Day 12..."...ain't it good to know you've got a friend?"

Today was the 12th day of the grand trip and I set my sights firmly on South Carolina and said goodbye to Florida.  The song that kept going through my mind (and ears by virtue of my iPhone) was a James Taylor tune...Going To Carolina In My Mind

Today I rode out of Florida, across a part of Georgia, and into South Carolina.  Daytona Beach is a beautiful place.  The sand is white, soft, and the beach stretches to north and south as far as you can see.  I was there early enough on a Saturday morning that the people hadn’t started to arrive in numbers, but there were enough early arrivals to give me a sense of what it would be like later.  The city itself is clean and interesting looking…I’d like to go back one day. 

I rode out of town on highway A1A and paralleled the shore. There is a barrier hummock between the beach and the road that is about 4’ tall and covered with palmetto scrub but you can still see the beach.  I rode for miles and the beach stayed white and sandy.  I passed through several small towns, most of which were made up of large resorts and condos.  If all the rooms were filled to capacity simultaneously the state of Florida would have to sink on the east just a little.  From Daytona I went north to St. Augustine which is another city with an interesting history.  The Spanish settled here and their ruins and influence remain.

 

I crossed over into Georgia and as I rode I was taken by the number of rivers that emptied into the Atlantic around Savannah.  There were lots of bridges of course and large, wide, estuarial grasslands on either side of the placid looking rivers and streams.  I can only imagine the mosquito situation must be epic.  However with the temperatures in the HIGH 90s (I saw 101 on my bikes instrument cluster) even the mosquitos were seeking relief in the shade.

Just north of Savannah I turned east and turned east towards Hilton Head Island, my destination for the night.  The sign said Hilton Head was 34 miles…so I figured between 30 and 40 minutes.  I was wrong!  It turns out that Saturday is ‘arrival and departure day’ for tourists and guests to the island.  The 30 miles took me over an hour in an unending bumper to bumper traffic in that appalling heat.  I couldn’t enjoy much of the drive because of the density of the traffic and it’s stop and go motion…plus I was slowly turning something between medium and well done from the heat.

But once I got the Hilton Head itself the road was shaded by giant trees and the traffic thinned to a manageable level.  Hilton Head is one LARGE garden.  The whole place is manicured.  The shopping areas are numerous, but shielded from view of the road.  The roads are smooth.  It has an unending, nearly eerie beauty and quietness.

I found my way “to Chad Newman’s restaurant the “Sea Grass Grille”.  There I met, for the first time Chad Newman. 

I have to digress here.  One of my very best friends, Robert (Mouse) Newman and I go back to 1977 when we spent a year together in Kunsan, Korea (with the 35^th Tac Fighter Squadron…the Panthers) flying the mighty Phantom II.  Mouse (and his wife Robin) are the best people I know and gracious doesn’t begin to describe them.  I could go on and on about them…but this is a trip blog, so I won’t.  When my Savannah plans fell through Rob volunteered his mother’s house in Hilton Head as an alternative.  I had never met his family, but evidently that doesn’t matter much to the Newman clan.  So back to Chad.

Since you can’t drive a motorcycle in the housing areas (a rule started a long time ago probably designed to keep obnoxious Harleys away from the peaceful neighborhoods) Chad, who had never met me before, gave me his car and directions to his mother’s house.  At the house Joan (pronounced Jo Ann) Newman greeted me like a long lost relative and gave me the run of the house.  She is an interesting woman who worked disaster relief for the Red Cross for many years.  Her home is only a hundred yards or so down a tree lined path from and incredibly beautiful beach.  I saw a sign that said “welcome to paradise” somewhere in Hilton Head and I think it could be right.  According to Rob I would also have a chance to see "the world's 3rd oldest operating cat.". I met 'Geisha' and she's a fully functional 18 (or so) year old cart.

 

 

Joan said I should take the opportunity to go to the beach before sunset and I wasn't about to pass up that opportunity.   At high tide the beach is about 30 yards wide and at low tide it was about 100 yards wide.  The sand slopes gently away to sea and you can wade for a long ways into the ocean.  Not that I wanted to...I DID see a fisherman land (and release) a 4' shark while I was walking.  There was other wildlife too and the beach was just another piece of paradise...

 

 

A couple of hours, a shower, and a change of clothes later I drove back to Chad’s where I met George and Sherry Westerfield, friends of the family.  Joan refers to Sherry as her daughter and the friendship goes back to high school days.  Anyway, George and Sherry are retired school teachers and Chad managed to get us a table in his full-to-capacity restaurant.  We talked and ate and despite having met them only minutes before I was made to feel like one of the family and it was a wonderful evening.  Sherry is an alumnus of the University of Denver where I worked and my daughter, Jessica, just graduated.  George taught High School English and I would like to talk to him more about his adventures in literature.

Buddy, Chad, Sherry, George

And the food.  Oh dear, the food.   Chad is a wizard in the kitchen.  His meals were beautiful in their presentation and absolutely, positively, delicious.  I’m not a food critic so I don’t know the words to use…but heavenly is a good place to start.  I had a beet salad and a corvina fillet that were wonderful. For desert I had a fresh blueberry cobbler that was the best I’d ever had.  How Chad manages to cook and NOT weigh 500 pounds is a mystery to me.

This evening was one of the best I’ve spent on the trip.  What has made the good days stand out are the people I’ve visited and met…the Flippin crew and now the Newman family.  I am truly blessed.