PJ's 2006 RAMBLE

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September 27, 2006

Down to Savannah

Note: I've been in Lafayette, LA for the last 4 or 5 days, staying at a great hostel and catching up a bit on these updates and photo uploading, I'm leaving now to go to Texas. Considering Austin, debating Longview, have to try calling the numbers I have as potentials for Benny and Ronald in Longview. Had such a nice time here, so much good music and the people are all wonderful. Southern Louisiana is high on the list of potential places to move.

I hadn't originally planned on staying a night in Savannah, Georgia, but I did, and it was worth it. It was raining when I left Charleston in the early afternoon, and it rained pretty much all day. The drive is only about 120 miles by the route that I took, but the rain always slows things down (and makes for a lot less photos and a lot more misery, overall). I took 17 southwest out of Charleston and followed that down to Savannah, though it actually put me on 95 for a few miles near Coosawhatchie. On the way down I stopped at a gift shop to get out of the driving rain for a few minutes, I bought some "sweet potato butter" (doesn't actually contain butter), basically just sweet potatoes and spices that you can spread on breads, etc. It's okay, a little thin and not as sweet as I'd imagined. I also stopped and got the camera wet for a photo of a swamp (not sure why I'm so taken by swamps, but they always compel me to stop and stare), and was pleased to stumble upon a roadside place with giant elephants and some impressive signage. I speculate that at one time you could order a giant pink elephant out of the same catalog that the "giant men holding stuff" came from.

The daylight was fading and the rain was letting up, which made for a nice photo. By the time I got to Savannah it had just gotten dark. I came over another trendy bridge and the first thing I noticed were blocks of housing for the Savannah College of Art and Design, looked like giant hotels. Someone told me that they have something like 7,000 students! That blows my mind, my art college (MCAD) had more like 700 students, it sounds like SCAD is making a big business out of art education. SCAD was definitely a huge presence in Savannah, buying up all kinds of buildings around town and running shuttle buses between them.

I inquired at a good-looking motel called the Thunderbird, my guidebook listed it as being fairly reasonable but apparently it had new owners and they are now trying to get about $80/night for lodging, which seems a bit much for what it is: a nice place but not worth that kind of scratch.

Fortunately there was a hostel in town (or sort of a hostel; a hostel making a transition to something else...a "pensione," but at least it had fairly reasonable rooms). The guy running the place was kind of strange but it was nice enough, and allowed me the good fortune to meet 3 sweet and funny girls from across the pond who were also staying there. Gemma was a lovely Scottish girl who was supposed to be in the area to study (in an architectural field) and work, but was having visa issues and couldn't stay very long. Then there were two great Irish girls, Ruth (pronounced "root") and Simone, who were taking a cross-country trip in a rented car. Simone lives in NYC and tends bar, and I think Ruth lives in Dublin and has a professional office job. They invited me out to the pub with them and I was happy to have the company, their darling accents, quick wits and pretty faces made for a very enjoyable night out down by the water.

The next morning I said goodbye to the girls and drove around Savannah for a little while, it's a pretty town full of good architecture, pretty well-preserved like Charleston. The two towns are similar, but I found Savannah a little smaller and a little less grandiose. Savannah had more little parks, squares in the middle of roads (like rectangular roundabouts). Charleston seemed to be more developed in terms of shopping and tourism. I can't really speak with any authority since I barely drove through or spent any time in either, but they're both nice places to visit if you like being by the water, being reminded of history, passing under live oaks with spanish moss, admiring old (by US standards) architecture, etc.

I had some oatmeal for breakfast at a place downtown and was on my way out of town when I passed by a shop with a few scooters on the sidewalk. The people in front of it gave such an enthusiastic wave and holler that I had to pull over to say hello. I'm glad I did, because I met Russ Moore, the owner of Coastal Scooters in Savannah. Like so many of us, Russ has scooter fever and is a total scooter enthusiast. He beamed enthusiasm and positivity and was really excited about my ridiculously-long scooter trip. He'd been to Europe and fell in love with scooters there, seeing how practical they were in an urban environment, and brought that knowledge to Savannah, a place with beautiful weather, lots of tourists and tree-lined boulevards perfect for scootering. He started out by just renting scooters but is now selling them too, and it seems like business is doing well. I think it's one of those things where the more of something people see around (scooters in this case), the more other people want to be a part of it; I hope that the popularity of scooters will snowball in Savannah and elsewhere and that my trip will contribute to this in some small way. Russ and his crew were all super-nice, and he and his customer "Hollywood Ron" Higgins even gave me a few bucks for my trip. It's heartening to see shops like this starting out and finding some success and to see more people on scooters.

Posted by pj at September 27, 2006 01:12 PM

Comments

Posted by: jedi beth at September 27, 2006 11:01 PM

Posted by: Erin at September 28, 2006 09:44 PM

Posted by: Gemma at December 5, 2006 12:29 PM