Thursday: SC and NC

The first day of this road trip began at home and ended at Kannapolis, NC.



I visited the Congaree National Park near Gadsden, SC.  This is the nation's largest collection of 150-plus foot pine and cypress trees in a floodplain setting. They have facilities for camping, water sports, and hiking, including an extensive boardwalk in the forest.

I saw lots of squirrels and lizards, a couple of red-headed woodpeckers, and this guy, who was camera-shy.






From Congaree, I traveled to the Charlotte, NC area.  I saw two Christian sites, the headquarters of the Bible Broadcasting Network and (at least the entrance to) the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Library.  Unfortunately, it was late in the afternoon and there wasn't really a good photo opportunity.

Just down the road in Kannapolis, I visited the park where NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt is honored with a huge statue.  He was clearly revered in this area.

So, what's up with this DEGREE ?

My studies for the last 15 months with Norwich have included ALL of American History.  It has been very intensive with regard to reading and writing--just look at all the books I've read and written about!

And, believe me folks, I have read EVERY PAGE of most of those!!

The topic of my capstone project is John C. Calhoun.  I will be making a roundtable presentation about my research at the residency, and I will be hearing about the work of other students.  We'll also have a GRADUATION CEREMONY, even though I won't actually finish for about eight more weeks.

Today I've been packing up.  The trip begins in the morning!!

I'm back! Another road trip begins Thursday!!

I'm happy to be back on the blog!

After 15 years of teaching, I determined that I had been a jack-of-all-trades for too long.  It was time to specialize in order to get the most out of my career.  So, for the last 15 months, I have been working with Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont on a Master of Arts in American History.  This will enable me to teach American History at the high school or community college level, or perhaps work as a historian.  I have really enjoyed the study during the first five courses, and I have just started the sixth and final one, in which I develop a "capstone" paper.  The next step in the process is a residency, which will take place at Norwich June 19-23.

What an opportunity for a ROAD TRIP!!  I decided to make it a sort of "Appalachian Trail/Atlantic Coast" sort of trip, but--due to budget issues--I've had to chop a little off of each end.  Still, it's going to be a great trek!  I will depart this Thursday, June 15, and return around Wednesday, June 28.

When I drove the Lincoln Highway in 2014, I had an LH bumper sticker.  I'm ready this time, too, with a Norwich sticker.  Can't wait 'til Thursday morning!!!