Atlanta GA

Packed up and left moderately early for the 400 km (250 mile) drive from Savannah to Atlanta and as we drove we wondered why there were lots and lots of very large Helicopters in the air. When we saw a sign for Fort Stewart Armed Forces Base www.stewart.army.mil/ we understood why!

Needed to post a card to Julie’s Dad and asked for directions to the nearest Post Office when we were buying fuel and were given directions to Rockledge, GA. Before we left the Petrol/ Gas station we had a look through a museum of local history where we bought peach jam and green pepper preserve.

Interesting collection and an even more interesting lady on duty and amazingly her directions to the Post Office were totally different. Oh well we went with the girl who said we need to look for a “itty bitty” sign. She was right it WAS an “Itty Bitty” sign but THERE was a post office. It may have looked like a shipping container but it was a Post Office!

Leaving the Interstate to find the Post Office did give us another view of the countryside which had housing of all types. The farmland that was surrounding the scattered communities did look very fertile. Rejoining the interstate gave us not only the opportunity to speed up (roads are good here) but gave us a chance to find a lunch spot and there are lots of good facilities for travellers and there seems to be a conscious effort to cater for people with mobility issues.

As we were coming into Atlanta earlier than we expected we decided to have a quick look through the Martin Luther King Junior museum. After about 15 minutes we realised there would have to be another Martin Luther King Junior Museum visit as it was so full of information. We left after watching a movie on his life, vowing to return.

 

We were staying for two nights with Vicki & Mark Pomeroy. Vicki is a person with Multiple Sclerosis who holds some similar positions with the MS Society here as I do in Australia. Had a great meal at a buffet near their Snellville home.

Atlanta is very well served with facilities for people with MS so it was interesting to have a tour of the Shepherd Centre. It is a private, not-for-profit hospital specializing in medical treatment, research and rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injury and brain injury. It has a Multiple Sclerosis unit as part of the hospital where Vicki has been a patient. We had the opportunity to meet Dr Ben Thrower who is the Medical Director at the MS Centre at the hospital. And had the opportunity to see the facilities that are used by many people recovering from Spinal Cord injuries and people living with neurological disorders like MS.

 

Atlanta with Vicki wasn't all about MS we next stopped at The Varsity which is The World's Largest Drive-in Restaurant who have been serving customers in Atlanta since 1928. Not a lot here for people following the Swank/ Jelinek diet but I didn't starve. 
 

Atlanta was the city that hosted the 1996 Olympic games and we had a quick look at some of the facilities including a really neat musical fountain that I would have loved to have fallen into at Olympic Park.

With the heat of the day taking its toll and after a full day's entertainment we had a relaxing evening at Mark & Vicki's in their sunroom. They were entertaining hosts.

First stop the next morning was to give our CuRVy some tender loving care by treating her to an oil change at Andy’s Mufflers in Snelville. It's amazing that we've now done 10,000 km (6,000 miles) since we arrived.

Thanks to Mrs G we navigated ourselves back to the Martin Luther King Jnr Historic Site.Though we, or more correctly Julie, had to find a way through what appeared to be a suburb cleanup to get to the MLK2 Museum. 

The whole of the area where Martin Luther King Jnr was born and grew up has been turned into a fabulous Historic Area. The site includes his birth home and the houses around it, the church where he and his father both preached, a museum of his life and the reflecting pool with the crypt where he and his wife, Coretta, lie. We took full advantage of the precinct as such a place certainly was educational for both of us. 

 This place should be visited by as many people as possible but we couldn't help noticing that at least 95% of the people we saw when we were there were African Americans. We all still have a long way to travel....

Leaving what was in many ways an uplifting monument we put a new address into Mrs G and the CuRVy headed via I 85, then I 285 and we headed back onto 2 lane windy roads and into forest – nice! Lunch by a lake on the South Carolina Border - even nicer!!!

As we climbed the mountains we were rewarded by waterfalls,great views, nice roadside flowers and even bees. Julie walked to the Whitewater Falls and the rise in elevation made fora cool place to rest for Bruce.

We were staying with a friend of our Collingwood friends, Greg & Marianna, near  Brevard and as we came into the town we noticed a vintage and vereran cars display. It was the Cardinal Cruise In. We didn't find anything of the CuRVy's class but there were some pretty nice vehicles!!!

 

Then to Jordy's which was another fabulous destination with an amzing view. 

And haven't we been lucky with the weather!!!!!!!

