Georgia Coast

We are starting to wrap up this job at Skidaway Island State Park. It
has been a fairly good job and we’ve managed to see almost everything
we’ve wanted to see in Savannah. We took the historic trolley tour and
raced home to watch “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” and
toured the Wormsloe Plantation built in the mid 1700s, and Dave did the
roundhouse train museum and I walked through old town to the SCAD art
store … whew! We’ve been busy.

Savannah’s downtown district is a very vital part of the city’s
economy. The 200 year old homes have been restored and many of them are
residences, albeit for more than one family. Some of the homes were
originally as large as one square block, so, even in this apparently
affluent society, that’s a little much. There are eight or nine
“squares,” similar to the spanish plazas, and traffic seems to move
very well around them. We find Savannah to be a little grim, sad and
stained, although it might be the time of year. The weather has been a
little overcast. The downtown area is cramped, as of course that’s how
they built things 200 years ago. The trolley driver tells wonderful
stories about how the citizens of Savannah got together and cleverly
bribed Sherman, to keep the yankees from destroying the city.

The riverfront district, which runs about six blocks, is full of
wonderful places to eat. We got off the trolley and I was immediately
taken with an antique cart full of plants, sitting on the cobbled walk
in front of The Conch. I was horrified to realize the flowers were
fake! Okay, they are silk instead of New Mexico paper or plastic, but
good Lord, this is a city where cyclamen grows wild! My coconut shrimp
dinner almost made up for it, but not quite. The riverfront faces about
four blocks of electrical power facilities, mostly inoperative now. Too
bad, as the Savannah River is right there and they could have a
beautiful waterfront.

The social life in Savannah appears to be very rich, not so much in
dollars but in art and interesting people. The great line in “Midnight
in the Garden “ was that Savannah is like “Gone with the Wind on
mescaline.”

Skidaway Island is just south of Tybee Island, which is just south of
Hilton Head, South Carolina. The island is composed of many gated
communities, very wealthy, some of them VERY exclusive. It’s easy to
feel like someone’s poor relations, staying in the park, although there
are some fancy rigs here and the Vintage Blue Bird club had a rally
here in November.

Early in our stay here we were startled one night at 11:30 by someone
banging on the door. Our caller was Austin, a 7 year old boy who
announced he needed help, his parents were fighting, “My Mom is trying
to push my Dad into the fire!” Rattling on Austin kind of breathlessly
pleaded with us to “call somebody,” and made statements about axes,
chopped off toes, Mom’s drunk, “I begged them to stop, but they won’t.”
Dave called the park emergency number, discovered that the number for
the ranger on call was posted at the office, a mile away. He finally
got connected to the police and told them the story; they said they
would come out.

Austin sat with us for 30-40 minutes, waiting for the police. We could
hear his parents yelling when we opened the door. Austin was very
verbal, concerned that we had called the “big police.” He said he had a
17 year old brother who was in jail because “He tuk a gu-un to the
jew-ohee stoh-ah. Austin is not only very southern; he can’t say his
Rs. I asked Austin if he wanted to be a policeman when he grew up. He
hesitated, then rather shyly said, “Ah awready ayem. Ah lak to ow-west
pee-poh.” Hmmmm….

We finally opened the door and heard Austin’s folks hollering for him
and he leaped out of the bus and sprinted through the dark to his
parents and their pop-up trailer in the handicapped space. (Turns out
Dad cut his own toes off with the ax some time ago.) I talked to the
ranger the next day, who allowed as how it was a very, very sad
situation with Austin.

We are in an area called “Colonial Coastal.” Having forgotten that
Georgia was one of the original 13 colonies, we were surprised to find
so much historic reference to colonial life and the revolutionary war.
People in the south have a visible reverence for their history. It’s
beautiful to see. The Savannah College of Art and Design is housed in
an old cotton warehouse, as well as several other old brick buildings.
SCAD has quite a history of buying old buildings, restoring them and
selling them for a tidy profit. The aforementioned trolley driver
maintains the city won’t let SCAD buy any more buildings.

There is a group here devoted to locating confederate graves and
marking them with headstones. That’s so totally southern. The dead are
very important in the south.

Tortillas here are called “wraps.” Little Willie’s down on the corner
sells gizzard snacks (Jim Crowell take note!) No wraps (or torts) at
Little Willie’s. Because of the proximity of The Landing community, we
have access to a wonderful market, so have been able to get good food.

Jason has started work in North Carolina. They have sold the house and
have no less than three people bidding on their business. Jason is
staying in a long-stay motel until he goes back and gets the family. He
is enjoying the southern hospitality, i.e., “Lemme hep y’all, baby,”
and “Ah’ll be rat theah, sweetie.”

This park has a small museum with a replica of a giant sloth, must be
20 feet high! It is one of only two found in north America; this one
was discovered here on Skidaway Island in 1976. HUGE! (They gave the
original to the Smithsonian.) Skidaway Island is also home to the
Painted Bunting; I’m disappointed to find they are only here from April
to June.

We are leaving Savannah in a couple of days. We plan to go south to
Jekyl Island and Brunswick, then turn east and head to Douglas, GA
where our next job is located. After Douglas we will go north to do two
state parks just an hour south of Atlanta. That takes us up to about
the second week of March when we will wander up the coast through South
Carolina and North Carolina to see the kids.

Well, that’s the news, folks. We are both feeling good, asthma gone, no
more drugs. I’m trying to do the rice diet; I’m doing an integrated
form of it, low sodium and low fat. Just can’t do the No form. Dave’s
doing the modified rice diet, no rice. He’s eating more fruit and
vegetables than he ever thought he’d get, though. And more chicken than
he probably wants.

Love to all,

Sam

P.S. I have really taken to bird watching, although now that I know a
little bit, I realize that I’m usually wrong about exactly what kind of
bird that is. I might have been happier when I thought I knew. Anyway,
I have been disappointed that there are few birds in this park. The
area is much drier than usual this year, maybe that has something to do
with it. Okeefenokee Swamp is so low they aren’t giving boat tours! The
only birds I have seen are 14 Turkey Vultures in the Bank of America
parking lot next to the trendy market.

Musing from Dave:

For you folks living in the gated communities, I’ve got an update for
you. As Sam mentioned, There are several on the Island, including “The
Landings,” which is so big it’s like a small city; it has about four
gates, with guards, don’t you know. Anyway, the residence have bar
codes on their driver’s side windows and scanners at the gate. No
rolling down windows to push buttons or make phone calls – just drive
by the scanner and the gates part like magic. Wouldn’t want to let any
of that outside ‘atmosphere’ into the controlled environment of your
Mercedes or Beemer.

The Village shopping area just south of the park has, in addition to a
grocery store like you would find in Sun Valley, more banks and
brokerage houses than I have ever seen in one place outside Wall
Street. Some are huge! Merrill Lynch is the size of a plantation house.
Having come from rural New Mexico, it’s quite a change.

D.