Across the U.S., Day 20 - Greenville (SC) to Columbia (SC)

During breakfast I had an interesting conversation with an elderly couple about school nutrition programs in the south-eastern states. In the early 80s, he had served for a school district in Georgia to grow and promote healthier meal supplies for the kids. He mentioned that he was pretty successful in growing the program but quit this field when the schools started to introduce an increasing range of soda beverages and other junk food. From then to now, things had been changing again. One encouraging initiative is certainly Let's Move, launched by Michelle Obama in 2010.

We also discussed marketing of healthy food, e.g., promoting 'fancy content' such as antioxidants in blueberries to increase their consumption.

Before I could get back on the road today, I had to take care of one more thing:

This nail had been the culprit for yesterday's tire pressure warning. Son of a biscuit! The service center was able to fix the tire and hopefully this was it in terms of obstacles.

I took the scenic route to Columbia, the capital of South Carolina. Along Hwy US-25 I came by a noticeable number of abandoned houses.

For Sale by Owner

Ok, this one is obviously not abandoned!

Each time I came by a small town on my way to Columbia, I was greeted by one of the "Dollar General" stores along the road. In Nebraska, I had noticed the first one of these stores and was not really satisfied with their food selection.

Food? No.

Not food either!

Really? Not sure.

Ok, to be fair, they also have a small selection of 100% apple and grape juice, next to juice cocktails and such. And a few dairy products that I consider edible. Again, it goes back to reading the labels. Oh, I found another market chain that is more to my gusto: Bi-Lo. The one in Greenville had a good variety of fresh and healthy produce, even organic. I finally also found my Swedish crisp bread Wasa, which is excellent for traveling (and also perfect as last resort snack at work!). Stores are mainly prominent in the south-eastern states. According to online information, this branch was specifically designed to attract high-end customers and its stores are located in affluent neighborhoods. Well, there we go. ...

More to come.