290 miles via I-526 (north and west of Charleston), I-26, SC 52, some county roads, SC 527, I-95 and US 64. 325 car miles since the end of Hop 2. Cumulative car miles: 926. The extra miles were due to our 2 sightseeing trips into Charleston.
We stopped at South of the Border to acquire some small gifts and for lunch just north of the North Carolina border.
There were a few sprinkles and, as always, traffic was heavy on I-95. But I avoided quite a few miles on I-95 by taking SC 52 and SC 527. This cut off about 11 miles from the fastest (I-95) route but was about 15 minutes slower. A good tradeoff, I think, as I don’t much like I-95 and traffic on this route was relatively light.
We stayed two nights at the Holiday Inn Express in Charleston. This one was older and not as nice as the one in Kingsland. And no goodie bag! (The clerk said “we aren’t allowed to give them out.” Yeah.) The room was dirtier and the staff was less helpful. On the positive side, the cable channel selection was much better (over 50 channels) and the free breakfast was every bit as good.
Our dinner the second night was at Tbonz, a steak joint only about 5 miles from the hotel. Ooma and I split a ribeye – we find that splitting a meal is a great way to avoid both leftovers and weight gain (a potential problem for me but not for Ooma). The ribeye and the service were both excellent.