Friday, October 16: Toccoa to Milledgeville, Georgia
After saying goodbye to our friends and teammates at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa, we headed out on Taz for new adventures in unexplored (for us) country. This was a Point A (Toccoa) to Point B (we'd know it when we got there) day that included back roads through northeastern Georgia, a short stretch of Interstate 85, and then a conglomerate of highways that led to our first "exploration" experience in Athens, Georgia, the home of the University of Georgia. Since we had been riding at highway speeds, we decided to slow the pace and check out the campus and surrounding area.
After about an hour of slow riding and gawking, we made our way back to U.S 441.
We continued south until we reached Milledgeville (home of Georgia State University), where we started looking for lodging for the evening. We began to worry when we were told at the first hotel we stopped at that there were no rooms available because of a huge softball tournament in town, but Barbara worked her phone magic and found us a room at the local Holiday Inn Express (if we could get there within ten minutes). We were only about three minutes away from the Holiday Inn, so we made it in plenty of time to get checked in and set up for the night. Since we didn't want to get back on the streets to find a place to eat, and there was no place interesting within walking distance, we took the easy way out and ordered pizza delivery from Pizza Hut. Once the food was delivered, we settled in for the night, well-fed and ready for a good night's sleep.
++++++++
Saturday, October 17: Milledgeville, Georgia, to Tallahassee, Florida
We woke up to a chilly morning, so we put on our cold weather "layers," loaded Taz and the trailer, had some breakfast at the hotel, and then struck out again. We had several options for highways to get us to Tallahassee and chose some of the back roads, hoping to see sights that high speed traveler's might not see. And, we were well-rewarded for our efforts.
We did travel a few miles on I-75 from Macon to Cordele, Georgia (with a stop at Perry for lunch), but it wasn't nearly as much fun as the secondary roads, so we left the high-speed traffic at Cordele and made our way through the scenic country for the rest of the journey.
After two solid days of riding, our rear ends were getting a little tired and we were beginning to think that Tallahassee had been moved farther south, but then we found this sign and knew we were almost through riding for the day...
It wasn't long after crossing the state line that we hit the outskirts of Tallahassee and slowly made our way to the home of our cousins Danny and Cindy Wright, our hosts for the next couple of days.
Danny and Cindy helped us get unloaded and moved into our room and then we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening sitting around and getting caught up with "family talk."
The highlight of the evening was our meal, a low-country boil, eaten off of paper bags as we sat around the table on the deck of their pool...what a life!!!
++++++++
Sunday, October 18
Danny and Cindy had to be at their church early to meet some of their responsibilities. We took our time getting cleaned up and dressed, then rode Taz the few miles to the Wildwood Church, where we experienced friendliness, a great sermon, and some amazing music.
On the ride back to the house, Barbara broke out the camera and got some shots of the scenery along the way...
We had a lazy afternoon and then returned to the church later where we joined Danny and Cindy and their study group for supper and a very interesting Christian-based financial seminar. While we were waiting for things to begin, I wandered around outside to try my hand with the camera.
When we were finished at church, we all made our separate ways back to the house for an evening of sitting on the deck and visiting (and sampling some guava from the tree in the backyard).
++++++++
Monday, October 19
Barbara voted to stay at the house this morning and do laundry since Cindy had to work. Meanwhile, Danny and I went out to run some errands (including mailing another box of clothes home to Texas), before driving south of Tallahassee to San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park at the confluence of the St. Marks and Wakulla rivers, just before they empty into the Gulf of Mexico.
This strategic point of land was used to control access to both rivers, and a Spanish fort was constructed here in 1680. In later years, the area was controlled by the British, U.S., and Confederate troops.The U.S. Treasury Department constructed a hospital at this site in 1857-1858 to care for ailing seamen, particularly those suffering from yellow fever.
Points of interest at the park include the Marine Hospital, Confederate Earthworks, Fort Ward Confederate Powder Magazine and Gun Position, the Bastion of San Fernando, and the American Cemetery.
When Cindy arrived home from work, she and Danny had some fun time on Taz.
Danny and Cindy combined efforts to build tonight's dinner, smoked chicken with all the trimmings. Once again, we enjoyed food, fun, and fellowship as we sat on the pool deck until it was too dark to see anything.
