Bike riding in Savannah and Jekyll Island, Georgia

On Friday we asked the fine folks at Red Barn Campground if we could leave our trailer there for the day as we took our van into Savannah.  They said, "Sure, go ahead, y'all!"  We parked the camper between two behemoths and got ready to go.  But first I took a shower in their office building, which evidently used to be a home...  the tub and shower were just like being at home.  Boy, did that feel good!  I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Karen and I have a guideline that if we feel ourselves heading toward a dustup, we have to take a shower.  Mellows out the soul...

So anyway, armed with a Savannah street map from the Red Barn, we headed into Savannah.  We cruised past the historic district and found ourselves a parking spot on Ogelthorpe Street.  Plugged in 5 hours worth of quarters and took off on our bikes.

Cotton Exchange Building

I really enjoyed Savannah!  The first stop was the Historic Cotton Exchange.  At one time, Savannah shipped out more cotton than anywhere in the U.S., and second most in the world.

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There were blocks of buildings actually built on top of another street, paved with bricks and cobblestones.  We rode our bikes along the Savannah River.  We wanted to eat shrimp and grits, another regional delicacy.  Karen asked a native where the best place was, and he replied that Vic's was the best.  So of course we found our way there, being smart enough to eat lunch there rather than dinner, to save some money.  We ate fried green tomatoes and shrimp and grits...  deeeeelish!!

 

 And we were lucky enough to be served by Michael, the best waiter under the sidewalk tent!  I told him he looked like Dan Akroyd, and he quickly shot back, "Yeah, but I'm in way better shape than he is!"







We asked Michael if he would take a picture and this is what he did...










"Oh, you mean a picture of you!!"


















Later we had a cup of wine to go at the sidewalk cafe Vincent Van GoGo!  Yes, a cup of wine to go!  You ordered, got the drink in a plastic cup, and strolled out the door!

Then we stayed again at the free digs at Walmart!   

We came up with the idea of rating different Walmart parking lots, complete with pics, plusses (lots of room, landscaping, fairly quiet etc) and minuses (Did not feel safe, too noisy, small lot etc).  We would publish it as WalSmart.  Sound good? Sell a million??  Never have to work again???
WAIT!!  I DON'T HAVE TO WORK AGAIN!!!!
So that gets us to today, Saturday the 14th.  We planned to head south to St. Augustine, but could not get a camp reservation until tomorrow night, so we made an impromptu turn to Jekyll Island off the SE shore of Georgia.  What a delight!!

First we took Tank to the Driftwood Beach, which he absolutely loved!!

 

What a wonderland, with huge trees washed up on the beach.  I think they were live oaks.  Tank couldn't decide what to do first, as he pranced through the trees and into the surf!  Add in that I threw his tennis ball for him, and he was in Heaven!!  It tired him out enough that he was ok with staying in the van as we went for a bike ride around the island.

We rode several miles through a fairyland of live oaks festooned with Spanish moss (which we have learned is neither Spanish nor really moss, being instead a closer relative of the pineapple!)  Karen mentioned that she felt like she was riding through a Dr. Suess landscape.

We made our way to the little cafe called Latitude 31, where we enjoyed a lunch of Sherry Crab Bisque, with a Cajun blackened Mahi taco and a pulled pork BBQ.  Great!  And guess what?!  They have live music tonight, so we rode our bikes back to the van, went around the island to another beach, and now have returned to the camper to work on the bloc a little before we head back to Latitude 31 for dinner and music, then back to the mainland to sleep at Walmart again.

And as I was typing that last paragraph, the computer started making a new noise that we hadn't heard before!  A call from Karen's daughter was coming in through the computer!  A month or more ago our computer-savvy friend Terri had synched all our electronics, so the call was accepted and the computer turned itself on to Face time!!  Whoopee!

So we had a great conversation with Laura as she drove in computer and we sat in our camper on an island off the coast of Georgia!  Laura laughed at us a bit (or with us!), but I said what she was seeing was the equivalent of the first people that saw fire.  Aaaah, technology!