Savannah, Georgia for a sweet southern sojourn

Arrived in Savannah GA in the late afternoon after driving over lots and lots of bridges that crossed the rivers/ creeks, waterways of southern Georgia. Stopped for petrol (gas) and had the amazing experience of being asked for my I.D. when I wanted to buy a beer. I guess I’m looking younger these days.

Started the day at the Savannah Visitor Centre where we obtained great information including where to get free parking and the free hop-on hop-off DOT buses.

On our way to the free parking we stopped at the Ralph Gilbert Civil Rights Museum. We walked in right in the middle of a presentation from an informative guide to more than 50 Year 8 kids. After he finished his talk he suggested that we watch the 18 minute movie before taking the self-guided tour of the museum. We followed both suggestions!!

Savannah played an interesting part in the civil rights struggle and the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) organised: Sit ins @ Shops lunch bars; a15 month boycott of white shops; mass meetings in a different church @ 4pm every Sunday and a Wade in at (white only) Tybee Island Beach. Interestingly Savannah had no race riots and integration occurred there 1 year sooner than in other southern cities!

 Rode the whole (free) DOT bus route to get an overview of Savannah and then spread our picnic blanket and had lunch under the shady moss draped oaks of Forsyth Park. Shade was important as the temperature on this cloudless day was approaching 35C (90F).

Although it was tempting to "do a Jeff" and fall into the fountain we headed back onto  the DOT bus and made our first stop at the riverfront where there was no choice but walking. 





Unfortunately I had not taken either my ankle support or walking poles so walking was going to be a little difficult! Making it more difficult the walking was on cobblestones! Oh well it was time to remember and put into practice the mechanics of walking that are part of the treadmill work at the Bay St Gym!!!!!

Stumble (and fall) free after about 1.6km (1 mile) we caught the free ferry that is also part of the DOT scheme and the full circuit of the ferry gave us a great view of the waterfront and necessary recovery time.




Walked to Bernie’s Oyster Bar for 1 dozen oysters ($6). The oysters were larger than Sydney Rock Oysters from Wagonga Inlet however not quite as tasty.  But on a hot and humid Georgia day and when washed down with a Key Lime Daiquiri and a Moon River Beer they were pretty darn good!

Walked with our drinks ( a Savannah custom) & drank another beer, then back on the bus after the driver waited for me to finish the beer, to then stop at Ellis Square at the First African Baptist Church which was one of the regular meeting places of the sixties.
 
To a Trip Advisor recommended restaurant “Sweet Potatoes” for dinner with the navigation provided by Mrs G, where would we be without her! Probably lost!! Jamaican Jerk Chicken Salad for the Apiarist and Peach Glazed chicken w Lemon Collard Greens & Sweet Potato with Brown Sugar Butter Sauce for the Educator finished our stunning Savannah day.

Florida East Coast

Florida City to Saint Augustine

After the previous day's entertainment we were (understandably) a little slow in starting. Thankfully we were able to return to the regular configuration at the front of the CuRVy. i.e Julie was the pilot and the Apiarist was the navigator.

Things started "swimmingly" due to the Navigator entering an incorrect address into Mrs G! Duh lost again! Actually we weren't lost but really only misplaced!!! Our increased driving gave us the opportunity to read some different billboards including one for "Buttock Enhancements" - only in America...... A flotilla of Cruise Ships showed that we weren't the only visitors to Miami and the drivers did their very best to remind us of a trip on Sydney roads.

Swam at Miami Beach – nice water temperature & great quick track for beach sprinters. Cute Lifeguard Towers and (note A Edmunds) lots of equipment and to be perfectly honest even the Apiarist could have patrolled this beach on the day we were there. In short the water was warm (and clean) and aqua clear and there was no surf/ rips/ sharks/ problems. In short my type of day at the beach.

After the swim we travelled further north past lots and lots and lots and lots of multi hued art deco buildings. Miami has something in common with Victoria's Great Ocean Road. It lives up to the hype!!

Lunch was in Haulover Park on St Johns/ Orchid Island. Again a pleasant stop and by the look of things the person in the photo is doing quite well in the food stakes!!!!!

But the signs were good that is if you were going to the beach..................................

Called in for a coffee at a Macca’s which was attached to a Truck stop that sold everything including wine at $3.99 a bottle, hmmm I wonder what the wine tasted like.


 Last look at the beach was at Wabasso Beach, which actually did have some surf, but the group of boardriders were hassling for a very sloppy wave. Interestingly the beach was patrolled but there were only boardriders in the water. And Florida is the home of the greatest surfer ever!

