Wednesday, February 26, 2014: How could I possibly refuse a sweet invitation from my friend, Peggy, "Why don't you stop and see me again (on Hilton Head Island) on your way home?" Toward that end, I hugged Patty, Raj, Mallory, and Johnny "good-bye" in Jacksonville, Florida, USA, and headed north on I-95.
Traffic in Jacksonville ("Jax," the natives call the city!) was heavy at 8 a.m., bumper-to-bumper. I vowed to just take my time on the road. Here are some of my thoughts as I drove through the rain and spoke into my recorder.
*8:12 a.m., mileage: 97,989. We've had a wonderful time! I'm leaving Jax.
*Spring has really come to Jax. The purple budding trees, all the green bushes and the flowers - it is just beautiful!
*I gotta find a few more facts about Jax before I leave. I think it has the most land area of a big city in the U.S. It's really spread out with lots of parks.
*Gee, 98,000 miles on my odometer. 8:39 a.m. How nice!
*8:42: I just passed over the big long giant bridge on I-295 and I didn't notice the time before when I passed, on the left side, there's a huge, huge lot with giant containers with a giant crane waiting to load them on ships. It's impressive. Wish I could just sit and watch them a while.
*9:06: now I'm into Georgia; Georgia on my mind. They welcome you but I'm gonna pass up the "Welcome Center." Mileage: 98,031, lots of traffic, staying in the left lane. Seems safer with all the clouds of rain coming off the big trucks!
*There's a big bridge over the Turtle River and there's a wide marsh on both sides. This is so pretty!
*Passing through Brunswick, Georgia, 9:35.
*Slowing down for construction. There has been an enormous amount of construction on I-95, especially in Georgia. That's good, I guess, more lanes.
*Big long bridge over fairly wide Champney River. More construction.
*Right after that, the Darien Creek. I don't see much difference between it and a river. It's bigger than most rivers. That's OK.
*Exit 49: Fort King George Information site and Cathead Creek. Well, I've been thinking, "there is so much stuff on the coast related to when the British had settlements here and I think the colonists were pretty much loyal to the King for a long time, a lot of them. The King gave them lots of land and stuff, however, the King didn't treat them well, and I've been trying for a long time to figure out Why the colonies didn't succeed in America when they succeeded all over the world, and I think the difference is: in the rest of the world, they fought the indigenous population mostly but here we fought the indigenous population mostly and I think if they would've treated us halfway right and not taxed us to death, we'd still be in the British Empire like Canada is. Maybe they learned from the U.S. and treated Canada right. I don't know."
*There's a new sign I've never noticed before on I-95: "$1,000 fine for throwing trash on highway." Guess Georgia doesn't like to pick up trash.
*Passing a truck "Weigh Station" on the right. It is closed. Just makes me think: "Oh, my gosh, I haven't got on the scale - ooooo! - since before I left January 29th and I hate to think of gaining a couple of pounds but I bet I have. I've walked a lot, biked some, but I have eaten and eaten and eaten and really enjoyed everybody wining and dining me, so I'm gonna have to work extra hard when I get home."
*Wiregrass Trail, Exit 58. What is "wiregrass?"
*Billboard: Peach bread, peach taffy, peach bread, pecans. Georgia is the land of peaches. I think that spring is just starting because some of the trees and bushes are starting to get a little green.
*Young Swamp Creek Bridge.
*Harris Neck National Wildlife Center, Exit 67.
*I've been thinkin': "Where do the alligators go during the winter since they're not active? Do they just stay under the water and float around maybe with their noses out and prop themselves up close to the shore like a log? Or do they stay on land? I gotta research that. It's been intriguing me."
*Old Clyde Road, Exit 90. Wonder if old Clyde is still around.
*J.O. Bacon Highway, Exit 94. Gettin' close to Savannah, I think.
*Mighty 8th Air Force Heritage Museum, Poole, Georgia, Exit 102. I like that.
*On the right, the big Air Force jet - WOW - 1, 2, 3, 4 jet engines!
*Goin' over St. Augustine Creek, Port Wentworth, Exit 109.
*Big tall bridge over the Savannah River - it's pretty wide.
*Hallelujah, South Carolina! I am SO happy to be here! Not a bad trip, really, from Jax to South Carolina.
*South Carolina Welcome Center - pretty busy but a "Welcome to South Carolina" sign. I like that!
*11:39: leaving the rest area. Listened to and erased all recorder messages. I kind of enjoyed that.
*Exit 8, Beaufort, Hilton Head Island, WOO-HOO!
*I stopped here at McDonalds to get a fish sandwich and it is raining really, really hard and it is down to 52 degrees. Oh, well.
*Oh, my gosh! I can't believe it, there's tall daffodils blooming on the side of the road here, beautiful!
*It's good to be back on the way to Hilton Head and the things I've become familiar with. It's beautiful!
*Hilton Head Island: 12 miles - Yipee!
*My own private moss-o-meter says that the trees closer to Hilton Head have more moss on them than any other trees in the south.
*I've just seen the gas price on a Shell station here on the way to Hilton Head. It is $3.11 a gallon. It was over $3.50 in Florida. Ouch!
*I thought traffic was full on I-95 yet it is a lot heavier on the road to Hilton Head.
*Burnt Church Road.
*Passing over the big long bridge to the Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge. Really long bridge, wide river, whatever it is.
*Over the Intercoastal Waterway Bridge. Tall, tall bridge.
*Hilton Head Island Town Limit. Yay, I'm back, woo-hoo!
*I'm goin' over the Cross Island Parkway Toll Bridge. It's only a dollar and a quarter I don't mind it a bit.
*There's virtually very few cars on the toll road.
*Charles E. Frasier Bridge, I think this is the biggest, longest bridge that goes directly to the island. I just paid the toll and I love to see all the marshes and the marinas and the big, tall houses lookin' out over everything. It is just striking.
*Almost to Pope Avenue, we're gonna turn onto Peggy's Street. Arriving 12:34 p.m., mileage: 98,177, temperature: 52 degrees, not a bad trip, four hours, yeah!
Peggy and I were very happy to see each other again. We knitted away the afternoon. Peggy had salmon chowder cooking in her crockpot all day. That plus chunks of french bread made a good dinner. We plan on watching a movie on TV tonight.
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