My southeast tour part III: Savannah, GA

Thursday I did maybe 10 minutes of yoga in the a.m. I was tired and my shoulder and elbow were sore. I ate another good Hampton Inn breakfast, including a pre-made bagel half loaded with eggs, bacon and cheese, then loaded up the car for Savannah. MapQuest says it’s 47.25 from Beaufort to Savannah.

I did a backroads drive and got there in about an hour. My first stop was at the visitor’s center where I didn’t appreciate the hard sell — I got the feeling they didn’t like visitors exiting without buying something. You had to walk past several kiosks and shops to get to the visitors info. Whatever. There were tour buses galore but no free parking that I could see. Eventually, I found my way to Clary’s, a restaurant that is prominent in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It is a down-home, local institution and my smoked pork sandwich with barbecue sauce was good. I tried to ignore the heap of potato chips that came with it.

Eventually I found the Mercer home on Monterey Square (now known as the Mercer-Williams home) where the shooting took place. After walking around the historic district, I wanted to get to Bonaventure Cemetery. Although I was sure I was lost, eventually I found the cemetery. As hot and sticky as it was, I spent a couple of hours there, roaming around taking it all in — the beauty, tranquility, sadness and history. The oil light kept coming on in my car and I ended up getting an oil change so I didn’t have to let that worry me on the drive home. Eventually I found my motel (another navigational miracle) and did 45 minutes of laps after checking in.

Friday a.m. I headed to Tybee Island to see the lighthouse. Tybee is a pretty, laid-back island with no free public parking. Wth? After climbing to the top of the lighthouse and viewing the museum and keeper’s house I left my car at the lighthouse lot and had a great lunch of a chunky artichoke crab dip and a fish taco at the North Beach Grill.

Afterward, I stopped at the rails-to-trails bike path outside of Pulaski National Monument and rode like a bat out of hell. It was an awesome ride along marshland and I didn’t see another cyclist while I was there — about an hour and a half. It was hot as hell but so fun. I could do this full-time if someone would pay me. From Tybee Island, I hauled ass back to Pensacola.

I had a great trip and surprised myself in the process. I wasn’t sure it would be fun to do on my own but it was. With the right companion it might have been more enjoyable but there’s something to be said for going it alone.