Day 1 – Sunday May 12th (Home to Columbus, Ohio)
920 Kilometers
My initial plan was to leave at 3 a.m. on Monday and drive through the day so I could spend the entire day Sunday with Emma and the kids. Leaving on Mother’s Day was not my ideal situation. That being said, Emma is one of the sweetest people of all time and she didn’t want me driving 16 hours in one day. It ended up working just fine and I was able to spend the majority of the day with Emma and the kids. We went to the park, had a picnic and it was one of those wholesome family days that I absolutely love. I ended up leaving at 3 p.m. and driving the 9 hours before staying in Columbus, Ohio. Initially, I planned to drive until 10 p.m. or so and get a good night’s sleep but I wasn’t tired so I decided to carry on. If I were to stop at 10 p.m., I’d likely be sitting up in bed until midnight anyways. That day of driving took me through Toronto, Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland before stopping for the night on the south side of Columbus at a Hampton Inn. Warning: this blog contains many mentions of Hilton properties but is not an ad. I am however a Hilton Diamond member, which means I have preferred parking and get cookies and water bottles when I check in. It’s pretty sweet but I do have one complaint about this one: the water was Aquafina. I don’t wear a monocle and fancy hat when I drink water but I must say, I’m a bit of a water snob. Only spring water for me. To be fair, it doesn’t take a refined water palate to know that Dasani and Aquafina are awful. If Pepsi and Coca-Cola want to sue me for making these comments regarding their water, I would happily create a GoFundMe for legal fees. Anyways, enough about water.
Day 2- Monday May 13th (Columbus, Ohio to Cashiers, NC)
560 Miles
The second day was full of driving. I left Columbus around 6:30 a.m. and headed for my delivery in Hayesville, North Carolina. This day took me through Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as Lexington and Knoxville, Kentucky. Mid-morning I stopped for fuel in Corbin, Kentucky.
At that point I noticed some signs for the Harland Sanders Museum. If you don’t know who that is, I’ll give you a hint, he has a big white beard and is one of the most famous people of all time. Nope, not Santa Claus but the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (aka KFC). I asked the attendant at the gas station and she passionately and proudly told me about the historic place. Her pride in her town and the founding of one of the most popular restaurant chains of all time was evident. I’m a bit of a history buff and I love fried chicken so I decided to take a quick detour and check it out. Afterall, it was the first location of what is now 30,000 restaurants worldwide, so 10 minutes out of my way wasn’t the end of the world. Part of what I love about road trips is the ability to stumble across hidden gems like this. I didn’t spend any time in the museum because I had to get back on the road but had to marvel at this historic site. Weird things tend to fascinate me and not to say Colonel Sanders is weird but his story is truly unique and was obviously a great source of pride for the people of Corbin, Kentucky. He didn’t actually open and begin franchising Kentucky Fried Chicken until 1952 when he was 62 years old. His story is truly inspirational and proves that it’s never too late to achieve your goals.
Enough about Colonel Sanders. After my brief stop at this historic landmark, I hit the road again. The drive took me through the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains and the scenery is breathtaking. Once you get off the highway you are faced with winding two-lane roads and are constantly going up or going down extremely steep hills. By the time I got to my destination in Hayesville, North Carolina I was blown away. Before we started supplying homes in North Carolina, I was oblivious to the landscape. My only experience was driving down highway 95 and I thought the appeal of this incredible state was the ocean. Little did I know of the amazing landscape to the west.
The Hayesville project was up in the mountains situated high above a beautiful little creek. It is a renovation project for a couple from Savannah, Georgia who plan on making it their retirement home. The flooring was a 10” White Oak Live Sawn Natural 1850 which will be absolutely stunning in their home. I can’t wait to see photos when it’s completed. We also supplied stair treads for the open portion leading up to the second level loft and closed stair treads leading down to their basement. They had large windows and plenty of floor vents so our flush wooden floor vents will be a nice finishing touch.
Since I didn’t know the exact timing I would be there, I made tentative plans with a potential client interested in some Walnut Flooring. It turned out to be only a 10-minute drive through the mountains from my delivery. He met me at the gate to open up and told me to put my truck in four-wheel drive. It wasn’t slippery or muddy but it was extremely steep. The driveway brought me to the top of a mountain where his beautiful log home is situated with one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen. I spent a few hours with them and looked at samples and I think the Walnut Live Sawn Natural will be a perfect choice. After that, I made my way to the Hampton Inn in Cashiers, North Carolina where I crashed pretty hard and got a great night sleep. There is nothing better than a King Bed at a Hampton Inn after a long drive.