We moved inside where each of us found a spot to spend some time with our electronic devices (and the dog tried to get all the attention possible), until it was time to say goodnight and head for bed.
++++++++
Tuesday, October 20: Tallahassee, Florida, to St. Mary's, Georgia
Since our trip today was to be relatively short, we slept in past dark-thirty, getting up in time to say goodbye to Cindy before she left for work, and then getting cleaned up, and packed and loaded for another set of miles on Taz.
Danny took a couple of shots of us as we left the house...
And then we got onto I-10 East and rode to Jacksonville, Florida...
Fortunately, the I-10 traffic wasn't very bad, so the trip was relatively comfortable. When we got close to Jacksonville, we broke away on I-95 North toward Georgia.
We stopped at a Love's Travel Stop for lunch, and then continued up I-95 for a few miles until we got to Georgia 40, where we turned off and headed east to St. Mary's to find lodging for a couple of nights.
As with several parts of our trip, our destination today was recommended by friends familiar with the area. When they heard what our general travel plans were, our Toccoa friends Gary and Rhonda Keve said that we just had to see Cumberland Island, just off the coast of southeastern Georgia. It sounded interesting to us, and now here we were.
Our time this afternoon and evening was spent in checking out the downtown area and making reservations for the ferry ride to the island tomorrow.
++++++++
Wednesday, October 21: Cumberland Island National Seashore
Since our ferry reservations were for the 11:45 AM crossing, we had plenty of time this morning to do a little shopping at the CVS next door to the hotel, ride to the post office to drop off some mail, and then ride back to downtown St. Marys for some more sightseeing before joining our group. The town was celebrating a fall festival and had a lot of different decorations along Main Street.
Before boarding the ferry, we purchased a lunch in one of the businesses, and then joined our group for last minute instructions prior to the 45-minute sailing to the island.
Cumberland Island is 18 miles long with vast undisturbed beaches. Sand dunes, some as high as 40 feet, protect the island's interior. Over 300 species of birds use the island, and endangered sea turtles nest here every year, Feral horses graze openly on the marsh and forest areas of the island.
Visitors can walk in the footsteps of the island's past by visiting the ruins of Dungeness, built by Thomas and Lucy Carnegie 1885. Also available for viewing are Plum Orchard, a 30-room mansion constructed as a wedding present by Lucy Carnegie for her son, Thomas Carnegie and his wife Margaret Thaw, and the reconstructed site of the first African Baptist Church.
For our part, we enjoyed our lunch shortly after getting off the ferry, and then began the walking tour to see what we could see.
When we had gone as far as we could go, we hitched a ride with a paint crew back to the dock, where we waited until the ferry arrived to take us back to St. Mary's.
Once back in town, we fired up Taz and returned to the hotel, where we packed as much as we could and then settled down for some rest. We were plumb worn out, but full of special memories of a beautiful day!
++++++++
Thursday, October 22: St. Marys, Georgia to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
With a relatively short travel day today, we didn't have to leave early, so we took our time packing Taz and the trailer and had some breakfast at the motel breakfast bar before checking out and then heading back toward I-95 and the highway north through Georgia and into South Carolina.
Riding a cycle on an interstate highway isn't nearly as interesting as riding the back roads, but unless we wanted to make a two-day trip out of a five or six hour ride, I-95 was the best way to go today. We did discover that many rivers and channels run through Georgia on their way to the Atlantic Ocean, and we passed over a bunch of them!
Shortly after we crossed into South Carolina, we broke away from I-95 onto U.S. 278 and rode southeast toward Hilton Head Island and our home for the next couple of nights. Our reservation at the Holiday Inn property was just for one night, but we were able to extend it an extra night in order to be able to see the places we wanted to visit.
The first order of business was to get checked in and move all of our luggage to the room. Then, we moved Taz to our designated parking place before we started viewing our surroundings.
When we spotted a Mexican restaurant called Aunt Chiladas, we knew we'd have to try it. We scored a table for two on the deck outdoors and enjoyed some delicious food and a fun and friendly, if somewhat funky atmosphere.
