Coaching for Pizza: 2025 Football Boys Trip IV - Day IV

Sunday, November 9, 2025

It was the last day of our Road Trip IV experience but we still had lots to do and see on our drive from Anderson, South Carolina to the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The first order of the day was a hardy breakfast before getting back on Interstate 85 for our two hour and 20 minute drive Charlotte.

We had found the free breakfast at our Days Inn yesterday to be less than stellar so we drove back towards Clemson to find a better option suggested to us by one of Michael's students who grew up in the Carolinas and had given him a list of possible dining options and sites to see.

Not on the list

Year around fireworks stores like this one are a staple of Southern life.

Surprisingly not open on a

Sunday at 8:30 a.m.

No Sale.

We were prepared to use the always reliable, "We were in a Civil War reenactment" to explain the gun powder residue at the TSA Security check point at the airport.

Another staple of Southern Cuisine

I tried them once while on a Spring Football road trip to Florida State about 25 years ago, I did not understand the fascination with them at all.

We drove on.

MY KIND OF PLACE!

Someone call Joanne Sabolić, NOW!

Unfortunately, it was closed.

Perhaps by the Anderson County Health Department.

Bojangle's was one of the suggested

sites by Michael's student

Christmas meets Clemson

at the Bojangle's

Make that Christmas, Clemson FOOTBALL

meeting at Bojangle's

They love the Tigers in these parts

DAMN GOOD FOOD!

While we all liked our biscuits with chicken or steak topped with gravy, but it was their Bo Rounds that were the big hit.

Bo Rounds are basically hash browns smushed into a small hockey puck shape and then fried, DELICIOUS!

Later, at the Charlotte airport, the boys found another Bojangle's and raided them of seemingly all the Bo Rounds that they had before we took off.

Bo Rounds were a BIG carbohydrate hit with all of us.

Sated to the gills, we drove in a northeasterly direction.

A Confederate Battle flag flying

proudly over Interstate 85

President Trump won 58% of South Carolina's votes in the 2024 Presidential election.

Our trips the last two years have included visits to several Civil War Battlefields.

As it turns out, Civil War Battlefields are few and far between in both North Carolina and South Carolina. On the other hand, both states have numerous American Revolutionary Battlefields.

Yesterday, our new, best tailgate friends, Pat, Call and Joe all mentioned that we should stop at one particular battlefield on our way back to Charlotte if we had the chance.

So we did

This was the Cowpens National Battlefield located in Gaffney, South Carolina that our friends suggested to us.

This Revolutionary War site commemorates the place where on January 17, 1781, General Daniel Morgan and his patriot army turned the flanks of Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton's crack British army.

General Morgan employed what is now known as a Double Envelopment tactic to win the day. Military historians say that Morgan's was the only original tactic used by any general on either side during the entire Revolutionary War.

This patriot victory was the turning point of the war in the South.

When we arrived, the gates were closed

The government shutdown

had stymied us again

This time we had no anonymous donor to save the day.

Instead, we spied a sign that said there was a hikers entry to the battlefield was about a mile down the road.

So we gave it a try.

When we got there,

we found that we were not alone

Our entryway to history . . .

. . . was also part of National Trail

A lovely day for a stroll in the woods

Dazzling

We were getting closer

The Robert Scruggs House

is a 197 years old

We were getting close to goal . . .

. . . the actual Cowpens Battlefield

The term "cowpens" is a common one in South Carolina for a pasture for cattle. This historic one is about 500 yards wide and 500 yards long.

I opted to sit at one end of the

battlefield while the boys explored

the other end of it

We were having a GREAT time

communing with nature and history

Rail split fences always mean

history is nearby to me

Idyllic but we needed to move on

Somehow, Michael was hungry again so we checked that list that his student had given him.

We found out that one of the spots she recommended had a franchise in beautiful downtown Gaffney so off we went.