Day 3 – Highlands, North Carolina to Cornelia, Georgia.
100 Miles
My first visit in Highlands was to one of my favorite clients. She’s bought flooring for three homes in Highlands and Santa Rosa Beach, Florida and is now working on another next to her current home. She’s an amazing person and an absolute treat to work with. I was so happy to be able to meet her in person and visit her beautiful home. It’s built into the side of a hill and basically has 3 walk out levels with decks on each. We also supplied the stair treads for all of these levels, so between the stair treads and the flooring, it was quite the project. I can only imagine how much fun it is when her family and grandchildren are there. She even had a vintage Pac Man machine. Her home is stunning and her White Oak Champagne suits it so well. On the way to her home, I had to check in at a security gate and provide photo ID and some other information. It was more intense than crossing the border but the level of privacy and security the development provides is second to none. To be fair, who would want some sketchy Canadian touring around their neighborhood unchecked. After spending the morning with my client, I toured around Highlands which is a beautiful little town in the mountains.
I made a quick pit stop to another project we supplied. This stop was a little different because in it is a beautiful floor that hasn’t been entirely paid for. We received the money for the deposit and picked up a cheque on site when it was delivered. However, that cheque came back NSF and the new cheque has been “in the mail” for over two years. The person who bought the floor Jamie Elliott Mcpherson has apparently moved to another state and it seems like I’m not the only one who’s been had by this guy. Nobody was home when I rang the doorbell but I could see the beautiful flooring inside. This isn’t the first time we’ve been scammed. I could write a whole blog on that and maybe I will. But there is just something extremely disheartening seeing a floor we’ve all put our blood, sweat and tears in, knowing that the person who purchased it was likely scamming us the entire time. Jamie, if you’re reading this, I’d be happy to remove this chapter with full payment.
After leaving Highlands, I made my way south through the mountains to visit another beautiful home we supplied in Demorest, Georgia. This was another stunning, rustic home featuring our Live Sawn White Oak Blonde 1850 and we also supplied his stair treads and flush wooden floor vents. Not only was the home beautiful but the property is amazing. I toured the home and also took a walk down a trail to a creek with a beautiful little sand beach. It was so tranquil and because he owns the property on both sides of it, it’s his own little oasis. This was another homeowner who was an absolute treat to work with. It took quite some time and plenty of samples to get the right floor but they nailed it. It works perfectly with everything in the home and they are thrilled with the end result.
Justin, the homeowner, took me out for dinner in Cornelia, Georgia. He’s a whiskey maker and runs ASW Distillery in Atlanta so it seems everyone knows him and he’s always carrying around bottles of bourbon. He walked into Community Brew & Tap and was greeted like he owned the place. I wasn’t sure if that was because he had two really nice bottles of bourbon to give the owner or because he was a friendly regular, or both. The building was super cool. It was an old bank and had some really rustic charm. You actually walked through the original bank vault to get to the dining area. I think everyone in the restaurant came over to say hi to Justin like he was a celebrity. They even brought some incredible new appetizers for us to try including some smoked creamed corn. I asked Justin how often he went there because he seemed so well known and he said “maybe a few times a month.” When I started cutting my steak and noticed his last name carved into the steak knife, I somehow thought he may visit regularly. But it’s also possible they cater to him so much because he’s just that great of a guy. Oh… and maybe the bourbon deliveries.
After an amazing dinner, I went back to my hotel to get some sleep. Since there’s no Hilton properties in Cornelia, Georgia, this wasn’t a Hampton Inn, it was a motel with abandoned cars in the parking lot. At midnight, I was awoken by a good old fashioned fist fight in the parking lot. When I went to look out the peephole in the door, it has previously been smashed out so there was Kleenex plugging the hole. I decided to ignore the extracurriculars outside and try to get some rest but at 3 a.m., it was time for a construction crew to start their day. They were blocked in by other vehicles so it took multiple 3-point turns complete with the back up beeper.