Stuffed to the gills after tackling the large platters of food, we crawled back onto Taz and made our way back to the hotel, where we went straight to the room and crashed after a very busy day!
++++++++
Friday, October 23: Savannah, Georgia
One of our reasons for extending our stay an extra night was so we could take advantage of the proximity of Hilton Head to Savannah. Savannah was one of our targets for this trip, but several friends shared their opinions of what to see and how to see it. Our main reason for seeing Savannah was that Daddy was stationed at Hunter Field during World War II. Mother was pregnant with me and was there with him during the summer of 1944. Mother absolutely hated the place; it was wartime, housing was limited, and there was no air-conditioning. Her experience there was so bad that she left on a train to El Paso and said she'd never go back.
After we retired from teaching, we thought we had convinced Mother to go back and see how Savannah had changed. She agreed that it was a good idea and she might be willing to do that, but then she got too sick to go, and died without ever going back. So, it was up to us to see the new Savannah for her.
Our goal for today was to leave as early as possible, ride some back country roads, and get to the visitor center in time to catch one of the trolley tours. Traffic was generally congested most of the way, but the scenery made the slow travel worthwhile.
After crossing the bridge into Savannah, we quickly found the offices for Old Town Trolley Tours, purchased our tickets for the day, boarded the "short hop" trolley for the Savannah Visitors Center, and began an interesting and exciting day of seeing Savannah with our genial guide, Lillie Belle, who knew everything about anything Savannah!
Our initial thought was to write a travelogue about the city sites, but time was short and the sights were numerous, so we'll just share photos that we took along the way. Since we definitely want to go back again, we might explore that travelogue idea later.
After a busy morning of sightseeing, we were more than ready for a delightful lunch at the City Market Cafe.
Since our trolley tickets allowed us to get off and on at any of the designated stops, we did some wandering around and shop-looking before catching a trolley back to Taz. Our good luck held for us, as we flagged down a trolley and found that our morning guide, Lilly Belle, was driving. We even got her to pose with Taz when we returned to the parking lot.
Savannah was an exciting and alluring city, but we were reaching the point of sensory overload, so we climbed aboard Taz and rode back through the low country to Hilton Head.
After looking at some dinner options, we voted to go back to the poolside bistro to sample their fare while enjoying a beautiful evening outdoors.
Following our meal, we took a walk around the neighborhood shopping center, made a few final purchases, and then returned to the hotel to pack and load as much of our luggage as we could in anticipation of an early start tomorrow morning.
++++++++
Saturday, October 24: Hilton Head Island to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Today was a day of lots of riding (avoiding Interstate 95 whenever possible) and some interesting sight-seeing in one of the South's greatest and most unique cities.
After loading Taz and the trailer, we said goodbye to Hilton Head Island and rode back to the mainland...
Instead of going to I-95, we took the back country SC 462 until we hit U.S. 17 and broke northeast to Charleston. Charleston was on our list of places to see, but we knew going in that this would be only a cursory visit that would have to tide us over until we can return to spend several days. Once in the city, we made our way to the old French Quarter to enjoy the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of this unique community.
After doing some shopping in the old market, we sought out a place to eat. We like to try specialty foods of the areas we visit and, when possible, seek out some local music. We hit a home run today with a delightful food venue (and an opportunity to eat outside) and a music combo that spent a lot of time talking to us while they were setting up for their afternoon performance.
We had to leave Charleston all to soon to have a chance of getting to Myrtle Beach on time for the evening, so we said our goodbyes and hit the road once more.
We stopped at a wide spot in the road after a couple of hours, took a short break, and sampled a bottle of South Carolina's favorite soft drink, Cheerwine. If you haven't had a bottle of that particular beverage before, just think of a cherry Coke on cherry steroids. It's probably an acquired taste, but one that we didn't feel like we needed to acquire for ourselves.
It was along this stretch of highway that we were overtaken by about 50 bikers on a variety of machines (all extremely loud) that blew past the car/truck traffic as if we were standing still. Barbara started to take some pictures of the group, but decided against it when we realized that in addition to riding fast and somewhat unsafely, many had pistols strapped to their waists or stuck in their jeans. We certainly didn't want to do anything that would draw unnecessary attention to ourselves!
