DAY 111
Week 16
ORMOND BEACH (Florida, USA) to MACON (Georgia, USA)
Monday October 9th, 2006
TODAYS MILEAGE – 403 miles or 649 kilometres
TRIP MILEAGE – 15520 miles or 24977 kilometres
Deep in the heart of Georgia!!! 
Today was one of those days in which it held all the reasons why we all travel for pleasure. No matter where I went or what I was I doing, there was something new, different or interesting that caught my eye.
I left Ormond Beach (Florida) around 8AM and headed North through Jacksonville (Florida), over the border on into Georgia and stopped in at Jekyll Island State Park.
The Island is part tourist attraction, part nature reserve and part living museum. Unfortunately the day wasn't conducive to good photography, due to the battleship grey clouded sky's with intermittent rain, but this also kept the tourist numbers down. I would hazard a guess that the Historic District would be fairly busy with honeymooners as the island has romance written all over it.
Lunch was another discovery. 25 miles up the road, at the junction of I-95 and Highway 25 (Exit 49) in Darien (Georgia), I found Smokey Joe's BBQ Restaurant tucked in between the hotels that line either side of any major freeway exit in America. For a mere $6.72 I hooked into an all you can eat BBQ Jimmy buffet.
I must say the Georgia BBQ (usually called Carolina style BBQ) is different from St Louis, Texas or Memphis BBQ and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Roast chicken, pulled pork, gravy chicken, awesome creamy mashed spuds, corn, carrots, collard greens, baked beans, Southern biscuits & gravy, okra and two types of pies – cherry and apple. Great food at an awesome price so you know there was a fair chance that I'd be as full as a fat lady's sock when done.
Savannah (Georgia) is steeped in history – not a stretch considering that it was founded in 1733. I spent the best part of the afternoon walking around the town checking out all the wonderful architecture. I was wondering around Forsyth Park (the largest of 24 squares and parks in the downtown area) and came across both a wedding and what looked to be a hawk dining on a squirrel. It struck me that I had witnessed both a beginning and an end.
The naughty side of me thought that it was rather ironic as marriage can make you feel like the squirrel some times.
Today was also another first for me. I had my first bowl of grits. I would like to say that it was one of those "lunar aligning" moments, but leave that shit in the 99¢ romance novels. Truth be told, grits are pretty bland as it has the taste and texture of neighbors mothers 3 day old porridge. The waitress tried to liven the grits up for me with sprinkling American cheese (the crappiest cheese ever) and some salt & pepper. It didn't help, but I can say I've tried it now.
Savannah is a place I could spend more time exploring, but now that I'm on a schedule due to the NZ/Aussie trip, I had to hit the road. I got the trusty Aussie 2 dollar coin out and went Head to go North into the Carolina's or Tail to strike out West towards Dallas (Texas).
Tails it was and 170 miles (271 kilometres) later I was parked up in Macon (Georgia) for the night.
All in all, a pretty good day was had by all.
• JEKYLL ISLAND (Georgia, USA)
• SAVANNAH (Georgia, USA)