Georgia Again

Feb 9, 2010

We be on the road again, leaving Jason and Jamie and the kids (and the dog) with a minimum of tears. We plan to be back through here in June, after we finish our Georgia parks. We’re changing our route this year, going north in June, instead of west. I’d like to see Prince Edward Island where my maternal grandmother was raised, and I have a cousin in Quebec I’ve been corresponding with. We’ll go to Seattle across the top of the country, instead of the bottom.

Jason continues to do well at L3 Communications. His team is currently working with the Navy on some program that detects undersea mines. Or something. (He’d have to kill us if we knew more,) He continues to work toward his PhD at NC State in Instructional Design.

Jamie is developing into a very good portrait photographer. Dave is impressed with her eye and the creativity shown in her images.  She is not working now, and volunteers as assistant coach for a Havelock city girl’s basketball team. It’s quite a contrast, this pink cheeked redhead, working with a large, loud black guy. When we comment, it’s like Jamie hasn’t noticed. (The team is all black too, of course, except for Becca and another girl.) She loves basketball and she likes the coach, even if she can’t always understand him. You go, girl!!

The girls all love school. All three got straight As this past term. Oh, someone got a B+. Competition is in the closet. We never hear a neener, neener, neener. Susie is 13 and has changed her name to SIOUXZY. She’s as tall as I am, and just beautiful. Last year it was a battle to get Becca to change her jeans. This year (age 11) she is an ingenue, right off the pages of 17 Magazine. She combs her hair before dinner!! Katie is 9 and struggles to find her place. She is playing the piano so well; we felt bad that we missed her recital. Xander is still a cute little boy, age 5, very talkative and precocious. As soon as he got his tonsils out his speech improved. he wasn’t able to say his Ks, so it was “Tatie” and “Betta/” After surgery, his treat was to go to his favorite, Cow Cafe. And he could say it!!

From Myrtle Beach. SC to Charleston, Hwy 17 is a flat gray ribbon, traipsing along the coast through little settlements and plantations turned to golf courses. The road is four lane but there is no shoulder. The grass grows right up to the white line. Every 500 yards or so there is a little stick built display stand selling sweet grass baskets. A couple of old darkies in bib overalls and straw hats sit in lawn chairs, waiting for customers. A real southern tableau.

We like the signage along this road: “Keep moving. Change lanes later.” Stretches of the highway are named after folks, presumably local. We passed Maxine Wentworth Intersection and Juanita T. Sikes Crosswalk. When we cross the Coosawhatchie River, we know we are deep in Dixie. Savannah is celebrating the 100th birthday of Johnny Mercer – crossing Moon River brings us to Skidaway Island, our home base for the next two weeks.

Weather here is warmer than North Carolina. We got here through a window of calm and it looks like this Georgia coast area will not get the cold that is hitting everywhere else. We wish you all an early spring.                                       Sam and Dave