Edisto Island - South Carolina

29 December 2004

We awakened early at our home in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and by 7:45am struck out for Edisto Island by way of Columbia, SC. The trip down the mountain was uneventful as was the trip in the Columbia to pick up Becky’s mom and dad.

We had lunch at a seafood restaurant near the river, then put the rented DeVille on I-26 southbound. Thereafter, the trip was less than ideal. About 5 miles north of I-95 traffic screeched to a halt, and crept along at about 1 mph. We learned later this was caused by an 18 wheeler accident. 30 minutes passed before we made the first exit, where we took some back roads and arrived at I-95, which was also creeping due to a grass fire.

More back roads and finally after a 2 hour delay, we were able to make our way back to I-95 which was finally running at posted speeds. At dusk, we arrived at our destination on Edisto Island.

Edisto is a very interesting place. It’s like a jungle on the beach – a very quiet, sleepy, beach community, which has very few commercial developments. And despite pressures to do otherwise, the residents here fight commercialism at every turn. And it makes for a very unique environment.