This is Part II of Mt. Lebanon Magazine intern Julia Teti’s cross-country road trip with Children of the American Revolution.

The morning following the conclusion of the South Central Regional Meeting, members were waking up early to get ready for our next stop; the Southeastern Regional Meeting held in Charlotte North Carolina. In our schedule, we were given two days to do the drive from Hot Springs, AR to Charlotte, NC. However my group decided, adamantly, we would travel the 12 hours in one day. Now, in the car that we were driving were five of us, relatively small girls. We decided to do shifts of three hours, as four of us were experienced drivers. My shift was first.

Starting off at about eight in the morning we were the first of the cars to leave the hotel. The three-hour mark brought us to Memphis,  Tennessee, where those of us who were awake marveled at the giant pyramid home of the Bass Pro Shops. We stopped for gas, switched drivers, picked up some snacks and continued on our journey. I learned during the 12-hour driving endeavor that you don’t waste any time driving when you’re crossing time zones. Our GPS lead us to believe we would be back in Charlotte, NC around 9 p.m. Unfortunately, we forgot about the one hour time difference. Safe to say when the GPS updated to 10 pm, we were less than excited. Still we traveled on!

In the midst of our 12-hour drive, we came across a burger joint called The Pharmacy Burger Parlor and Beer Garden. Known for having the best burgers in Nashville and since we were halfway done, we decided to reward ourselves. The burgers fully lived up to their title.

Now that we understood how late our travels would be, we decided to get back on the road and continue until Emily took over to drive us into Charlotte, her hometown. We finally arrived at Emily’s house to spend the night at 10:30 pm, and it was less than an hour before we were all asleep.

The next day brought us some relaxation. We went to the outlets in Charlotte, walked around the city, and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Once our day was turning into evening, it was time for us drive to the hotel for our hotel and prepare for the next round of skits and business sessions. The agenda for this meeting mirrored the agenda of the South Central meeting, same skits, same program and same people.

After some more sightseeing, it was back to the hotel for the banquet, dance, and preparation for the next stop. Here we come, Erlanger, Kentucky!

Read Julia’s first blog in this series.