When I originally planned this road trip, my returning route took me from Chesapeake, VA directly down the eastern coast, stopping, of course, several times, before reaching St. Augustine, FL and then heading home.  Instead, as you can see, I headed southwest stopping in Burlington, NC and then Spartanburg, SC.

Burlington, NC is a growing city with a population of almost 50,000 at the 2010 census.  It is the home of the first cotton mill in the South (built in 1908), still contributes to the textile industry, and today contains the headquarters of LabCorp, employing more than 3,000 in the county.  The city maintains many parks and the county, Alamance, offers many hiking and paddle opportunities including the Haw River Trail and the NC Mountains to the Sea Trail.

Spartanburg, SC was a center of the textile industry in the late 19^th century.  Today, population 37,013 at the last census, the city is a college town, with eight institutions of higher learning and is the world headquarters of Denny’s.  The Marshall Tucker Band calls Spartanburg home.  Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it boasts many hiking trails and, historically, was an important site during the Revolutionary War.

I changed my route shortly before I left but not because I found these cities to be so compelling and, not to be denigrating these locations, but they are strictly waypoints on my way to Cumming, GA.  Why would I want to go to Cumming, GA, population 5,430 at the last census, the county seat of Forsyth County?  Is it because the area was originally inhabited by Cherokee tribes or perhaps because during the 1830’s and 1840’s the city benefited from the gold mining industry?  (Who even knew that Georgia was a site for gold mining?)  Maybe because Zac Brown was born there?  Given my fascination with mountains and hiking, perhaps the Sawnee Mountain Preserve with 963 acres of hiking trails is the lure.

None of those reasons called out to me yet, in fact, my original plan called for me to visit Cumming on my way up into the Appalachian Mountains way back in the beginning of July.  This plan was derailed shortly before I left because my niece Patti and grand-nephew, Jackson, planned to visit her parents, Rick and Mary Pat, in Florida on the same dates I planned to visit them in Georgia.  Patti still wanted me to visit them so I adjusted my returning route.  So, that is where I will be next.