Day 4 – Atlanta, Georgia to Palmetto Bluffs, South Carolina
400 Miles
I woke up less than refreshed but was looking forward to start my day. After finishing up some emails, I made my way to Atlanta to visit with Justin at his distillery for a tour. When I pulled in, the vibe was exactly what I thought it would be. A really cool old truck in the driveway and super interesting building. It was massive, they had the distillery and bottling section, meeting and event spaces as well as storage of thousands of barrels. If you are in the Atlanta area, it’s definitely worth checking out. Justin gave me a great tour of everything and described each step of the process. He’s the best at what he does and proud of it, but in a very southern, humble way. ASW Distillery has won five gold medals at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition, but Justin seems to be laser focused on his next batch and making it perfect. Meeting Justin and visiting his home and distillery was so much fun. Justin is someone who puts his heart and soul into his work and I think he recognizes me as someone who does the same. His floor is perfectly suited for his home and he loves it but I think as someone who produces such a unique product, he also respects everything behind the scenes that went into making it for him.
After spending a few hours with Justin, I left Atlanta hoping to beat the traffic. I think I must have because it wasn’t that bed. With that being said, I’m used to driving through Toronto at least once a week so any city is a walk in the park. I drove for a few hours making my way to Okatie, South Carolina.
My plan was to take a quick detour and drive through Savannah, which if you haven’t been there is one of the most beautiful cities in North America. My plans changed when a car drove up beside me pointing at the trailer I was towing. I pulled over right away and realized half the roof was ripped off. The wind caught the front and peeled it up like a can of (insert something canned here). My only option was to cut the front half of the roof off until I was able to get some better tools for the repair. I do like to carry plenty of tools but I forgot my fasten the roof on kit. I stopped at a Home Depot in Macon, Georgia and bought a cordless drill, heavy duty tin snips, roofing screws and some adhesive. It was so hot out and climbing up on the roof cutting hot metal was very uncomfortable. I was able to make a nice clean cut across and refasten the roof so it wasn’t blowing in the wind. This still left me with only half a roof but it was good and solid and would get me home. Afterall, I had completed my delivery so there was nothing of value that needed to be kept dry in the back.
This pit stop added a few extra hours to my day so I didn’t get to make my way to Savannah and had forgotten to eat anything, so by the time I got to my hotel in Okatie I was very hungry. Next door there was a little bar and grill so I popped over to get a bite to eat. I knew Emma was going to be facetiming me with the kids so I even ordered a salad. My salad came, Emma facetimed me and I went outside because it was loud. I said good night to Emma and the kids and our call lasted less than a minute. When I went inside, my salad was gone, I only had one bite. I took it as a sign: I shouldn’t order anymore salads. After dinner, I went straight to bed. It didn’t take me long to get to sleep in that comfy Hampton Inn King bed. Did I mention I love Hampton Inns?
Day 5 – Okatie, South Carolina to Laurinburg, North Carolina
340 Miles
My first meeting was not until 10 a.m. so I spent some time in the morning visiting builders in the beautiful town of Bluffton, South Carolina. That’s often what I do when I visit an area I’ve never been. Generally, the reception is very warm, after all, I bring maple syrup. After 5-6 quick little visits, I made my way over to visit my client in the Palmetto Bluff community.
This was one of the nicest communities I’d ever been to. I had to go through a security check point on my way but I wasn’t expecting it to be so soon. The development was so huge that the security check point was still 10 miles from the home I was visiting. I was blown away driving through this community. Palmetto Bluff is a development of over 20,000 acres and has all of the amenities and activities you could ever imagine. It has two golf courses, a 40-acre shooting range, multiple gourmet restaurants and even its own farm. The trees, greenery and homes are incredibly beautiful. The home I visited was built by Ian Anderson of Blackwater Construction and the floor was 8” White Oak Live Sawn Beach Sand. This is the second project we’ve supplied for this homeowner. His first time buying from us was a White Oak herringbone floor for his condo in Chicago. As you can imagine, both projects are absolutely stunning. His home in Palmetto Bluff is gorgeous and suits the neighborhood perfectly. Everything is so well thought out, from the windows, to the unique wallpaper, and of course the floor tops it all off. It was great to meet Ian on site but I’ve yet to meet the homeowner. However, after so many phone calls and emails over the years I feel like I’ve known him forever.
My next visit was to another amazing project on Spring Island, South Carolina, just north of Okatie. This required another “check point” before crossing onto the Island and from there it was another 20 minutes through a winding road across causeways and through beautiful southern forests. The home was nestled in a super quiet corner of the island with trees all around. The homeowner at this project is another repeat client. We supplied their home in Homossa, Florida back in 2019. I’ve never met them, but again, after so many phone calls and emails I feel as though I know them well. This project is likely taking delivery in mid-August so when I visited, it was only being framed but it’s easy to visualize another stunning home.
