I started this trip in Oklahoma, meeting up with Mike, my friend from the Everglades Challenge. We drove 1300 miles from his home in Eufaula to what seemed like the ends of the earth, at Cedar Island, NC.

The best thing about traveling east of the Mississippi is that I, at 5'10" and 200lbs, am positively svelte. The fact that I don't look like a head poking out of a sack of flour makes me a Greek god in comparison. Come on, people! Eat a veggie once in a while!

Second best: the biscuit, a food that, here in Oregon, is relegated to the novelty dish "biscuits and gravy," has not only entire restaurants devoted to it, but restaurant chains! With an 's' - as in rival restaurant chains. Of course, this could be a by-product of the first greatest thing about traveling east of the Mississippi (or perhaps the cause?)