Good morning people. What a summer for storms and rain! After spending a few minutes in my bathtub yesterday evening, I emerged unscathed from my first set of Tornado Alley tornadoes and serious floods, and here we are at the next morning, where I’ve got news.
Before we get into that, as I’ve been saying for the last week or so, I’m pulling together the first North Carolina Placebook Travel Guide, Get Around North Carolina. I like to think that this guide covers the point A to point B part of traveling the state. Most guides will give you some landmarks, maybe even a map or two. This book will tell you why you should choose a particular mode over another. Here’s today’s preview, of the section on state’s longest highway, US 64.
Who hasn’t at least heard a song about Route 66? If you’ve watched the Disney movie Cars, then you get a sense of what’s happened to Route 66 and roads like it that were replaced by interstate highways and other bypasses. Businesses close or exist on life support. The natural scenery stays the same in many areas and sometimes becomes more enhanced due to less manipulation.
That effect is also evident on US Highway 64. You could drive it west and end up at the Four Corners on the Arizona side. Or, you could start there and end your journey with the 604 miles that it traverses in North Carolina and experience the full breadth of what North Carolina’s natural resources look like. You will pass through the westernmost municipality in the state (Murphy) and end up in going through the easternmost municipality in the state (Manteo). You’ll wind through mountains and hills. You’ll cross over some valleys and rivers. You’ll get that beside the highway fast-food, suburban style experience in many of the moderate sized towns. You’ll join up with I-40 in Raleigh and get a brief glimpse of the downtown skyline. You will head even further east and see the agricultural legacy of the state, and maybe pull off at a barbecue joint. You have your choice of Lexington western style barbecue or Wilson’s eastern style. For the uninitiated, one is more syrupy, the other more vinegary.
Ultimately, if you want a nice driving trip, where you get a tour of the entire state and all it can offer, this is your route. IF you choose to start on the east, fly into the Norfolk airport, rent a car and drive down US 158/NC 12 until you meet US 64 on the Outer Banks.
Pre-order Get Across North Carolina here. Now your news:
The people given a surcharge during the CIAA Basketball Tournament at Charlotte’s Ritz-Carlton hotel will be refunded. The hotel will also donate money to the CIAA, a league of historically Black college and university basketball teams, and pay a fine to the state Department of Justice. The hotel denies breaking any laws.
The City of Greensboro may sue the state over the city council redistricting law. Local GSO folks, there’s a public hearing tomorrow(Wednesday) night on what happened at the General Assembly last week and what this lawsuit could entail, if it happens.
You could live in a historic courthouse in Winston-Salem. Or, if you’re in Downtown Raleigh, a new option for grocery is coming soon. (And a beer garden)
This is your field thus far for the Asheville city council election.
Those Friends of the N.C. Smokies black bear license plates have raised over $4 million over the last 16 years.
You should be required to take a state-sanctioned safety course before sailing a boat, according to boating experts.
The swine industry actually wants this environmental law to stay in place.
The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners has now grafted the economic development board into itself.
Who’s running for mayor in Wilmington and other New Hanover County municipalities.
Cumberland County offices need more space, but don’t have the money to address the issue.
The governor and the NC Senate are still at odds over his road proposal.
And finally, the Senate budget bill could kill funding for downtown development groups and districts.
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