From there, I drove a few hours north to Charleston, South Carolina. Like Savannah, it is another extremely charming southern city. The buildings are old and beautiful with so much history. I’ve never been for a leisure trip but I think it would be a great getaway for Emma and I. The restaurants, nightlife, and beaches are supposedly amazing too. Anyways, my trip to Charleston was to visit our clients Bob and Heather. We supplied their flooring back in 2019 so it’s had 5 years of wear and tear from their large dogs. It is the 8" White Oak Naples and still looks fantastic. Their home is on a beautiful lot on Johns Island which is about a half an hour south of downtown Charleston. It’s exactly what I picture a South Carolina home to be, up on stilts with the garage below. Beautiful covered porch and decks on either side. Bob even took me for a walk to show me the waterfront. The walk took us through beautiful live oak trees down to their dock which is on a beautiful waterway leading out to the Atlantic Ocean. The interior of their home is gorgeous and oddly familiar. They said a lot of their inspiration came from the Sag Harbor Restoration Project on our website. Their quiet little dead-end street had maybe 4-5 homes on it. Bob mentioned him and Heather were the youngest by a large margin and the other gentlemen on the street were 60-95 years old. When he told me they got together once a month for bourbon and cigars I had to give him the bottle of Justin’s bourbon I had in the truck. It was 140 proof so I told him he might need to borrow one of his neighbor’s walkers to get home. I sound like a broken record but it’s always so cool to see projects and meet people who you’ve spoken with, facetimed and emailed so many times.
I left Charleston around 5 p.m. heading for Laurinburg, North Carolina where I was to stay the night. I’d be getting in late and had a meeting at 8 a.m. the next day in Pittsboro, which was an hour and a half away, so I’d have to be out the door before 6:30 a.m. I was planning on getting to my hotel around 9 p.m. and getting a good night’s sleep but that all changed when I saw the “Bucee’s 50 miles ahead” sign. The whole trip I wanted to stop at a Bucee’s. I saw a sign the previous day but my exit was before I got to it.
My first visit to Bucee’s was by happenstance. I was driving a rental car from St. Augustine to Naples, Florida and needed gas. At that point, I thought Bucee’s was just your average truck stop, like a Pilot or Flying J, but I was very wrong. I went in to prepay for my gas and was blown away. It was not only the best truck stop ever but possibly even my favorite store. I wanted to buy everything but I had flown down and had limited space. There was an incredible folding card table for camping that I wanted so badly but I didn’t think it would fit in my suitcase. I used a Bucee’s tape measure to measure my suit case and see if the table would fit but sadly it wouldn’t and I had to leave it in the camping section for some other person to enjoy. I did end up getting some hats, shirts, and snacks to take home. After leaving, I was driving down the highway and noticed my low fuel light came on. I had spent all that time at a truck stop and forgot to get gas. That shows how easily distracted I am and/or just how amazing of a place Bucee’s is.
It was around 8 p.m. when I pulled in to Bucee’s in Florence, South Carolina. I still had an hour of driving ahead of me but I knew this was going to be the most epic pit stop of all time. Sleep could wait. As John Bon Jovi put it, “Gonna live while I'm alive, I'll sleep when I'm dead.” And there’s nothing like a Bucee’s truck stop to make you feel alive. When I got to Bucee’s, it was a beautiful sunny day and when I left, it was pitch black. This isn’t just any truck stop folks. This place is incredible. The convenience store at this truck stop is 53,000 square feet. As a reference for Canadians, the average Canadian Tire Store is 60,000 square feet and a small Costco is around 80,000 square feet. It is massive and filled with all sorts of incredibleness. It must have the largest jerky and snack selection in the world, not to mention the sandwiches. I’m getting hungry just typing this. The merch section alone must be 20,000 square feet which is insane considering the average Old Navy store is 15,000 square feet. Sorry for all of these square footage references but I’m just trying to quantify for you the size of this incredible space. I bought gifts for everyone I know, camping gear for our family, and couldn’t decide between a chicken club sandwich or a brisket so I ate both. Although I was very full from eating both sandwiches, I left Bucee’s feeling invigorated. The remaining hour drive felt like 10 minutes and when I laid down in my bed, I spent hours just staring at the ceiling thinking of all the incredible goodies I was about to bring home to family and friends. I felt like Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, after the elves have made all the toys and they’re loaded on the sled, only the sled is my truck and there’s no elves involved, just a beaver. Bucees' mascot is a beaver if you didn’t get that reference.
