If you’ve never felt like Dorothy on the ‘Wizard of Oz’; you’ve never really been on a roadtrip. I sold it to Isaac as ‘just a couple of stops on the way home’; the fact that Uncle Chris in Charleston was one made it an easy sell – but he DID want to go home!
When I looked at the blue highway route from Loganville to Sylvania, I noticed it went through Eatonton, birthplace of Joel Chandler Harris who wrote the Uncle Remus stories, a favorite of my childhood. In the 50’s and 60’s Eatonton was on the route from Atlanta to Reidsville and I have passed the Uncle Remus Museum dozens of times, it being the absolute only thing to see in Eatonton. Of course every time I asked about a visit, the ‘family trip’ thing came in and the effect on arrival time was always negative.
So what did Grandad do? Well put the Uncle Remus Museum on the ‘to-do’ list! It cost me as we ended up in Eatonton at lunchtime and of the very few choices only McDonald’s passed Isaac muster. The museum beckoned and I figured 15 minutes – 20 tops – and we’d be back singing Willie again.
There were only two women in the combination of three slave cabins that comprised the museum: One in charge and a guide trainee for whom we would be her trial run! I saw 20 minutes skipping merrily out the door and a little over an hour later so did we. It was however a serendipitous event that allowed us a special view of rural Georgia in the late 1800’s; and I picked up a copy of the Uncle Remus stories in the original dialect in which they were written, because Harris transcribed the stories as they were told to him in his youth by an old slave. I have given it to Chris to read to my grandchildren – that’ll give him something to practice!
A couple of wrong turns and a far too detailed tour of Tennille Georgia trying to make sense of a google map receiving intermittent connection, and we arrived at the small farm of Brian and Nancy south of Sylvania. This ‘going by way of our rear end to get to our elbow’ method of navigation had grown on Isaac - by means of immersion.
Brian Baker: Best man at my wedding; intermittent roommate in a variety of spaces; and at this stage of my life my oldest and best friend. He also coached swimmer David Bird at Northlake Aquatic Club; not to mention he’s a true Southern Gentleman in all the best senses of the term – kinda like the guy!
More country than the way Brian and Nancy live is not possible – and Isaac was just so obviously not a country boy. Nancy took him under her wing and showed him their menagerie and he asked for a tour of her garden; from which he got a cucumber which was cut up just for him at dinner and devoured. We each got a room and crashed early – camp had been a tough week and we had put in 226 miles, our longest in a while!
Had planned from the start to spend all day Saturday with the Bakers and then go with them to Sunday service in Statesboro, which was on the way to Reidsville, our next port of call. It turned out to be a wonderful idea as we spent all of Saturday doing that country specialty – nothin’. The day off was such a welcome respite from all the scheduled activity, and we both needed it. Brian’s internet was sufficient for Isaac’s phone games so he was a happy camper. David had some pictures of NAC days and we struggled with names while smiling at ancient images of people lost in our past; then Brian pulled out his memories box – he is certainly the best of the three of us at hanging on to stuff!
Isaac has limited church exposure, mostly with his Grandma with whom they lived, at the Catholic Church. I felt it would be good to see that there are many different ways to worship God; and Brian’s church would certainly be new to his experience. A large church of denomination unknown to me with a clear goal of engaging all with interest in the church; production service with electric guitar band doing music and the message was delivered using clips of a movie watched during the service. The movie was ‘Encanto’ which Isaac had seen maybe a hundred times as it was his younger sister’s favorite. I enjoyed the service and the message, although the music did not appeal.
Brian and Nancy treated us to lunch before we headed for Reidsville, where my parents are buried and home to many happy summer’s day memories spent with my Grandmother there growing up. We drove Cheney St. and visited the graveyard where the graves of many shown in my album could be seen. It felt good to me to have at least shown Isaac the graves of his Great- AND Great-great-grandparents: Family IS family, after all.