Leaving the beach we were entertained by an interesting radio news bulletin which included the following items......

• Murder ( Life & 120 years) 
• U Tube fight 
•  A Prostitution Racket 
• 31 Online Predators 
• And now for the weather

 Arrived fairly late at the St Augustine Quality Inn and after booking in we headed to the restaurant that "Trip Advisor" recommended. The recommendation was accurate. The Back 40 Urban Café was a delightful and different way to finish the day. 

Our meal included; Black bean hummus served with pita bread triangles, carrots & celery; Teryaki Chicken with warm sliced cabbage and Wild Mac Bowl (Mushrooms and Pasta.) This was washed down by a Cabernet Sauvignon and 2 beers from the  Golden Victory Brewery (local); Hop Devil and a Green Monkey (9% alcohol). The total cost including drinks and tip was $37. 

The Back 40 was set off by great decor & artwork, a very friendly waitress (just like Brenda W) complete with checked shorts and ankle tats who had a great description of Saint Augustine - “A quaint drinking town with a fishing problem!!! 

     Our good night’s sleep was followed by a filling breakfast and we headed into St Augustine. For a place with such an amazing history St Augustine disappointed in some ways. It seemed that every building was a shop or food outlet, parking was difficult if not impossible, maps were inaccurate and trolley tours with machine gun commentary were everywhere.

     St Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United States. There were some nice things including a very nice Roman Catholic Cathedral, the historic fort and the grounds that surround it, some interesting and historic shops and the oldest wooden school in the US. There were even some dolphins in the river in front of the Fort that seemed to have evaded the notice of all the tourists (except for a couple of Australians)!!!!

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     Left in light rain and a quick Subway lunch was  eaten with increasingly dark skies and as we drove away from St Augustine we went through a huge storm complete with lightening/ thunder/ torrential rain. Traffic slowed to 30kph (20 mph) and almost all moving vehicles had warning flashers on. 

    
     
     
     Some cars had pulled over BUT NOT THE CuRVy!!!!!!

          
     

     

Conditions improved a little as we crawled over the double bridge spanning the St John's River at Jacksonville. The port is huge with many container ships but we weren't stopping and we were soon leaving Florida. Our 8 nights in Florida is the longest stay in any of the States during our time in the USA.

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Georgia was on our mind...........

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Key West

To Key West

As we often take photos from the car it's reasonably important to have a clean windscreen but as we set out for Key West I was astounded to find ice in in the water containers where the windscreen washers were. I guess it was expected to be a bit warm!


Next stop Florida Keys Visitors Centre where we booked an afternoon/ evening dive on a couple of the reefs south of Key West. That gave us a something we hadn't really had for a month or two. A timetable!!!! So we set out along the iconic Highway 1.

Heading further south we passed by, over and through lots of interesting places and saw some really interesting bridges, hmmmm...

As it was a warm day we started to think of dropping in to a nice beach for a quick swim, but...... We quickly realised just how spoiled we are as far as beaches go. It was almost impossible to find a place to swim!!!


Lunch was shared with lots of families who were celebrating Mothers Day. Lots of BBQ's, lots of interesting food and lots of Spanish filled the park. Unfortunately there were of signs warning not to swim due to "Portugese Men of War" in the water. The sign had pictures of what looked like Bluebottles but discretion played the better part of valour and we did sit in very pleasant surroundings and enjoyed a nice lunch.

Hunger satisfied it was back into the CuRVy and onto Key West. We had now reached the southenmost point on mainland USA and Key West was very nice indeed with easily accessable beaches and very interesting shops and bars it would have been easy to spend a lot more time here.  Hemingway did.....

There was not enough time to fully enjoy the beach as we were onto the “Fury” for our dive trip. Twenty minutes through lumpy seas took us to the first of the 2 reefs we were to dive. We slipped into the warm water for 40 mins in the water with lots of varieties of fish and lovely soft coral (and 40 other snorkelers) for company. 


Nice dive but the seas had left both of us a little queasy and we passed on the opportunity for the second dive and Julie was even too crook for complimentary champagne, however the Apiarist was well enough for a couple of mini Buds!! 

With sun setting we returned to land the end of our trip south. All north from here! 

The return to terra firma still hadn't improved the Educator enough to front up for dinner but the Apiarist did enjoy the JuJu Shrimp as they took in some Key West music @ The Conche Bar.

Julie wasn't improving much but Bruce was much better so he drove home and with  

arrival being 12.30am it wasn't too hard to get to sleep.