As has been our pattern, we woke with the sun – or at least Tom did. He headed to the Charleston KOA bathroom with the complicated method of entry that had stymied Scott the night before (hit 7643# on the door lock slowly and deliberately, and it might turn green and open.) While Tom was in the campground shower, Scott used the cramped-but-acceptable Khan shower, then waited for Tom to return to cook his breakfast.
And waited…
And waited…
After 10 minutes or so Scott was desperate enough for his eggs that he tried something never before attempted – cooking his own eggs! He found the implements, figured out how to start the induction cooktop, and slowly (as the induction temperature was initially too low) cooked his own eggs – and toasted his English muffin – and successfully heated his beans in the microwave. He was already eating when Tom burst through the door – concerned, of course, but proud of Scott’s initiative.
After Scott’s successful breakfast, things went downhill. First, Khan would not recognize the key fob and instructed Tom to put it in the location shown in the manual. The manual picture looks like one of those hidden pictures and the correct spot was not obvious. The other key was tried and it too failed. We tested the lock and unlock buttons, which worked and the engine start was successful after that (note that tip for future reference).
Next, Khan complained about the trailer lights. Scott had left Marco (the Jeep) running, which causes problems that can be detected by Khan. After shutting off Marco, the dashboard warning remained. The logical thing to do was reboot Khan and that cleared the warning. Finally, we were ready to go.
We departed for Jekyll Island around 8:10AM – with lots of time to smell roses. One of our fun activities is trying to find Diesel at the cheapest price. We found a place with $4.97/gallon posted, but they had “no network” and would not take credit cards. We crossed the street to a Shell, that had $4.99, but you had to pay inside. Tom was asked how much to put on hold on the card, and blurted out $100 (he claimed this was the first number he thought of.) Unfortunately, the right number was anything north of $110 or so, preventing us from filling the tank above 7/8ths – sure to cost us valuable seconds by having to refuel sooner.
Two interesting finds on the road today including driving through Switzerland, SC and stumbling upon the Rice Festival in Riceboro, GA. The area was noted for Rice Farming prior to the Civil War and the Festival was a celebration of those times.
As we drove by Savannah, Tom decided we should at least visit one historic southern city before we end the trip tomorrow, so he turned our rig and toad towards downtown with little warning. Once off the highway, there were numerous large signs for SCAD (which we Googled to find the Savannah College of Art and Design). We managed to see quite a lot of historic squares, buildings and museums as we drove through, though of course we knew only as much information as they put on their signs we could see. We did not have problems with the overhead trees, although several were pretty low and obivously had been hit before by high vehicles. After 20 minutes or so of charm and culture we were back on route 17 south.
Tom had declared from the very beginning of the trip that we would avoid I95, so while Google Maps kept trying to send us that way, we successfully resisted. At one point we passed the smallest church in America, as sight that Scott had stopped at two years ago with his son and daughter in law on an earlier trip to Florida.
Around 1:30PM we saw a sign for the Hofwyl-Broadfield plantation and turned in. We were concerned about getting out of the smallish parking lot without disconnecting Polo, and were not sure that it would be worth the $7/senior price, but the nice lady at reception talked us into it. We watched a short video, walked a long distance to the plantation house (nice, but no Tara). Originally a rice plantation with over 7,000 acres tended by slaves, it was managed by two unmarried sisters as a dairy before they left it to the state for preservation. Apparently they had offers of marriage, but they did not want to lose their property by marrying – the guide said there was no way around this at the beginning of the 20th century.
Tom used his extensive dairy experience learned from his wife Marie’s family to compare methods of handling manure in the milking barn. We were amazed at the huge live Oaks – apparently the oldest around 800 years old. After our tour we got back in Khan and Tom managed to turn it around without disconnecting Polo by using some handy grass at the edge of the parking lot.
Jekyll Island is very nice – and apparently kept up by a $8 parking fee everybody has to pay to enter it. Tom noted this was NOT mentioned on the extensive paperwork, but he remembered our lesson from the State Parks Department in Michigan and biting his tongue, we simply paid it. The whole island seems very upscale and surprisingly full given the hurricane winds came through just a few days ago. We drove to our campground, hooked up, leveled, and expanded Khan, then got the bikes out for a “short” ride.
We first arrived at the fishing pier. We watched a large Ro-Ro ship go by, then left on a sorta-nature trail that went for a couple miles. At the end was beach access, so we managed to get by the storm damage to the beach, where a wedding had just taken place. We then rode our bikes along the beach for a bit – surprisingly easy as the sand was hard packed and these bikes are “fat tire.” Then – after we had gone a few hundred yards without difficulty, Tom “Adrenaline Junky” Glebas suggested we do a full two miles to get back to the fishing pier. Scott – always known as the adult in the room – reluctantly agreed. After a mile and a half we found a rapid and wide stream had formed dumping storm water back in the sea. Scott decided to let Tom try crossing first – he would follow if Tom lived. Tom lived, Scott followed, and though sand and water flew everywhere no one was hurt (we did have our helmets on, so they could identify our bodies if we were washed to sea.) Not only had our third OWG Steve made us promise to avoid crossing rapidly moving water, but one of the two bikes was his…
Back at the campsite we rinsed the salt and sand off the bikes, and had dinner of leftovers. We’ll sleep well – Scott’s watch shows over 8,000 steps, and the bikes went over 5 miles.