I finally caught a fish. It was a whiting, pretty small, but good eating, so I’m told. I threw him back, but it was exciting to catch and I’m hoping it’s a good omen. Earlier in the day I drove to a “tree boneyard” on the southern end of Hunting…

I finished Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley last night. I hadn’t read it in more than a decade, and it’s not as insightful as I recall thinking it was the first time around. Presumably, this means I’ve learned more since then, but it’s curious to me how a book can have…

It’s windy today, a first on this trip. I walked the beach this morning, with blowing sand creating a moving layer, like the beach had its own troposphere hovering just above it. On my walk back, I was leaning into the wind, and in the far distance I saw an…

Today I tried to drive to Fripp Island, just 7 miles down the road. Google said the town had a marina and I needed fishing bait and some groceries. These things appear on Google Maps as though I can go there, but when I drove across the bridge a security…

Hunting Island, SC This morning, walking along the beach I saw some dolphins. My first thought was “shark,” because I just saw just the fin, and that’s what Jaws did to me, but then I saw the curved, smooth back. As I walked along, he’d surface every 25 feet or…

Hunting Island, SC Lots of retirees, elderlies, oldies—whatever you want to call them—were at Edisto Island, and they are at Hunting Island as well. Many of them, I’ve noticed, have these nice electric bikes with wide, stable tires, and because the beach sand is so packed they can bike on…

Today was a shockingly spectacular day on Hunting Island, except that there are these tiny biting bugs here, similar to gnats but more annoying and small enough to fit through the little holes in a typical window screen. They seem to have not heard of, nor care about, the superior…

Edisto Island, Live Oaks Campground Last night it rained like crazy and at 5 a.m. I woke up and put my feet on the floor into a puddle. The camper has a little slide-out section, and the water was landing on the top of the slide-out and sliding right back…

Edisto Island, Live Oaks Campground The day before I left, Jan. 25, I interviewed a University of Minnesota doctoral student, Natalie Warren. She’d just published a book, Hudson Bay Bound, and was getting her PhD in communication studies with an emphasis on environmental communication.  Her book details her account of…

Edisto Beach There are lots of cardinals here, and they seem even more red than they are back in Minnesota. Maybe they tan? And maybe they are the same ones, doing the same thing as I am, escaping the cold weather for some sunshine and new views. One perched just…

Edisto Beach SP I had to move campsites today. Edisto Beach, and most of the campsites along the coast, are very popular and many sites fill up months, sometimes a full year in advance. I can’t plan that far ahead. What if I die? I don’t want to lose that…

Edisto Beach State Park I keep waking up earlier and earlier. Almost like I’m becoming a morning person, which I’ve never been. Today I was up at 7:30, and in Minnesota, that’s 6:30, so I feel like maybe I could split the difference and say I was up at 7. …

Morning, Edisto Beach I made coffee and walked to the beach this morning, the sun shining full and the sky a cloudless pale blue. Last night I fell asleep to the waves hammering the beach, but this morning the ocean is calm. And everything on the beach is new, deposited…

Edisto Beach State Park, Edisto Island, SC Technically this is an island, separated from the land by tributaries, rivers, a creek and the ocean. But since you can reach it by car, I don’t know that it qualifies as a real island. It is, however, an amazing campground. Another 125…

Huntington Beach Last night in Murrells Inlet I went to a restaurant called Hot Fish Club, which, according to the menu biography, was founded in the 1700s. I pulled up a stool at the bar next to an older couple, early 70s, and the guy was pretty blitzed. He was…

Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina 0 degrees in Minneapolis, but they’re expecting 32 tomorrow and it’s only going to be 44 here. About 180 miles down the coast from Croatan it’s a degree warmer, but the sun came out halfway through the drive–the first time I’ve seen it since…

Last night at Cedar Point Campground The sky has been dripping like a dirty wet dish rag since Monday. I was lucky on Sunday to see 60s and sunshine. I’ve seen no sun since. Tomorrow I head to Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina, 150 miles farther south, where it…

Cedar Point Campground  The problem with working from a national forest in North Carolina this time of year is the same problem you have if you work from your home in Minnesota this time of year: the sun sets shortly after you get off work. Technically, I can work the…

Cedar Point, Croatan Nat Forest Today was a busy day of work. On the bright side, my makeshift desk has a bunch of clam-like shells strewn about it. I worked 9 to 6:30 and didn’t leave the camper except for a short walk around the campground. The sun set at…

Cedar Point campground, Croatan National Forest Tomorrow is the first day of work on the road. I tested Starlink today, the satellite internet from Elon Musk, and it worked great. I hate giving that guy money, but there aren’t other reliable options. I found a campsite with limited tree coverage,…

Indiana > Ohio > West Virginia > Virginia > North Carolina I took I-90, 94, and 43, but after Chicago I did what I should have done to start and drove straight south toward warmer temps, down to Lafayette and then Indianapolis on I-65. That’s how I got to this…

Minnesota > Wisconsin > Illinois > Indiana > I left Minnesota about noon on my way to camp in North Carolina. I’d been planning on this trip for months—not the kind of planning where you get things ready to go—because I’m not really a planner—but more the kind of planning…