LSMike’s blog

Well, we spent the weekend up north visiting the bros. Left Saturday morning and took the bikes with us. We had decided to do part of the Elroy - Sparta trail system north and west of the Dells. There's actually three bike trails that start at the Elroy depot. The trail we choose is an old railroad bed and they've kept the old train depots and made them into biking/hiking depots. Pretty nice - there is a $4 charge for the day per person - a well kept up highly compacted trail. We registered in Elroy but decided to start the trail at the Kendall depot a few miles down the road. We headed

on down the trail towards Sparta. The first 5 miles were uphill. It felt like 10 miles - maybe more. About 3 miles along we came to a really cool (literally) tunnel.We had been told by the lady at the Elroy depot that we should have a flashlight and to walk the bikes through the tunnel. As we approached there was nobody else around and we could see the light at the other end. Like a couple of smart ass kids, we decided to just keep riding - didn't seem like such a long distance and couldn't be a big deal. 50 or so yards into it we were swerving all aver the place and couldn't see a damn thing. We stopped, got our flashlight out and walked the bikes through. According to our odometer that tunnel was close to 1/2 mile long. Dark, cold and wet - really neat. Out the other side, several miles along and we came to a campground that had some ice cream in their general store. We decide to head back and enjoy the 5 or 6 miles of downhill coasting as a reward after the ice cream.

Off to Savannah again today. We just had to go back and spend more time in this fantastic city. So much history to see and feel. We parked and hoofed the entire mile long historic district centering around Bull Street and branching out to the east and west to discover. There are many park "squares" along the route where people take a break from the heat and humidity in the shade of huge oak trees. Several musicians would play their tunes and collect a tip from appreciative listeners.

There is at least one statue in each square of a person that had an impact on this famous city. Perhaps the most important of which was James Edward Oglethorpe - founder of Savannah in 1733.

The last and largest of the squares is Forsyth. This is a picture of the two of us just before we jumped in to cool off. (kidding, but it did cross my mind).

Off to Charleston today. We let the GPS guide us and it did a pretty good job picking back roads. We visited the Visitor's Center briefly to get oriented. One thing we had kinda forgotten on this trip is the "Welcoming Centers" that exist in these heavy tourist places. These are not the "official" information centers and are nothing but traps for tours, souvenirs, etc. We always try to find the "official" center where we like to talk to an actual person. These people are often retirees from the area and are just as excited as us about what to do during our visit. Anyway, we had a quick lunch Al Fresco after which we took a nice long walk between Bay and Meeting streets. There are many similarities to Savannah, GA, but Charleston has its own characteristics. One such distinction was the many bicycle taxis. Another was the abundance of horse drawn carriages. This was a nice feature but the side effects made our eyes water.

We drove a few miles from Charleston to spend the afternoon at a Naval Museum. That was a lot of fun as you were able to board and discover the ships and subs. The USS Yorktown aircraft carrier was the main attraction. We took quite a few pictures on the carrier of various gages and controls as we thought they might make for curious abstract pics.

We spotted a place to have a few drinks and dinner and as we were standing ready to cross the street we noticed some colorful things on a lightpole next to us. Upon closer inspection we figured out what they were - chewing gum deposits. Between that and the horse after-effects our appetites were somewhat diminished but we sure were ready for a drink.

We had a couple of drinks and then dinner at a place called The Noisy Oyster.

Okay, I'm a day behind on this so I'm gonna make this a short one. Really wasn't much excitement today anyway, except when we got rushed out of the Atlantic ocean because the lifeguard spotted several sharks in the waters.

We slept in a bit and slowly got going out the door to see what this day would bring. I really don't remember what we did except we had lunch in a little French deli. I think I was the only guy in the place. I had some kind of salad sandwich with tea and a familiar bag of Jays. Payback is coming - I'm gonna suggest PIZZA for lunch tomorrow! Or maybe a meatball poorboy - at a place where guys are sitting around drinking beer and shoot'n the shit and telling dirty jokes and laughing - something I can relate to.

So, like I was saying about the ocean: We are down at the beach with our little canopy-covered canvas chair (it kinda looks like a big stroller without wheels). People galore. We decide to go out in the water and cake ourselves in sand and salt. We're about waist to chest deep and we notice all these bait fish jumping around in the water. I sarcastically say "that should bring the sharks in". I mean, hey, I'm a fisherman - or at least I hang around with some fishermen. Pretty soon we hear this whistle blowing like crazy and I look around and everybody is rushing towards the shore yelling and screaming. I look over at this guy 30 or 40 yards away from us and he's gesturing with his hands for us to get in. I wave back and say hi! - just kidding. At this point Lana and I are probably the furthest out and trying to run in. It's like one of those dreams where you can't run - like you're in deep water or something. We're about knee deep and Lana yells that something is biting her foot. I'm serious, this really happened! I know I have a tendency to embellish a little, but you can ask her about this. I reached over and grabbed her hand and we both ran like hell up onto the beach. We looked at the bottom of her foot and sure enough, there was a little bite mark. I thought it might have been a sea shell or something, but the lifeguard said it was probably a crab. SOB - even the crabs were freaking out. They kept everybody out of the water for an hour or so and then let them back in. We did not go.