It looked good and was famed

for their wide variety of shakes

The troops were still ready to roll

What the heck is Cheerwine?

I love that this Cook Out

supports the Gaffney H.S. Indians

The Indians (8-3) defeated the Eastside H.S. Eagles (4-7), 28-10, last Friday in a South Carolina "AAAAA" state playoff game.

They will be on the road this coming Friday to take on the Greenwood H.S. Eagles (9-1).

Michael opted for a bargain

meal for a mere $7.99 USD

His choice of a Cheerwine Float was of interest.

I do not know exactly what Cheerwine is but I do know that it tasted quite good, thank you.

Jacob and I were both still too full

of Bo Rounds to eat another meal

Instead we decided on one of the Cook Out's famed shakes, vanilla for Jacob and banana pineapple for me.

We were all happy with our choices

I must admit to trying some of the hush puppies and fried okra that came as sides with Michael's meal.

Again, I was not disappointed in the least.

We pushed on to Charlotte but we had one more stop to make just outside of the airport. As we left Charlotte on Thursday, we noticed an aviation museum.

Sullenberger Aviation Museum

in North Carolina where the

license plates all say

"First in Flight"

It is a reference to Ohio's Wright brothers', Orville and Wilbur, historic first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in December 17, 1903.

Sullenberger?

That name is familiar . . .

Of course, he is the heroic pilot of the

"Miracle on the Hudson" fame

He looks nothing like Tom Hanks.

There will be more on this amazing landing later in this post.

We entered . . .

An early jet which . . .

. . . Jacob was about . . .

. . . to fly solo!

His perfect landing earned him a 10% discount at the museum's gift shop.

Biplanes are cool

So are their exposed, blue engines

I think this means it's one of ours

As a youth, I flew on these types

of planes on our vacation trips to

Havana, Cuba

1940s U.S. Army Third Air Force patch

Jacob Contreras

1920s Barn Storming Biplane Pilot

The Evolution of Flight

Folding Rotor Blades scare me

Finally, back to the "Miracle on the Hudson" . . .

The real fuselage of this famed flight

To review, on January 15, 2009, US Airways flight 1549 was leaving New York's LaGuardia Airport on route to Charlotte, North Carolina with 155 souls on board for a two hour flight.

Shortly after takeoff, the plane struck a flock of Canadian geese causing complete engine failure.

Not good.

Flying this very plane were none

other than quick thinking pilots

Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger

and

Jeffrey Skiles

More damage to the fuselage

Quickly realizing that they could not make it to any of the nearby airports in time due to the lack of power, these two decided that their best (only?) option was to glide and touchdown in New York City's icy cold Hudson River.

They were able to pull off this miraculous water landing without any loss of life in just the four short minutes since the bird strike!

A miracle indeed.

Is that a Canadian goose suspended

from the museum's ceiling?

Nice touch.

Meanwhile, Jacob was working

ever more diligently on his

piloting skills

Michael was excited to see the

Enola Gay's actual Norden bombsight

on display

I'm sure that you know that the Enola Gay was the name of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber that at the end of WWII, on August 6, 1945, dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

He just has so much energy

Sleek

Are those fuel tanks on the wing tips?

Oh those wacky Wright brothers

Nose cone art can be fun

An old Eastern Airlines plane

found al fresco

Why is there a tank at an

aviation museum?

Jacob added a purple pin to

this map in the gift shop showing

the home base of their visitors

The Sullenberger Aviation Museum was a present surprise and a fitting end to our great weekend.

To be safe, we arrived at Charlotte's uncrowded airport about three hours before our scheduled takeoff to be safe and it thankfully only took us ten minutes to get through TSA Security.

Good to know that our airport gate

area could also serve us should

a surprise hurricane hit us

We were happy that our flight

was only 30 minutes delayed

While waiting to load our flight, it was announced that the following flight from our gate that was going to San Diego, already four hours behind schedule, was now cancelled.

The government shut down was getting more real by the minute.