Next we got on US 280 for Savannah; a city I had done nothing more than drive by after a visit in the 50’s (remember nothing!). We checked in and although it was slightly after check-in time the lady had our room next on her list so we took a drive. We had plans to eat at Uncle Chris’ restaurant the next night and we needed to plan our Savannah leg as we wouldn’t need to leave until mid-afternoon the next day. Graveyards were suggested by the books but we’d done graveyards earlier. I found a Maritime Museum but that would be tomorrow. The Ghosts and Gravestones tour grabbed Isaac’s fancy and we booked seats and walked first to a restaurant and then to where the tour loaded on River Street, with a conveniently placed ice cream shop next door. The tour was fun if mostly tongue-in-cheek and a good end to 137 miles of travel
.The next morning we got up late, took a look at what was offered for breakfast and walked two blocks to the Starbuck’s. Isaac was wearing a shirt for some anime character or series of which Grandad could not possibly be more ignorant. The Starbuck’s barista certainly wasn’t ignorant and commented to Isaac with a little admiration. We visited the Maritime Museum and fully enjoyed it
!For lunch we had a thoroughly pleasant meal at The Pirate’s House which had rated a mention in the previous night’s tour as it contained the oldest known building in Savannah and a plethora of ghosts. I had the best – probably only – okra gumbo ever; and then we got a visit from the hostess who had noted Isaac’s shirt when we came in and said she would come by later, after we ate. Turns out that she had been a huge fan of whoever was on Isaac’s shirt since she was his age, and she had majored in animation in college: They had a thirty minute conversation which fascinated me but of which I understood not a word. We finished up, got on US 17 headed for Charleston and put on Willie Nelson’s ‘On the Road Again’ to start our leg. Although the Quality Inn we stayed at in Charleston had no pool and the breakfast was inedible, our room was large and very nice. We checked in, got oriented and went to have dinner at The Archer on Meeting Street, Chris’ restaurant. It was excellent as Chris sent us several appetizers to supplement what we had ordered
.Tuesday was our ‘see Charleston’ day. Isaac and I found a breakfast diner before picking up Uncle Chris. We stopped to pick up a picnic lunch we put in the cooler and went on the peninsula to catch the Ft. Sumter ferry at noon, a forty minute ride each way that gave a superb view of the harbor, the carrier USS Yorktown and a huge container ship that came in right as we were returning
.
Once back we picnicked in the park next to the South Carolina Aquarium which we visited. It was a hit with all three of us. That night we went for dinner with Chris and JC his roommate and the two chefs chose well, the food was excellent even though they didn’t cook it! Stayed awhile at their apartment before heading for the hotel; and of course Grandad missed another turn. The next morning we revisited for the second morning the Early Bird Diner, another Guy Fiero Triple D joint. It was so good to eat breakfast where they know how to make grits! It was Beach Day and when Chris finished some morning prep work he picked us up, went to Folly Beach and picked up two boogie boards. The wind was strong crossways to the beach which made for rough water and a massive undertow, not ideal for boogie boarding but beautiful otherwise and Grandad got tired watching the kids have fun! After wearing ourselves out we walked down to Chris’ favorite taco bar and Dad enjoyed a Samurai Sling, cucumber infused saki with grapefruit juice, with his son. We talked about getting back together after showers at the apartment, but after a shower Grandad decided he was one whipped pup. We had put in 176 miles from Savannah and in touring Charleston. Tomorrow, the last homeward leg for Isaac and a much anticipated reunion with Mom, Dad, Annabelle and Abby!
We met Chris, at a different diner, for breakfast; hugged and sang ‘On the Road Again’ for the last time – with gusto! We got off 17 in Georgetown and blazed a new trail through the hinterlands on US 701, making good time and would have probably gotten home a little ahead of schedule – except for a couple more missed turns and a time in the NC farmland where google maps had us circling the wrong ‘Quail Ridge Rd’. We got to Greenville and Isaac hugged his family and immediately got reacquainted with ‘his stuff’. His parents and I talked about the trip and Grandad got photos transferred from his phone to his computer to a flash drive – at least most of them – with a great deal of help from Grayson.
The last leg was 317 miles; second longest of the roadtrip. The Great Grandson/Grandad Roadtrip o’ 25 was 1,986 miles of happy wandering! Isaac and I learned a lot about each other and we are now true ‘roadtrip bros’; and that’s a lifelong connection!
“GOOD TRIP, BRO!”
Great summations (all three) of your Granddad-Grandson road trip. Lifelong memories for Isaac and precious memories for you! Well done and you had some FUN!
What a great trip ! Hope that 10yr old will remember it forever.