Savannah

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What a place. After a bit of a late start, we seem to have a few of those. We finally got out to Tybee island. Its about 15 miles west of Savannah, Its all marsh land to get out there, with rivers winding there way inland. Alot of the shrimp boats come up these rivers. People had their own docks , some with 200m or more of above ground wooden footpaths, winding over the long grassed swamp.
Tybee island is just like Foxton Beach !!, yeh right . We think it was quite touristy but from an American point of view, I'm sure it is classed as a small ,quaint, little beach town. So we finally got to ride our bikes, In the sweltering heat! Stopped at a gas station to buy some water, said bugger this lets go for a swim. Hit the beach, looked over and wondered why part of it was blocked off and there were trucks everywhere, people evrywhere. We worked out it was a movie being filmed but that was all you could see.
Yes Tori was right about the star fish, I managed to stay right away from the area they were finding them, until my funny wife decided to put the damn thing on my head. She reckons it was like washing Jesus walk on water, I jumped so high.
After a shower, kids had a swim in the pool at the campground, we headed for Walmart. We like Walmart. Groceries, things for the Rv that we are finding along the way we need. Funnily enough the TV hasnt been one of them. Josh and I have tried twice to get it going, with no sucess. But havent really missed it except for getting news.
After tea we went back into town, We are about 1/4 hr out of Savannah. Really good, just far enough out of Town to be in a quiet wooded area.We went on the Savannah walking ghost tour. Jefferey the tour guide, was an actor by day. He lives at Tybee island and was telling us all about the movie that was being shot out there at the moment. He is going to be in it, he has a small part as the doctor.Tori wasnt to keen on walking around the streets of Savannah at night under all the spooky looking trees with their spanish moss hanging down. He told us of how they use to bury their dead. Just outside the city boundary in 1783. problem was the boundary has moved so many times that there are thousands of bodies buried right under the main buildings of the old area .We walked over 6000 bodies during our tour. They are a very superstitous lot, and ghosts are everywhere according to him. He had a story for every building and house. There were a lot of hangings and public floggings in the early days. There was one judge and he made the rules.If you were a black man , you were called "George", black woman called " Anne". they couldn't care less what your real name was.If George ate a tomto will he was picking them because he hadn't eaten for ages and he got caught. the owner could say to the judge, "this man stole from me, he should be hung". As a deterent to others he would be hung from the nearest tree. The footpaths are bumpy cobblestones, some brick , some the waste ballast stones from the ships that came over from England. They bought stones over as ballast in the boat , unloaded them here then loaded up with the bales of cotton. So the city used them for roads etc.Because of the huge trees everywhere though, tree roots lift up the pavement, so you really do need to keep an eye on where your'e walking.
Tuesday morning, we went to the Civil rights museum. We were the only ones in there, so Troy (the guy behind the counter) gave us a guided tour after a 20 min video. Without the tour we would have been out of there in 10 mins. They showed us photos of the black only toilets, water cans. how the back of the bus was forblacks and the front for whites. There was a big department store called Levy's here in Savannah where everyone . Black or white would buy all there stuff. In the 1950,s they were doing "sit ins" in all thse types of places as black people could buy theirgoods there but couldn't sit down and have a coffee there. So they all got together and boycotted the place. it lasted 15 months of no blacks shopping there. He said after church on sundays they would have a clothing swap between all the parents , people would donate items etc. Just so they didnt need to go to Levy's. and it worked , after all the financial pressure put on them, they finally let the blacks eat and drink in the cafe in Levy's.They had an outfit donated by "nobody knows who " of a klu klux klan member, It was rife in the early times of civil unrest. Alot of the white people were very against giving the black people a say.They had a real cross that had been burnt in front of someones house.
After that we hit the road again, not after I lost the plot a bit.The bike rack we got with the trailer isnt going to last the trip. The rubbers fell off, all the bikes rubbed together,it leans backwards with the weight. So I went and bought a new one . No worries, it holds four bikes, is a lot stronger. Sweet. Our bikes wouldn't fit as they are mountain bikes with big bars. So I went and bought some longer bolts to hold it all together. Still no joy. Meanwhile we wanted to get going as we still had a 5 hour drive to Atlanta. So we took the new bike rack back , bought a different one. Taped up and restropped the old one to make it to Atlanta. Of course I lost the pedal to my bike as one of my bright ideas while trying to make them fit onto the Mark 2model was to takea pedal off so they would fit. That is now somewhere on I 75 !!
We are now at Stone Mountain campground on the north side of Atlanta, Georgia. A huge campground. We got a deal for 2 nights accomodation and 2 days entry to Stone mountain Park . which is all in the same place. Plus were here for 3 more nights. We went to the park yesterday. Very family oriented.Not suh a big theme park. They had a sky high rope confidence course, that got higher and higher. Josh bailed, The rest of us just did the 1st level . That was enough thanks.It goes 3 stories high. Watched a 4D movie and got wet. At night we wentback and played mini golf before an awesome laser show. Stone mountain is spose to be the biggest stone in the world ( guess they never went to Ularu, Ayers rock) they have carved out the picture of 3 menon horses from the war on the side of it. The light show aims at that part of the rock . there were thousands of people there with their families, throwing footballs, frisbees. My kids used a drink bottle as they had nothing else to do while waiting for the show. Earlier we had gone up in the gondola to the top of the mountain. Another late night but was definately worth it.

I worked out about subscribers the other day , so Ive put all your names in there and hopefully you will get an email everytime we write an entry. If you dont want to get the email , let me know and I'll take your name off.

Cheers Paul

P.S Hope it was one of you that bought your big wednesday ticket in Masterton and well see you soon.

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Comments

[Mel]

starfish
Ha Ha Ha I'm still laughing God can just imagine... So what are you doing for a pedal now? It's so great to be able to read ya blogs,Feels like we're right there with you. Well the news today is Micheal Jackson has died and man the txts have started already And Nope not the Naylors who got the 36mil OMG where would you start? I guess we will have to just keep reading the blogs.

[nongy]

ghosts
Ha are you sure that it's tree roots and not the bodies of thousands causing the bumpy footpath. Bet Logan would love that place with all the ghosts he could tell you plenty of things.

[Mum]

Hi, When we went to the Ford museum in Dearborne MI last time, we actually sat in the bus that Roasa Parks sat in ,and refused to give up her seat to a white person...... Not missing much on TV......unless you are a Micheal jackson fan..his life, his music, his kids, his debts, etc...... have a great weeeknd.