The bikers were, thankfully, the last bit of excitement for the day. Without incident, we continued on our way to Myrtle Beach, where we stopped at the first available Walmart to buy a few necessities (including a tank of gas for Taz), before riding down to the strip to find our hotel.
After unpacking what we needed for the night, we went to one of the local eateries on the beach and enjoyed some fine dining (in spite of the high winds that were whipping the area).
++++++++
Sunday, October 25: Myrtle Beach South Carolina to Morehead City, North Carolina
The relatively nice weather that we enjoyed yesterday deteriorated overnight. After a nice breakfast at the Best Western, we headed north on U.S. 17 toward Wilmington, NC, cruising through light rain and cooler temperatures than we preferred.
We had thought of finding a little country church to attend along the way, but ended up riding all the way into Wilmington to find the First Baptist Church just in time for the morning service. Folks were friendly, the music was wonderful, and we heard yet another great sermon.
The sun came out while we were in church, so we shed our rain gear and then headed out of town, only to pull over and do some sight-seeing at the USS Battleship North Carolina, permanently berthed at Wilmington. Even though I had lived in North Carolina for six years at the beginning of my teaching career, this was my first visit to the battleship site.
Our time was limited, so we viewed the battleship from the outside, made some purchases in the gift ship, and then headed back up the road toward our destination for the day, Morehead City.
We hadn't gone very far when our stomachs reminded us that it had been a long time since breakfast, so we began the search for something that would get us to our home for the night. Our search led us to a very unique Asian drive-in/takeout place, where we bought a great meal at a reasonable price and then enjoyed dining under a beautiful blue North Carolina sky.
After enjoying our meal, we decided that we probably should hit the road seriously. There was a lot of weekend traffic, but by this time, most of it was coming back from the beach, so we didn't have any trouble motoring along at the speed limit.
Our route took us up to Jacksonville and then down along Marine Corp Base Camp Lejeune.
We took another break outside of Camp Lejeune, where a couple of local riders came up to inspect Taz.
These two riders had recently returned from a trip to South Texas on their bike, so we all had some stories to share.
After the visit, we climbed aboard Taz for the final run through Swansboro and then into Morehead City, where we enjoyed a great evening at the Holiday Inn Express (we recommend it highly to any of our readers who find themselves seeking lodging there).
++++++++
Monday, October 26: Morehead City to Kill Devil Hills, NC (Outer Banks)
Today was a travel/sightseeing day, and what a day it was! We loaded Taz and the trailer and left the Holiday Inn in Morehead City a little after Dark-Thirty in order to make sure we got to the ferry landing at Cedar Island in time to board the morning ferry for Ocracoke Island and the Outer Banks. While we were in Toccoa, our friends John and Lynn Worley, fellow bikers, told us that this was a must-see adventure, and since neither of us had ever been closer to the Outer Banks than I-95, and we had plenty of time, we decided this was what we wanted to do.
We rode U.S. 70 through historic Beaufort to it's eastern terminus at Williston, and then took NC 12 on up to Cedar Island. While I was trying to keep us on the highway, Barbara was busy with the camera, recording the sights along the way...
We made it to the ferry landing with time to spare, took our spot in the line to board, and then had a few minutes to check out our surroundings.
We were the next to the last vehicle to drive onto the ferry. It took a few minutes to get all the vehicles situated, the the stern gate was closed, the whistle sounded, and we were off on a new adventure with Taz, a two-hour ferry ride to Ocracoke Island, with nothing to do but look at all that water, relax, and take pictures...
Once on Ocracoke, we rejoined Highway 12 for a scenic ride up the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. We didn't know what to expect, but found that the islands that make up the national seashore were long and narrow...in many places, we could see Pamlico Sound on the west, and the Atlantic Ocean on the right as we rode the 12 miles of Ocracoke Island from south to north...stopping, of course, for a few pictures.
