Southern Hospitality
Steph, it’s dark!
So there we were., two weary marathoners yesterday, running our last pull of the day along a very long, very dark stretch of South Carolina road. Steph even had our safety vest on and I our rechargeable flashlight illuminating the tall grass in front of us.
All day, we trudged along another steeply angled section of highway 17 here in South Carolina. The shoulder is so non-existent, that we were relegated to plowing our way through the tall grass along the roadside, in order to stay away from many cars, trucks and now, semis flying along this section of the south. It felt like we’d run 2 marathons each by the time Simon swung back to find us plodding along in the dark. Not our idea of fun.
We did have a bright spot in our day running through grass as tall as us, by way of Billy Claxton from Island Coffee stopping by the RV and inviting us to “get off his property”!! Simon had parked along the road at the allotted 6 kms and happened to be right in front of their coffee and ice creamery factory. Billy said they looked up our website and thought it would be funny to ask us to leave, but really, they invited us to come on in for a coffee and a tour of their organically produced coffee and ice creamery!
We would NEVER give up on the opportunity of coffee or ice cream. Unfortunately, the ice cream division is not producing due to it being winter here. You’d never know that from the fact it hit 75 degrees yesterday with much humidity. So a short break for a fresh chai latte made it all worthwhile. Billy and company showed us around and treated us like royalty!
It’s these amazing encounters we are having meeting so many people, believing in our cause that inspire us to keep going day after day.
We had departed (Steph didn’t want to) earlier, from another of these amazing supporters, the fine folk at the “Inn at Middleton”, where they had put us up for 2 nights at their incredible Inn along the river. This incredible piece of property is owned by a family who have a long history in Charleston and have made it their business to offer green, eco friendly lodging here at the Inn, protecting massive acerage in the middle of a growing metropolis.
Everyone made us feel right at home after our days doing another incredible school event at “Porter Gaud Lower School” and me, recording some more cartoon’s via local recording studio here in Charleston.
That “southern hospitality” everyone hears about is alive and well here in South Carolina. From all the kids and their amazing teachers at Porter Gaud, to the staff at the Middleton Inn, the owner of the studio I recorded giving me a lift home afterwards, to Billy and co., offering a fresh drink of support.
We are grateful to ya’ll too, for supportin’ us!
Yeah….get off my lawn! But first come in for some a hot chai latte and some coffee for the road!
Seriously, you guys are welcome to park your RV in our yard any time. Keep up the great work. I look forward to someday meeting you guys again.
~Billy the coffee guy
Comment by Billy — Wednesday, December 31, 2008 @ 9:59 am
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