The Dirty South

An actual Rooster crowed to wake us this morning, which was nice for a change from me being the morning alarm. Sam was the only one who reported having a great sleep, this could be contributed to the comfort of our double sleeping bag sandwich or a chemical induced slumber from the sleeping pills he thought were required the night before, I'm going with the later. We stumbled intermittently from the cabin to shower at the camp ground shower block, this would have to be the worst shower experience yet with our reports varying from freezing cold and dipping to boiling hot with fiercely strong pressure and everything in between. A quick breakfast of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and camping cereal and we were out the door earlier than the intended departure time for a change. This was good because there was a long day of driving ahead. We headed out along the Blue Ridge again and soon realised that Cherokee wasn't really on the route of of our trip east, likely adding about 2 hours to our journey. We considered it the scenic route and stopped a few times for final photos of the Blue Ridge Parkway before heading back through Asheville, the temp reading a crisp 4 degrees. We were soon on the motorway south with the GPS informing Fraser there was no exit required for 289kms. This was the longest stretch of interstate we have covered to this date, travelling from North Carolina through South Carolina to Georgia.

Last Snaps on The Blueridge

We stopped for lunch at an a motorway diner called Fatz. It was a very American experience but the food wasn't note worthy. We were however graced with bottomless cups of soda, just what you want on a long road trip, high volumes of sugary liquid. The rest of the drive was relatively uneventful with everyone seeming lost in their own thoughts, intermittently broken by Vickie hitting up Fraser to slow down with his driving. We arrived in Savannah in the mid afternoon and found our accommodation we had booked at Masters Inn with relative ease. We had limited expectations of our motel as it was $45 a night for a king room but was a little out of the town centre. Some tensions were eased at check in with the reception area presenting as clean, tidy and new. The receptionist was helpful. The hallway of the motel also had a clean smell, opening the doors to our rooms however the smell was something else. We were hit with a scent that was somewhere between stale cigarette and damp, bearable though. After a quick check through of the bathrooms and sheets we agreed the rooms were satisfactory. While unloading our things from the car we were observed by a group of men loitering at the back entrance of the motel which quickly made Vickie and I very alert with her making comments like "they have just seen us bring all our stuff in and probably saw what rooms we are staying in". Further adding to our anxieties about the security, the back door to the motel didn't close never mind lock and it was becoming more and more evident we had chosen a motel in the projects. Vickie and I headed through the side fence to the laundry mat to do the washing while the boys relaxed from the long drive. One of the first things we noticed was the weather was significantly warmer, around 26 degrees. During the hour and a half wait for washing we stressed further about our preciment with the motel security and plans to head into town tonight. We decided that we would take passports with us and would consult reception as to whether there was a safe we could put valuables in which we eliminated to our cameras and computers, everything else we would just have to be prepared to loose. To no surprise the reception did not have a safe, we did however tell her that the back door did not close and she said she would advise security when they arrived. This did offer us some comfort and while walking from the reception to our building two Police cars were circling the motel property, we weren't sure if that was a good thing. With Sam having stuffed our camera in a light shade and put the tablet behind some drawers I put the SD card and Passports in my handbag and our Taxi was on its way. Fasers relaxed attitude about the security was helpfully rubbing off on everyone.

The taxi pulled up outside the motel and we were introduced to our driver, Kedar and rather surprisingly his wife. Yes it was a five seater car and it was expected that the four of us would pile into the back, which is what we did. On the journey to "The River" Kedar gave us a heads up where to go for drinks and dinner also providing us with his phone number for the return trip. On Kedar's advice we started at a Pub called Wet Willies on river street where they specialised in frozen cocktails with somewhere between 15 and 20 different flavours ready to be poured. After a thorough check of ID's and Sam and I providing our passports, apparently QLD drivers licences couldn't be found on the approved ID list, we were seated with our drinks. Vickie and I having followed Kedar's suggestion had a mix of house cocktails "Call a Cab" and "Attitude Improvement" while Fraser went for a Margarita and Sam opted for the White Russian. It was fair to say the warning the bar tender gave about the alcohol content of the drinks was warranted and after one drink we were chatty and ready to eat.  A couple of streets back and one very steep set of stairs from The River we found Market Street. It was a hive of activity with live music in the street and people dancing and dining outside. We chose a restaurant from the street called Cafe in the Market and a round of Peach Sangrias were requested. The food was amazing with us ordering a wide variety of dishes from baked salmon and shrimp ravioli to Sam's 600gm steak, it was all delicious.

Another few Bars, ID checks and drinks we called Kedar for a ride home. Soon we were again crammed in the back of Kedar's cab. He chatted freely to us about our night and was disappointed we had not bought a Savannah Tshirt for him to sign telling Vickie "Oh I'm gonna slap the white right off ya'll for that, No Tshirt?". His response to the size of Sam's dinner was "oh ya'll right they don't play no games in there, they for real, they don't play games". When talking about the weather in the Blue Ridge we mistakenly said it was 4degrees and a shocked Kedar said that wasn't possible, we quickly corrected ourselves to Fahrenheit and said it was 40degrees Kedar told us "ya'll in my hood now, ya'll speak my language or I put ya'll out on the street right here" before his continued shock at the temperatures we had come from. It was like having an actual conversation with Outkast. Arriving back at the motel after the eventful evening we were relieved to find that our rooms had not been robbed nor were there any suspect characters lurking. Over all our night out in Savannah was a great success and yet again we were able to find a great place for dinner despite little knowledge of the local cuisine. I think Sam and Fraser just have an eye for the right places by reading the menu, I know I'm happy to stick with their choices.