 

Got up this morning and grabbed a corn muffin and some coffee. Within the hour we were on our way to Savannah, GA. We let the screwy GPS guide us there and, as usual, we got kinda lost a couple of times. This thing is right about 85 percent of the time. The other 15 percent - well, let's just say it spends a lot of time "recalculating". I don't know, this part of SC and GA is full of ghosts and supernatural stuff, so maybe the roads are changing dynamically as you're driving to take you to some God forsaken alligator-ridden ghost-infested back country out in the middle of nowhere nightmare place where a full set of teeth are as valuable as elephant tusks. 

Finally saw the big bridge, though, the one that takes you from SC to GA and into Savannah. Ended up down on River Street and hooked up with a trolley company that lets you get off and on as you please to get around the historical district. 
Wasn't really paying much attention to what the driver was telling us - just taking in what had to be one of the most interesting places either of us had ever been to. Old - that's the word that best describes it. Savannah - the "Lady with a Story". "There was something about her that drew me. It wasn’t just her beauty—though it was legendary—nor was it the way she made me feel, as if I were under a spell. It could have been any of her more obvious charms … even her scent, Magnolia and Gardenia." - Susan Ridley. The cobble stone streets - block after block. The origin of the movie Forest Gump - we saw the bench where Tom Hanks sat and explained the theory of life as it relates to a box of chocolates. We ate lunch at the Six Pence Pub - the place made an appearance in the movie "Something To Talk About" with Julia Roberts along with several other movies and TV shows.
Seemed that every other street was a boulevard, the center of which were filled with huge old oaks dripping with Spanish moss. In fact the oldest (doesn't surprise me) oak tree in any US city is here - 250 years old. After several hours checking out the downtown district it was back to River Street for dinner. We ate at a place called Huey's. First time either of us had fried green tomatoes. The food was good and the coffee was great. Did a little shopping and I bought a hat.  There was a trio singing acapella in the square right outside our dining spot.  

I wake up around eight to the aroma of coffee brewing in the kitchen. Lana's already up and getting things unpacked and organized. I roll out of bed and wonder into the living room, grab the guitar and start picking 'Ain't giv'n up on 3D Ranch' - a little instrumental tune I've been working on for 6 or 8 months now. It's done, I just need to finish it up. I stroll over to the little deck we've got just off the living room and walk out with the camera. There's a little pond below with a fountain sprinkling green water into the air and an alligator. Yes, I said alligator. 

He's our little (relatively speaking) friend - I hope. We had read on the way here that Hilton Head Island is full of them. In fact, this place is a refuge to allow populations to grow and be taken to other areas where they are becoming rare. This guy is about five or six feet long and seems perfectly happy here at the Player's Club resort. The phone rang and the lady from the downstairs office asked me if everything was okay so far. I mentioned the large reptile outside our balcony and she immediately asked me if we had children. I responded by saying no, and that I guess we'd have to find something else to feed him. She said it was illegal to harass or feed the them and one could be fined if caught doing so. I'm okay with that, as long as the alligators abide by the same rule.
After showers and all that we went for a walk down to the beach. The sand there is very packed and easy to walk on. People were riding bikes right along the water. Very different from Cape Hatteras where the sand is very loose and somewhat hard to walk on.

Okay, well the second day was even longer - close to 11 hours on the road. That, of course, is with a couple of stops to get gas and stretch a bit. Four hours tops in a Skyhawk! I've got to start taking advantage of that instrument rating on trips like this. The weather was perfect for a flight - just enough clouds and a little rain to make it interesting. Nothing too bad, though, at least from my vantage point on Terra Ferma. Any N. Illilois pilots out there interested in a fractional ownership?? Stopped in Chattanooga for lunch at a place call Zaxby's. It was funny, I found the place on the GPS and pulled up their menu on the BB before Lana could ask what kind of food they offered. We had a couple of zalads. The place kinda reminded us of Beef-a-Roo. On to Atlanta, GA,

where we saw what might have been the longest traffic jam we've ever seen. It was in the other on-coming lane, fortunately. We drove for 20 or thirty minutes at 75 MPH (speed limit is 70 in GA). That's a long 3 lanes of cars. Didn't get a shot of that but was able to get a skyline shot out of the car window. On to Savanna, GA. That was a long stretch - or so it seemed, anyway.Cruised by Savanna and turned north towards Hilton Head Island, S.C. Dusk was settling in as we drove across the tollroad onto HH. Got to the resort, checked in and quickly explored our home for the next week. The place is a two bedroom suite with a loft and spiral staircase. Pretty neat! We lucked out on this place, someone cancelled back earlier in the year and we called just at the right time to snag it. We got something to eat and drink at a place down the road called Aunt Chilada's. We're pretty pooped out and this photo says it all.

With GPS, MapQuest printout and an old-fashioned map in the car the odds of us getting to our intended destination are good. Not 100%, but better than fifty. The GPS got confused back near Charleston, IL, and kept yelling at us to make illegal U-turns. ETA in Nashville - 7:14p.m. More later...

Well, we got to Nashville at 9:00. On the way we stopped for a nice dinner at Charlie's in Hopkinsville, KY.  The GPS was great on the highway, we knew which lane to be in way ahead of time.  When we got to Nashville we circled the hotel but were not able to get to it with the GPS, we called the hotel...