Linda and I have finally made our plans to visit Savannah. We had wanted to see this old city each time we passed on our way back from Daytona, but by the time we got this close to home, we just wanted to continue. This time, Savannah would be our destination, and Memorial Day weekend seemed like the perfect time.
The weather man hasn’t been cooperating. While it had been hot and mostly sunny all week, there was a “thirty percent chance of isolated thunderstorms.” Normally this translates to “normal summer weather” around here, as the heat and humidity work to cook up the afternoon showers.
We woke this morning to scuddy clouds and brief bursts of sunshine, and checked the weather again. No change in the precipitation percentages, at least in Savannah, and it was finally agreed that we would take the bikes. We packed and loaded up, and we were headed out at 10 am.
Our route was another decision that took some doing. While I-95 is the fastest way to get there, it’s by no means the most pleasant ride, and I wanted to take the side roads as much as possible. This would have meant driving down Highway 52 towards Charleston, then working our way around through Summerville, and only taking the Interstate for a short jaunt before getting back on Highway 321 to take us to Bay Street, where we have reservations at the Hyatt-Regency.
Linda reminded me that Spoleto, Charleston’s Arts program, was starting up this weekend, which would greatly add to the traffic. Sitting still on a motorcycle on a crowded road is even less fun than the Interstate. With the slight chance of rain and the congestion issues, we decided on the I-95 route.
At the last instant I decided to at least add some side-road travel, and we headed down Highway 301 through Effingham, Olanta and Turbeville, picking up I-95 some 30 miles further down the road. It’s not well travelled anymore, so we made good time.
Just north of Olanta I looked in the mirror and realized that I couldn’t see Linda’s headlights. Her fog lights were bright, but the normal headlamps (which are on when the bike is running and to my knowledge can’t be turned off) were dark. When we were able we pulled in to an abandoned Exxon station.
Before I could get off the bike, Linda had shut hers off. When she restarted it, the lights came on, making me wonder if it had been my imagination, or glare from the sun, or some other such phenomenon. Getting back on the road, when I looked back at her, I could see the lights clearly; they had definitely been out earlier. My guess is that there was an electronic glitch that turned them off, and restarting the bike had reset the glitch – rebooting always seems to help! I resolved to keep a close watch on them the rest of the trip, but they never went out again.
As we rode out of Turbeville towards I-95, drops of rain began to cling to the windshields, and the road was wet. It wasn’t too much, and we rode out of it before we turned on the ramp to the Interstate, so we kept going. Within 20 miles it was a different story. The ran began to come down in earnest, and just above Manning the visibility became poor enough that we pulled under an overpass to wait it out a bit.
As I’m trying to dry the windshields, the trucks roaring past were throwing enough spray to coat the insides of the shields! In about ten minutes the rain slacked off and I hurriedly wiped the water from both the inside and outside of the shields, from the dashboards and the seats. We took off again, and were soon back on dry road, where we began to dry as well.
As we crossed the bridge over Lake Marion, I looked east across the water. It looked like the rain was coming down about a mile from us, over the lake. We’ve been out there in a storm before – not a good thing.
For the rest of the ride, we rode in and out of smaller rain showers, but it was never bad enough to pull over again. They say that with a Goldwing, as long as you’re moving forward your not getting wet. Well, that’s not quite true, but we didn’t get soaked, and we dried quickly once the rain quit. That 30 percent chance of rain translated to us getting rained on for thirty percent of the ride.
I have to say that Linda is the best ride partner I can imagine. With the CB’s keeping us in contact, we work together to negotiate the traffic, and she is an expert at opening the left lane so I can move over to pass the slowpoke in the right lane. During the rain showers she pulled back a bit for safety, but not enough so that another car would pull between us. She’s a safe rider, experienced and cautious, alert and prepared for anything. That makes the trip even better. While I’ll always worry about her, I really don’t have to, so I can relax and enjoy the ride.
