SCIWAY News, No. 5 - September 1997

In This Issue

Plan Your Vacation or Weekend on SCIWAY
New South Carolina Web Sites
Read Carolina English Teacher Online
Two More South Carolina Library Catalogs on Web
Water Tower Reports Keep Pouring In
More on Markers
Upcoming Festivals, Shows, Events
Mystery of the Month

Plan Your Vacation or Weekend on SCIWAY

South Carolina has such a rich variety of places to visit and so many interesting things to see and do that it's hard to know what your options are, much less choose among them. To help with the information part of this problem, we've added a new Recreation, Travel, Tourism section to SCIway (http://www.sciway.net/tourism/). It includes

40 online South Carolina visitors guides
150 links to information about state festivals, shows, concerts, arts, amusement and water parks, zoos, aquariums, planetariums, golf, tennis, professional sports teams, shopping, and restaurants
120 links for tours, cruises, gardens, plantations, historic sites, lighthouses, and museums
80 links related to outdoor places and activities such as parks, forests, refuges, preserves, hiking, camping, birding, cycling, rivers, waterfalls, rafting, lakes, canoeing, kayaking, boating, water-skiing, jet-skiing, parasailing, fishing, and hunting
180 links to state travel agencies, airlines, marinas, hotels, condominiums, bed and breakfast inns, vacation rental agencies, convention and visitors bureaus, and Chambers of Commerce

Of the 16 SCIway sections we've developed so far, this has definitely been the most difficult to get off the ground--primarily because of the quantity and variety of South Carolina recreation, travel, and tourism information available on the Internet. But we've learned a lot as we've worked, and we hope this new SCIway resource will make it easier for South Carolinians and travelers throughout the world to learn about our state's exceptional recreational opportunities and services.

As always, if you know of a useful online resource we've missed (and in this case we know we've missed hundreds), please send its address to SCIway.News@SCIway.net.

Top of SCIWAY News No. 5

New South Carolina Web Sites

Alice Drive Middle School - Sumter

http://adm.sumterschools.net/

Beaufort County

http://www.beaufort.com (remodeled)

Center for Network Resources and Training - South Carolina State University

http://www.cnrt.scsu.edu/

Charleston Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society

http://www.bestfriendofcharleston.org

Christian Homeschoolers Association of South Eastern South Carolina - CHASE South Carolina

http://www.chasesc.com

Converse College Library

http://www.converse.edu/academics/mickel-library

Lake Murray Country

http://www.lakemurraycountry.com

Lee County History

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sclee/leehis.html. (Please be patient; this connection is sometimes slow.)

Top of SCIWAY News No. 5

Upcoming Festivals, Shows, Events

For the latest information on upcoming South Carolina events, please see http://www.sciway.net/calendar.html.

Vivace! Fine Arts Festival - Myrtle Beach, Oct 17-26
Wooden Boat Exhibit - Georgetown, Oct 18
Wavefest - Charleston, Oct 19
Ghostbusting Tour - Georgetown, Oct 24-25
Ghostwalk - Summerville, Oct 25
WorldFest - Charleston, Nov 2-10

Top of SCIWAY News No. 5

Mystery of the Month

Many of South Carolina's less developed areas have an abundance of whitetail deer, and the highways that traverse these areas are spotted with occasional deer-crossing warning signs. These yellow and black diamonds picture a buck springing toward the roadway.

Late one night last spring, I was driving south on I-26 when my car's headlights struck one of these signs--and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature red-nosed deer. I blinked, took a couple of swigs of Coke (real Coke), and drove on. I knew I was sleepy.

I didn't think about Rudolf again . . . until he suddenly reappeared about two hours down the road! This time I stopped, walked back up the highway a few hundred feet, and looked the deer on the sign straight in his left eye. His nose was still red.

Since that night I've sighted at least a dozen red-nosed deer-crossing signs throughout the state--from as far north as Laurens County to as far east as Georgetown County and as far south as Dorchester County. Careful examination of these signs reveals that the red noses are not painted on (as I first presumed), but are instead clusters of seven to nine red dots. Each dot is about the size of a quarter, and they look like they all came from the same stash. Most of the clusters are round, but one is shaped like a football.

The burning question is, of course, who's decorating South Carolina's deer-crossing signs? Is this a low-budget state or federal highway beautification program that I've somehow missed hearing about? Or is it the stealthy work of a mysterious humor being who roves the state's highways in the still hours of early morning . . . armed with a stepladder and a pocketful of red dots? If you have a clue or have spotted a red-nosed deer in your neck of the woods, please write sherlock@sciway.net. Bored South Carolina drivers want to know.

Top of SCIWAY News No. 5

You are welcome to distribute complete, unaltered copies of this issue to anyone in any format . . . or to include parts of it in printed publications. But please indicate the source (SCIWAY News, September 30, 1997) and include our Web address (http://www.sciway.net). Thanks!

To subscribe to SCIWAY News, send a one-word message that says "subscribe" to news@sciway.net. To unsubscribe, send an "unsubscribe" message to this same address. If your e-mail address changes, please let us know soon.

News and new Web site addresses should also be sent to news@sciway.net.

SCIway, pronounced "sky-way," is an acronym for South Carolina Information Highway.