An Atlantic coast road trip from St. Augustine to Outer Banks, North Carolina reveals a unique slice of America consisting of boats, fishing, alligators, dolphins, osprey, Deep South mansions and fortresses, historically black churches, signs of slavery and civil rights, signs of Confederacy and much older history from some of the initial settlements of America.
Picking up a cheap ‘Drive out of Florida’ car rental and road tripping up the Atlantic coast was one of my travel dreams. May 2014 was the first year I planned that kind of trip by renting a car to drive from Jacksonville, Florida to Norfolk, Virginia.
I repeated ‘American Southland’ ‘drive-out-of-Florida’ spring season road trip adventures in 2015 (Orlando to Knoxville) and 2016 (Orlando to Dallas).
My main objectives for my 2014 week-long road trip from Jacksonville, Florida to Norfolk, Virginia was visiting Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina before heading to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
My road trip was well-documented in 2014 on Loyalty Traveler in the articles below with additional articles from places I visited in Georgia along the same route in 2015.
More than 4 years have passed since my first drive out of Florida road trip. This past week I pieced together photos from my coastal trips through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina into a 10 minute video with a 3-song musical soundtrack from Derek Clegg and Doctor Turtle to make the slideshow easier to watch.
The actual radio soundtrack from my road trip included at least one spin every single day from Jacksonville, Florida’s hometown favorite Lynyrd Skynyrd-Sweet Home Alabama blasting over the airwaves from every rock station I found in state after state. It wasn’t until 2016 that I actually road tripped through Alabama on my way to New Orleans, where I found mostly bible stations broadcasting over the airwaves.
About half the 10 minute road trip video is imagery from Jacksonville and St. Augustine, Florida; Georgia coast and Jekyll Island; Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina and Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge, South Carolina.
The second half of the video is the North Carolina Outer Banks with car ferries, island scenes and lighthouses.
The last day of my 2014 road trip included a visit to Wright Brothers Memorial National Park in Kill Devil Hills before I hit the road to Norfolk, Virginia for my flight home to California.
Road Trip Posts from $105 one-week rental car deal Jacksonville, Florida to Norfolk, Virginia May 3-11, 2014
Three objectives for trip.
1. Visit Savannah, Georgia and learn about open container drinking, but a record breaking anticyclone heat wave in early May and not the law prevented me from walking around Savannah outside drinking..
2. Visit Charleston, South Carolina and learn more about the southern perspective of the Civil War. Charleston blew my mind with its beautiful and old architecture. The historic center of Charleston is a seaport relic. By chance, I found myself at Sullivan’s Island and learned a deeper history than expected.
3. Outer Banks, North Carolina Ocracoke to Kitty Hawk via North Carolina State ferries and on Highway 12.
- Bodie Lighthouse, North Carolina Outer Banks
- $15 to $20 per day in May for one-way rental cars out of Florida
- Hotel Review: Florida Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront
- Jacksonville and the St. Johns River
- St. Augustine, Florida: History in Black and White
- Hotel:Â Casa Monica St. Augustine, Marriott Autograph Collection
- Road tripping Highway 17 St. Augustine to Savannah, Georgia
- St. Simons Island of Georgia’s Golden Isles
- Jekyll Island, Georgia History and Jekyll Island Club Hotel
- Best Western paid me $11 for my Georgia hotel night
- Georgia Sea Turtle Center and Hospital, Jekyll Island, Georgia
- Westin Jekyll Island, Holiday Inn Resort and Quality Inn Jekyll Island
- Savannah, Georgia Historic Buildings and New Hotels
- It’s Tybee Time on Savannah Georgia’s Barrier Island beach
- Hotel Review: Savannah Andaz Suite
- Hotel Review: Bohemian Hotel Savannah Riverfront, Marriott Autograph CollectionÂ
- Hotel. Mansion on Forsyth Park, Savannah, Marriott Autograph Collection
- Southern City in Green: Savannah’s 22 Squares
- Savannah’s ’Crown Jewels’ Monument Squares
- Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Savannah
- Images of Historic Charleston South Carolina
- Hotel. Historic Charleston, SC 1853 The Mills House Wyndham Grand Hotel
- Meeting History on Meeting Street Charleston, South Carolina
- Sullivan’s Island, SC is perhaps the most significant historical site in the USA you never heard of
- Hotel Review: Charleston Marriott South Carolina
- One location, many memorials — Fort Moultrie and Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina
- Red wolves, alligators, dolphin and birds at Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge South Carolina
- Road Trip to DoubleTree Atlantic Beach North Carolina and Ocracoke Island
- Notes from the Atlantic Intracoastal Road
- Ocracoke, the ferry island on North Carolina’s southern Outer Banks
- British Cemetery Memorial Service Ocracoke Island, North Carolina Outer Banks
- Three lighthouses of Cape Hatteras National Seashore
- If I’m Ever Back This Way
- Pilgrimage to Wright Brothers National Memorial
