found some shade, but there were two menacing homeless people who had…

Kill Devil Hills, NC to Pine Knoll Shores, NC I left the commercialized part of the Outer Banks for the unspoiled Cape Hatteras National Seashore. I went to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse visitor center and museum. The lighthouse itself is beautiful, with spiral black and white stripes (referred to as a “daymark” by lighthouse hipsters).…

Norfolk, VA to Kill Devil Hills, NC Breakfast at Charlie’s Cafe in Norfolk. The real deal. “Season of the Witch” playing to add to the time-warp vibe. Counter with the grill right behind it. In North Carolina, State #8! Visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. It’s windy, which is why the…

Yorktown, VA to Norfolk, VA Though I had read some of the history, I learned at the Yorktown battle site that we have France to thank for our independence. Just before the battle, France sent both naval and land forces. We love hearing the Yorktown story because we know how it ends. People did suffer,…