At the north end of Ocracoke Island, we boarded a free ferry to take us to Hatteras Island. The break from riding was nice, but the weather began to change, and as we got off the ferry and began looking for somewhere to eat, we found that food and lodging places were few and far between. Not only that, the tourist season was over (we didn't get that memo), so most of the island was closed and shuttered. On top of that, the weather was changing and we were starting to get battered by high winds and blowing sand, not unlike conditions that were "normal" for us in west Texas and southwestern Kansas. We thought we might be able to make it to Kitty Hawk, but by the time we got to Kill Devil Hills, we were tired, hungry, and ready to get off of Taz. We stopped for a bite to eat, and then found a Best Western motel on the eastern side of the island and decided we'd just call it quits and make this our home base for a couple of nights.
It was getting late in the afternoon, but we did have a chance to take a brief walk out to the beach, but the best view of the area was from our room on the fifth floor...
Our room was really nice, but it didn't take long to figure out that the weather stripping around the sliding glass doors to the porch was non-existent. The wind was blowing so hard that the drapes were fluttering inside, so Barbara gathered all the towels she could find and stuffed them around the doors to keep the wind out.
++++++++
Tuesday, October 27: Kill Devil Hills, NC (Outer Banks)
The day dawned grey and windy, so we decided we'd just hunker down and enjoy the amenities of the hotel until things got better. Job one this morning was to try to get a good panoramic shot of the beach from our landing.
Once we were up and about, we voted to try the hotel breakfast at the Monument Room on the third floor. When we got there, we asked the attendant why they called it the Monument Room, and he pointed out the window to a large structure to the west. We then asked (because inquiring minds want to know) what monument it was...and he said it was the Wright Brothers Monument...and then it dawned on us where we really were. Now, we may both be teachers, but sometimes we are among the slow learners, and this was definitely one ot those times. We had hoped to get to Kitty Hawk yesterday so we could see the Wright Brother Monument, and here it was right in front of us!
Well, there was nothing to do then but saddle up Taz and make the short ride to the monument, which is testimony to the thousands of glider flights the Wright brothers made to develop the design for their first "flying machine,"
After spending an hour or so at the monument, we decided it was time for lunch, and thought about riding up to Kitty Hawk to see the birthplace of powered flight, but the weather was changing for the worse, so on the way back to the motel, we stopped at Dairy Queen for some takeout food and then returned to our room for a meal and a nap.
Later, we took a long walk on the beach and shot a bunch of photos of us enjoying some fun time.
And then it was time to go back to the room and begin packing for the final leg of this part of the adventure.
++++++++
Wednesday, October 28: Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina to Midlothian, Virginia
In retrospect, we probably should have left the island yesterday and made our way to Virginia, but wisdom doesn't always fit into our plans and we sometimes just have to play the hand we dealt ourselves.
The weather forecast for today's travel was for not-very-good, rapidly deteriorating to really bad. We thought we had dodged the weather bullet when we started loading Taz and preparing for today's journey. It was cloudy and breezy, but pretty dry, so we had no trouble making all the preparations.
But, as we pulled out of the parking lot and made our first turn on the street leading to the highway to Kitty Hawk, the clouds suddenly boiled up and the bottom fell out. Luckily, we had our rain gear on, so we just persevered and joined the morning traffic, hoping we could stop in time if we had to.
Once we got off of Hatteras and back onto the mainland, we had alternate periods of heavy rain and light showers, but we were committed to the journey, so we just kept on keepin' on.
We skirted around Norfolk, Virginia, and picked up U.S. 460 toward Petersburg. As we approached Waverly, the bottom fell out of the skies again. The rain was so heavy we could barely see ahead of us, so we pulled off in Waverly to get gas and take a break. Within a few minutes, the storm cell passed on through, and we had clear sailing to Petersburg, where we picked up I-95 for the final leg of the trip to Midlothian, and the familiar sights along the way to Mike and Kelly's house.
And then we were there. It had been a long journey from Toccoa to Midlothian (certainly not the straightest route), but we had enjoyed (nearly) every mile and had seen sights that we couldn't have even imagined a month ago, thanks to the advice of friends who have traveled those roads ahead of us.
For now, it was time to let Taz rest while we settled in at the kids' house and waited for everyone to get home from school/work/daycare so we could enjoy some quality family time with the Virginia kids.
++++++++
From Midlothian, Virginia,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsy
