This is the farthest to the Northeast I'd be traveling on the tour (as well as my first overnight trip), and it was a pretty ferocious (if not ultimately boring) drive. Aside from a little bit of a snag while on the road (story later), it was mostly just 10 to 11 hours of radio dramas, sports radio, phone calls and rock'n'roll. My route-- East through Georgia, then North through Tennessee, South Carolina and then into North Carolina-- mostly kept me off the interstate for a nice, personal highway drive (like I was in Two-Lane Blacktop) through five different states.
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| Long Highway Road Trips = Existential Art Films starring James Taylor |
Frankly, Greenville was a nice college town, but the town in itself doesn't necessarily stick out in my memory-- in fact, the campus of the school reminded me of a bigger version of the University of West Alabama, and the town alone kind of made me think of a younger Johnson City,TN.
Originally "Martinsborough" in the 18th century, Greenville has been Greenville since 1786 (an ice-cursed place, it was named such to deter settlers from venturing to its greener brother to the south "Iceville"), and is located on the South bank of the Tar River.
For most of its early history, Greenville was only modestly known in the region, for its tobacco crop, and as the location of East Carolina Teacher's College, which didn't become East Carolina University until the 1960's.
Another note-- since Greenville is right near the East Coast, it's no surprise it's been rocked by hurricanes every now and then. Hurricane Floyd, back in 1999, was the worst it has seen in recorded history.
I'm not sure if it was just the fact that homecoming was the upcoming weekend or not, but, while I was there, I must admit that the student body at ECU (and surrounding Greenville community and businesses), percentage wise, MUST BE the most school spirited collective consciousness I've ever seen. On the campus, which was modest but handsome, about every other student, it seemed, wore or carried some sort of school themed tee shirt, ball cap, back pack, laniard, etc. It was everywhere. It felt like I was at Medfield College on the set of Son of Flubber or something. Very impressed by the consistent commitment to school pride from the entire campus. Maybe if us back home were so consistent, Bama wouldn't have two losses. Even at the local Wal-Mart, there was a gigantic, center store display with HDTVs streaming ECU Buc highlights that'd put the displays at Skyland Drive to shame.
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| Tommy Kirk supports Dem Bucs! |
Anyway, the one complaint I did have about the campus was the parking was pretty limited-- even by university standards. I initially had to park about three or four buildings down (I did show up an hour or so early) before moving it closer to time after the 5pm rush died down (and even then I was still a good two blocks down).
The film was being hosted by ECU's Anthropology dept, and we got a nice, scientifically minded, turnout. It was a unique screening venue-- we screened in a genuine archaeology lab, with blocky lab desks and swivel chairs instead of the usual auditorium set up. As an added bonus, the archaeology club provided some drinks and iced cream.
Like I said, the audience was very scientifically minded, but over all the film seemed to be received quite well. I suppose the film is pretty disciplined with the liberties it took with the "true science" in the film (and most of those liberties are presented as potential non-truths anyway), and the audience seemed to appreciate the fact.
My contact at the school, an archaeology professor who was also a UA alum, had great things to say, promised to pass word at a regional archaeology conference he was attending the next week, and turned out to be a friend of most of the archaeologists based in Tuscaloosa who helped us as advisors on the film-- a trait he shared with most of the Anthropology staff at ECU. I must say, getting introduced to the collective regional archaeological culture has been a nice byproduct from this tour, if it produces nothing else.
I even had a pretty long conversation with one ECU student-- though it, pretty quickly, turned into talk just about comic books. A long talk. But I was content to talk, to kill time-- because, later that night, I was finally about to earn that "grassroots" banner I'd been flying the length of the tour.
Around 10 or so, local time, I took to the road. I didn't have to be in Columbia, SC until like 5pm the next day, but I decided to go ahead and drive as long as I could before stopping, and, about 2:30 or so, about 45 mintues from Columbia, I found a truck stop that looked as good as any, and stopped to bed down for the night. I pulled around to the truckers parking area in the back, and like a Graham Parson's song, found a corner spot to spend the night.
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| Out with the Truckers, the Kickers, the Cowboy Angels |
I was in my parent's van, a '98 Dodge Caravan, with the rear two rows of seats removed, where I set up the air mattress, covered the windows with some trashbags, cranked the heat for a good 20 minutes (sorry environment), watched some cartoons, and hit the hay.
Will I wake up dead tomorrow??? I maybe just towed??? Or boxed in by an 18 wheeler???
CONTINUED....
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