Day 1- Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina

I’ve done trips and tours similar to this one plenty of times, so why does this one feel so different? Why does this one feel so special? This is my first time going out west, and ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of driving cross country to California, to dig my toes into the sands of the beaches of the pacific ocean, to see the deserts and Rocky Mountains, and to find the real America. Hours before leaving for my 40 day-long trip, it still hadn’t hit me that I was actually going to be away from home for such a significant period of time (previous tours never lasted longer than 17 days).

Around 7 PM I drove around town saying goodbye to some of my friends and family and promising them amazing and funny stories from my travels for when I return. I left my house around 8:30 PM and around 9 PM when I saw the welcome to New York sign, it finally hit me then that I wasn’t going to be in Connecticut again for a long, long time. A pleasant surprise awaited for me in New York City when driving through; fireworks were going off along the Hudson River and seeing those burst in the night sky with the picturesque George Washington bridge and New York skyline as a backdrop symbolized to me the epitome of beauty and amazing memories I would be having on this road trip.

I drove straight through to Baltimore, Maryland and met up with my long time friend / fellow spoken word artist Poet of Pain. He is the guy who produced and made all the music for my debut CD, and I wouldn’t be where I am in my career right now if it wasn’t for him.

After driving all night, and seeing such odd town names in Virginia such as Triangle, Dum Fry, and Manassas (is that really pronounced “man asses”???) I finally arrived to the “welcome to North Carolina” sign as the sun began to rise. The main point of interest for day 1 of my tour was to sight see Raleigh and the Durham / Chapel Hill area. I’ve been to North Carolina many times but for some reason have never been to this area of the state, and I’ve always wanted to see UNC and Duke. I was really impressed with the beauty of Duke’s campus and honestly, the architecture is so impressively magnificent and majestic there that it made Yale look like a community college. University of North Carolina was really enjoyable also because of a nice park it had on campus and also because of how college oriented the town of Chapel Hill is right near the campus. The college town reminded me of Bloomington, Indiana a lot (where University of Indiana is), so I instantly fell in love with it, and all the little bars, cafes, stores, and restaurants that made up the area really bring life and energy to the town and college, and make it a must stop visit for any young adult.

I ended the night by attending a festival called “first Friday” in downtown Raleigh, which (as the name suggests) takes place on the first Friday of every month, and it pretty much is an excuse for the town to go wild, party, and drink, which equals fun times in my book. To make a long story short, good times were had, and new friends were made.

Day 1 down…only 39 more to go : )