Walterboro marked the first hundred miles, and following our normal policy, took a break for lunch at a Zaxby’s just around noon. In thirty minutes we were back on the road, with only thirty miles of I-95 to go. We did see lightning off to the east, but we didn’t get much more than a sprinkling. At Ridgeland the Garmin directed us to exit to Highway 17 South, and we paralleled the Interstate for about twenty miles, mostly on two-lane blacktop, at 55 mph. This is more what we had in mind, and the ride was easy and traffic was light.
At Highway 321 we headed towards downtown Savannah, the rain threatening again. We crossed the bridge over the Savannah River, and exited to the “25 Connector” that would bring us to Bay Street. One funny note: on the maps, the road is listed as “25 Conn.” so the Garmin kept telling me to exit to the “25 Connecticut.”
We pulled up at the Hyatt and asked the valet parking attendant where we could park while we checked in. He directed us to follow him and he led us to the underground parking garage, where we were assigned to a “Compact Cars” space. We have a cone to use when we go out to reserve the space for us. The bikes are protected from the weather in a well-lighted area, and we took the elevator up to the front desk for checkin. As it was, we got them parked before the rain started up again.
Robert, our bell hop, brought us to our room, and brought in the bags. The room is nice enough. It faces the front of the building, and we can see that the carriage tours stop here. We hope to take one on Saturday, and as I’m finding out, we just need to check with the concierge to get things done.
At a friend’s suggestion, we wanted to go to the Crab Shack on Tybee Island for dinner tonight, and we knew we wanted to take the dinner cruise Saturday night on the paddle boat that docked just next to the hotel. The concierge suggested that we take a cab to the Crab Shack, and had a business card for “Big Mike’s Taxi” that would take us there. He made the arrangements for the dinner cruise, and we headed out to River Walk for a stroll in the light drizzle that stayed with us until about 5:30.
We actually walked to the end of River Walk and back, with a stop at The Warehouse for a beer. The Hyatt is actually built over Bay Street, and we passed it to take a free tour of an old, but working sailing ship. It’s in beautiful shape, and by this time the sun had come out, the cool breeze keeping the heat at bay. A beautiful afternoon.
We found this memorial near the ship. It honored the veterans from Chatham County that gave their lives in World War II. I thought it was a fitting reminder of what Memorial Day is all about, and I was amazed at the number of names that were inscribed in the bricks surrounding the memorial itself.
The doors we used to leave the hotel indicated that they couldn’t be used to get back in, so I wasn’t sure if there was another way from the back. As we were headed back, I recognized our bell hop, Robert. He took us to the door that, with our key card, got us back in to the hotel, and to what I think is the fourth bank of elevators in the hotel. This one takes you up to the lobby, where you transfer to the main glass elevators. You have to use your key card to go up to your floor on this one.
We were ready for dinner so we called Big Mike for a taxi, and he (not Big Mike) showed up within ten minutes. We made the thirty minute ride out to Tybee Island. The view across the marshes is beautiful, and in no time he dropped us at the Crab Shack. He suggested we give them a call about 25 minutes before we were ready to leave, and someone would come back and get us.
The Crab Shack was a good choice. There are several areas you can choose from to eat: inside (all screen-in so you still get the breeze), or outside by the water. There’s a separate bar and gift shop, as well as an alligator pond with small (three feet long) gators. We both got the Shrimp and Crab Leg combo. The tables have a hole in the center with a trash can below so you can through the peelings in. The food was delicious, and there was plenty of it.
We called Big Mike and then strolled around, the constant breeze refreshing. When we finally sat down to wait, it was only a few minutes before our same driver showed up and took us back to the Hyatt. The ride back is certainly different in the dark, as there are no streetlights out there. It was really the best way to get there and back, and while I wouldn’t call it cheap, I would call it reasonable.
We stopped in at the bar off the lobby, and sat overlooking Bay Street, listening to the street musician blowing his trumpet below us. He would play a few bars from some song, then move on to another. We heard “When the Saints Go Marching In,” the theme songs from “The Munsters” and “The Brady Bunch,” and as one girl walked past him, a bit of the old stripper music. Funny!
All in all, a really great day. Looking forward to Saturday as we try to pack in as much tourist-type adventure as we can.
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