@gaylordhardwood Replying to @Nikki part 1 as requested☺️ #bucees #buceeseverything #buceesgasstation #familybusiness #part1 #shoppinghaul #roadtrip #smallbusinesscheck #customerservice #vlog ♬ original sound - gaylordhardwood
Day 6 – Laurinburg, North Carolina to Atlantic City, New Jersey
620 Miles
After a night full of dreams of brisket, smokers, and Bucees merch, I was on the road around 6 a.m. At about 7 a.m. I drove through Pinehurst, North Carolina. I’m not much of a golfer but my brothers and many of my friends are. Pinehurst is a golfers’ paradise and from what I’ve been told, there’s many PGA events there and the golfing is world class. Unless someone in Pinehurst is buying a floor, I don’t think I’ll be spending too much time there. My first visit of the day was in Pittsboro. This was a client who’s since bought flooring for their home but at the time they had just received samples. Since I was in the area, I decided to visit and was able to meet both the homeowner and contractor. It’s a large project and the client was very grateful I took the time to visit with them on my journey. It’s amazing just how much that personal touch means to people. This is an example of a project where I was able to visit in the early stages and would absolutely love to visit after the floor is complete. They ordered the White Oak Live Sawn Lombardy and it’s going to look incredible in their space.
My next stop was to visit my client Sara in Raleigh, North Carolina. She installed 8” White Oak Live Sawn with a custom stain color two years ago. Emma, myself and the kids visited her before she had the flooring installed on our way to Florida. The kids thought it looked like a castle and Emma and I were impressed. She had some engineered flooring that looked decent as well as areas of carpet and tile and wanted a more uniform cohesive look throughout. She also installed all brand-new White Oak Stair Treads. The home before was beautiful but installing the White Oak flooring and stair treads brought it to another level. Sara is thrilled with the end results and I’m so happy because she’s such a sweet person. When we visited with the kids, she gave them snacks as well as some of her kids’ old books before we hit the road. I spent a few hours with Sara chatting and got some great photos and videos of her home. It looks so amazing; it was difficult to visualize the before but she texted me a few photos so we could have the before and after in our portfolio.
@gaylordhardwood We cant get over how well this renovation project turned out!😍 #renovationproject #beforeandafter #renovation #homedecor #homedesign #homedesignideas #homeimprovement #hardwoodflooring #flooringideas #hometour ♬ original sound - MADINA / マディナ
I was back on the road for what I was hoping to be an 8-hour drive to Atlantic City, New Jersey. The drive ended up being closer to 11 hours because I got caught up in traffic in Richmond (Virginia), Washington (DC), Baltimore (Maryland), Wilmington (Delaware) and finally just south of Philadelphia. In the end, I was somewhat happy with all of the delays because driving along the Atlantic City parkway at night is pretty awesome. It’s like driving into Vegas but instead of being surrounded by sand and desert, it’s wetlands and water. The lights in Vegas are a little bit more intense and you can see them from two hours away but it’s a very similar feeling. I was super excited because I was meeting up with a group for my friend Shawn’s bachelor party. Atlantic City is certainly a great place for a bachelor party. If you haven’t been there, it’s just like Las Vegas but not really. It’s a much smaller scale and instead of a strip there’s an awesome boardwalk along the ocean. The hotels and casinos are a little bit more spread out than Vegas, you can’t just walk from one to another seamlessly. In our case, it was raining so walking to another casino was not ideal even though they did have golf carts to transport you up and down the board walk. All in all, it was a great time, with great friends and the perfect end to my work road trip.
Day 8 – Atlantic City, New Jersey to Home Sweet Home
500 Miles
The morning I left Atlantic City, I took a short detour to Ventnor City to visit a project. This home was only a few miles from the Atlantic City Strip but it was a world away. The vibe was very different and completely laid back. The homes in the area were very beachy and beautiful. The project I visited is a new build covered in beautiful cedar shakes that were already starting to weather. This homeowner has used our flooring in another one of their homes and is now going for a timeless 8” White Oak Live Sawn Natural. It is almost ready to be delivered and I can’t wait to see the finished project.
Other than some traffic in Philadelphia, the drive was very uneventful. Since this was the last leg of my long journey, it seemed to drag on forever. By the time I got home, the kids were in bed which was probably for the best. When Emma or I come home from a long day at or near bedtime, the kids get so excited that it’s impossible to get them to sleep. Falling asleep for me that night was easy and I was able to get up before the kids and have their pancakes ready. Even though it was an amazing and productive road trip, I’ll have to agree with Dorothy when she says “there’s no place like home”.
