Day 10- 4/13/2017 -Savannah, GA to Charleston, SC - 199.9 miles

Laz'in on a Sunny Afternoon - Gator Style

We left Savannah on an easy day's drive to Charleston, South Carolina.  First stop, or nature loop drive to be correct, was at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. Vickie got most of the pictures but the best impression is Gators, Gators Gators!

Red Wing Blackbird on a Cattail that looks suspiciously like Randall Tosh
I haven't seen a Red Wing Blackbird in a long time. It immediately reminded me of Red Wing shoes which really tells how old I am. Egrets too, but very careful ones on where they land. It was a nice 3 mile loop and I was glad we saw it.

Because I was driving, Vickie took almost all the pictures today. The gators really impressed Vickie. She is having a wonderful time on this trip, and so am I.

My memories of the south are from growing up in Texas. I never saw the deep south much. Into Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas, not not very far. But the landscape, trees, and birds we're seeing really reflect what I remember.  Memories wash over me.

For Vickie it's all brand new. It's charming in so many ways.

I came wearing a burden. The politics of the South and the emotional baggage of race has effected me deeply all my life. Like many others, I just can't relate to the desires to control people and the way they act and believe, that comes with the deeply rooted conservatism. Not the economic part of conservatism that I understand and have some sympathy for, but the desire to impose an older cultural version of America on the future. 

We have been listening to the audio version book of the Battle of Gettysburg called Killer Angels. It won the Pulitzer Prize and most deservedly so. It has brought me to the edge of tears and we have much more to go. But, back to the road.

After the swamp we headed to Hilton Head Island. Hilton Head is known to many as an exclusive enclave of the rich and site of annual PGA golf tournaments. It's also Southern California on the East Coast. Gated communities. Upscale shops and restaurants. Traffic. Maybe that a little too hard on Southern California: They don't put plastic walking paths on the beach. 

I'm sure that a lot of people made a lot of money there but I'll never go back unless I have to.

Beaufort, SC however is another story. What a delightful town. Stately mansions and 400+ year old graveyards reflect a town that has been there since before America was born. 



We made it to Charleston in short order and are encamped for two nights. Another beautiful city and more on that tomorrow.

The "end" of the Eastern drive to the coast, 3,741.7 miles.  But we still have to backtrack to Atlanta and then up the Appalachians to Washington D.C.

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