Until, now I have received lots of advice and some invitations. My future professor in UCSB gave me a suggestion of taking the Blue Ridge Highway along the Appalachian mountains and my friend in North Carolina State University (NCSU) invited me to his house. Because of these, I changed my original plan. I decided to go along the coast line until Wilmington and then, head to the northwest to Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina. After that I will take the Blue Ridge Highway until Washington D.C.

This morning I visited Charleston again. Although I enjoyed the historic atmosphere yesterday, I wanted to see this town under the daylight. As expected, all the buildings with old architecture were shining under the morning sun - the colorful walls, red bricks, and sharp steeples. After a rollerblade tour of this town, I drove to North Charleston. I wanted to visit the Patriots Point, the Naval and Maritime Museum. They preserve an aircraft carrier Yorktown and have a museum inside. I bought a ticket and entered Yorktown. The ship was so large that they have eight tour paths inside. I took some of these and saw cabins inside, engine rooms, and many displays. Among the displays I found a story of Yamato. They said that Yorktown contributed to sink Yamato. As a Japanese, I was shocked to read this story. Of course, I don't think that fascism is good, but when I listen to a victorious story over Japan or Japanese technology, I couldn't help having bitter feelings. I also had the same feelings when I found many small Japanese flags painted on displayed airplanes. I went up the flight deck and the bridge. The ship was really huge and beautiful, but I still had mixed feelings because of the historic background.

I sat behind the wheel and tried to get back from the history. I took the US-17, driving along the coast line to Wilmington. This highway didn't show me the Atlantic ocean. All I saw was woods and towns. After a boring drive, I passed the state line and got to Wilmington. Wilmington was also a historic town just like Charleston and they also had a battleship. I parked my car along a street, got a cup of Cafe Latte and took a break on the waterfront. Then I took the I-40 to Raleigh. This highway was also boring and made me sleepy. At last I reached Raleigh, called my friend and had a wonderful dinner with him.