| Postcards from the Road |
5 March 2009 |
Oregonians Gone Wild
Tybee Island, Georgia: I forgot to mention
we have now been away 100 days - 103 in fact. The Big Plans for the
announcement on Tuesday were completely forgotten. Oops.
We drove north out of Florida into Georgia this morning. Instead of taking
the much slower coastal route (which we have traveled before), we hopped on
I-95 for the condensed version. We started the day with a tight squeeze -
this narrow opening is the exit from the KOA in St. Augustine Beach:
Everybody suck-in
The N.B. Broward Bridge southeast of Jacksonville, Florida
Just a few miles into Georgia is the Georgia Travel Center
(Visitor Information Center). It is a very nice Welcome Center and the
helpful ladies gave us tons of brochures on Savannah and Tybee Island and
sent us happily on our way. We made a sandwich while day camped in their
parking lot, looked over the booklets and made a few plans. We like to not
make too many plans. Every time we do, something comes up and we have to
cancel our reservations... one, two or three days in advance is plenty for
us.
Georgia Welcome Center
So what is up with the Georgia slogan? Where is the
punctuation?
Welcome to Georgia
What about the Oregon slogan? (Don't forget everyone out
here pronounces Our Great State OR-A-gone. Even when I say
OR-e-gun, they repeat it as OR-A-gone... like they are
correcting my pronunciation.) Actually, the official state slogan
of Oregon is presently, "We Love Dreamers". This is a pretty lame slogan.
How about we change our slogan to...
OREGON: No sales tax.
or
OREGON: Attendants pump your gasoline.
or
OREGON: Come visit us, spend a lot of money, then go back home.
or
OREGON: We recycle E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.
or (my favorite)
OREGON: We know how to pronounce Oregon.
This is basically Oregon in a nutshell,
isn't it?
We had a very exciting time getting fuel ($268) this afternoon! We entered a
huge truck stop and pulled up next to the
Girls Gone Wild
tour bus! There were no hot babes on the bus... just a middle-aged dude
driving the bus from one gig to another. He was quite friendly with My
Driver. They discussed tires and diesel fuel.
Classing up the truck stop, don't you think?
Suppose DT could get a job driving this bus?
We are camped on Tybee Island, which sits about 12 miles
east of Savannah. There is only one way to reach Tybee Island and that is to
go through Savannah. Think of what you know of Savannah. Think Live Oak
draped in Spanish Moss. Yes, it is beautiful and yes, we drove through an
arch of the trees in our 12-foot-plus-tall motorcoach this afternoon. We may
have a bit of moss on our roof now.
Our situation for a few days on Tybee Island - Rivers End Campground & RV
Park
After settling into our campsite and realizing we could not
find the internet satellite or the television satellite due to those
beautiful Live Oak, we walked to the beach. (No matter, the campground has
great cable television and high speed wifi.)
The Tybee Lighthouse, circa 1736
A container ship arriving into Savannah
BOYS GONE WILD? No, it was just the
Bellarmine University
baseball team, here on a
spring-training trip from Louisville, Kentucky. The entire team was playing
baseball
(with a tennis ball and using a piece of driftwood as a bat) on the beach.
Cute boys!
Our dinner tonight was simply outstanding. We had heard
about the Sundae
Cafe at Tybee, so stopped-in and snagged a good table. (Luckily, we also
knew the restaurant is wedged between a liquor store and a convenience store
- complete with a gas station in the parking lot - in a commonplace strip
mall. Trust me, if I were to just drive-by this restaurant, there is no way
I would even notice it, let-alone go inside.) The interior is classy, the
service is perfect (Isabel) and the
menu
is divine. Seriously, the Sundae Cafe provided us with one of the nicest
meals we had tried in a while. Prices were very reasonable too!
What could be better than fried green tomatoes on a grit cake ($6.95)?
NOTE: this dish (usually) comes with a tasso (smoked ham) hollandaise.
How about shrimp and grits with a cracked pepper cream sauce ($6.95)
For my main course, I had Pecan crusted chicken breast
with peach and cranberry chutney, served with Boursin mashed potatoes and
butterbean and sweet corn succotash, $16.95. Crispy on the outside,
inside the chicken was incredibly moist and tender. I could not even begin
to finish my meal.
Pecan-crusted chicken breast with peach-cranberry chutney
For his main course, DT had another appetizer - Seafood
Bisque. Would you believe shrimp, lobster and
crab meat simmered in a rich seafood broth finished with heavy cream and a
touch of brandy. Huge bowl, $6.95. Such a deal!
Seafood Bisque
We will be up late tonight, listening to the Ducks v USC
game on XM radio. Until my next update, I remain, your Oregonian Gone Wild
correspondent.
RV Park:
River's End
Campground & RV Park