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  #1  
Old Posted Oct 22, 2013, 12:45 AM
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Thunder Roads | 1,850 miles, 8 States, 14 Cities

Maryland



The journey begins on Interstate 68, as it cuts through Sideling Hill in Western Maryland.


Stay tuned for a full tour of Cumberland, Western Maryland largest city, and one of my very favorite small cities anywhere.


West Virginia

Piedmont, West Virginia – a town of 850 in Mineral County, in the state's eastern panhandle. It is directly across the Potomac from the town of Westernport, Maryland.



I imagine the population was greater at some point, but I could not locate a figure.

















Seneca Rocks, an outcropping further south in Pendleton County, WV.


Hiking about 3,000 feet up on a ridge that separates West Virginia from regular Virginia. We're on the WV side, perhaps a couple dozen feet from the border.






Virginia

Coming down from the mountains


Into Harrisonburg, a city of 45,000




Harrisonburg seemed like a nice city, but it smelled quite strongly of dog food.




Further south


Buena Vista, a town of about 8,000 whose vistas were indeed quite buena. The much less popular town of Fea Vista is over by the highway.


The James River winds through Amherst County




Danville, Virginia. Stay tuned for a full tour of this very Thundertubby town.


We now take a detour, both in space and time. I have unposted photos from last year that kind of fit in here geographically. Remember – when traveling back in time it is critical not to touch or change anything, as the consequences could be catastrophic.

Roanoke, VA, circa 2012. Look at all the old cars and funny signs. Let's hope no one notices our futuristic clothing.






















Smythe County


Mt. Rogers, Virginia's highest peak. This is around 4,500 feet or so out of 5,729.










Returning to the present day...

North Carolina

Greensboro










Winston-Salem. They get compliments on the hyphen.




The handsome Reynolds Building


Salisbury, a city of 30,000-ish in the center of the state.


The beavtiful Rowan Covnty covrt hovse






Three shifts, cranking out smells 'round the clock.


Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina. Or any Carolina for that matter.






Gastonia, a city of 72,000 located one county west of Charlotte. It's an old textile town that has seen better days, but is seeing growth due to it's proximity to Charlotte.














North Carolina woods in Gaston County


We're climbing Crowder's Mountain, a 1,625 foot peak






Gastonia, viewed from the top of Crowder's. Not really that interesting.


Charlotte, visible through the humidity. Distance is about 25 miles.


South Carolina

Spartanburg, home to the hilariously imposing Denny's corporate headquarters.




Seriously, the second tallest building on Main Street is three stories.




THE POWER OF DENNYS COMPELS YOU


The lovely South Carolina uplands


Table Rock Mountain, a 3,124 foot peak. Let's climb it.


South Carolina woods. This is my 34th state hiked in.


About 2/3 of the way up




A bit of autumn color near the top




The top. 7.2 miles round trip, and 2,000 foot elevetion gain/loss. My calves still won't speak to me.




Georgia

Atlanta. See the full tour here.


Macon
































I was quite impressed with Macon, and had a lot more of downtown to cover, but I surrendered early on account of the scorching 86-degree temperatures. I will need to return sometime in February.


Cordele, a city of 12,000 about an hour south of Macon. It bills itself as the watermelon capital of the world.




I had all sorts of exploration plans for South Georgia and Northern Florida, but the heat and sun were making it unfun. I hopped on the interstate and made tracks for my destination of West Palm Beach. The Florida Turnpike is a wonderful road for driving 85 mph and still having people pass you. There is a 49-mile stretch between exits at one point.

Florida



Geez, that's kind of an anticlimactic ending, huh?

Hmm... I was in Miami last December, but never shared the photos. So...

Miami!














...And back to New Jersey
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Last edited by Thundertubs; Oct 26, 2013 at 3:17 AM. Reason: don't fear the reaper
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  #2  
Old Posted Oct 22, 2013, 1:46 AM
OhioGuy OhioGuy is offline
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Great! I'm excited to see your upcoming Cumberland thread (and Atlanta).
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  #3  
Old Posted Oct 22, 2013, 3:06 AM
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Yay! Love the mountains... Urban Appalachia makes for such great photos.

Piedmont kicks ass... some creepy housing there.

10 points for taking the grittiest Charlotte photos ever.

Miami looks so weird and artificial.
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  #4  
Old Posted Oct 22, 2013, 6:04 AM
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Great slice of America! Love the commentary too.
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  #5  
Old Posted Oct 22, 2013, 6:07 AM
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Great pictures! I flew over Dansville and Winston-Salem a week ago today. I got some good pictures.

Macon is pretty impressive. I was expecting an old run-down railroad town.
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Old Posted Oct 22, 2013, 5:05 PM
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Great tour! I especially loved your photos of Piedmont, the foggy woods, Harrisonburg, the Kress Buildings. Not to mention the rail corridor going into downtown (or should I say "Uptown") Charlotte (never seen that perspective before!)
Great narrative too!
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Old Posted Oct 22, 2013, 6:33 PM
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great tour - you covered a lot of ground!
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Old Posted Oct 22, 2013, 9:56 PM
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LOL@ the dennys building.
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  #9  
Old Posted Oct 22, 2013, 10:26 PM
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Rugged mountains, rugged buildings - great stuff.
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  #10  
Old Posted Oct 22, 2013, 11:43 PM
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Those Appalachian mountain towns/cities fascinate me. Spartanburg was a disappointment, especially after visiting Greenville. The Macon pics remind me that I never posted my visit there when I toured the South a while back (guess I better do that some time).
I look forward to the individual city tours. Great stuff Tt, thanks.
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Old Posted Oct 23, 2013, 1:37 AM
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Awesome stuff!
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  #12  
Old Posted Oct 23, 2013, 2:40 AM
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A great tour! Loved the WV mountain views as well as their cities. West Virginia is just all-around a great place to explore. I grew-up in a county (Henderson County) along the North Carolina / South Carolina state line and can say the Upstate is a beautiful area too.

I always enjoy seeing Winston-Salem (my favorite city). It's becoming more difficult to take gritty photographs of it downtown, with their tech boom. I consider that a good thing though. You can see the construction fence and renderings on the old power plant, showing what it will look like as an entertainment complex in January 2015. To find the good gritty buildings, I recommend exploring the area to the southeast of UNC School of the Arts. That area is a favorite of Urban Explorers and includes many steel mills too.

One of the more interesting parts of Winston-Salem is the Old Salem District, built around the mid-1700s, yet I never see it photographed on SSP. Do photographers here know about it? It's about three or four blocks south of the domed skyscraper and looks as if you just walked into New England. And while some cities have arches or spaceneedles, Winston-Salem has a 12 foot tall coffee pot from 1858 as its city symbol. It's over there as well.

South End of Winston-Salem's Downtown (Old Salem)

Source: CCD
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  #13  
Old Posted Oct 23, 2013, 3:39 AM
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I've heard of Old Salem. It sounds like a little slice of colonial New England or colonial Williamsburg in the middle of the North Carolina Piedmont. I want to see it if I'm ever in the area.
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Old Posted Oct 23, 2013, 3:41 AM
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Very cool.
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  #15  
Old Posted Oct 25, 2013, 10:45 PM
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Thanks folks! I'll try to get the full city tours up in a timely manner.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ex-Ithacan View Post
Those Appalachian mountain towns/cities fascinate me. Spartanburg was a disappointment, especially after visiting Greenville. The Macon pics remind me that I never posted my visit there when I toured the South a while back (guess I better do that some time).
I look forward to the individual city tours. Great stuff Tt, thanks.
Spartanburg was a bit underwhelming, but I ate at a very good Thai place on Main St, so they've got that. There is a nice residential area near downtown called Converse Heights that I wanted to see, but it got dark. I understand Greenville has a much better downtown, but I headed up towards the mountains instead.

Post those Macon photos! It's a cool city.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matthew View Post
One of the more interesting parts of Winston-Salem is the Old Salem District, built around the mid-1700s, yet I never see it photographed on SSP. Do photographers here know about it? It's about three or four blocks south of the domed skyscraper and looks as if you just walked into New England. And while some cities have arches or spaceneedles, Winston-Salem has a 12 foot tall coffee pot from 1858 as its city symbol. It's over there as well.
I saw the coffee pot while getting on the interstate from downtown (may have taken a roundabout way by accident). I wish I could have seen more W-S neighborhoods, but the weather was a bit cruddy for walking around. I'll be sure to get out of downtown next time I'm in town.
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Old Posted Oct 25, 2013, 11:45 PM
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Thanks for the pictures, and the humor. I love to laugh as well as watch pictures. I can do both at the same time. I'm satisfied now. Good night Thundertubbs.
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  #17  
Old Posted Oct 26, 2013, 8:11 AM
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Thank you for this wonderful journey. Two thubs up! :-/
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  #18  
Old Posted Oct 26, 2013, 1:47 PM
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I had no ideas Denny's HQ was located in downtown Pyongyang. But I heard even Kim Jung-Il gets sad when he viewed the building so he is ordering it torn down.

Macon looks great. This one looks amazing:

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  #19  
Old Posted Oct 30, 2013, 12:45 AM
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Beautiful photos.....
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  #20  
Old Posted Oct 30, 2013, 1:30 AM
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And oh how I dig it.
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