Who knew? Myrtle Beach seems to be a big draw for bikers. I do mean real bikers.....not the doctor or lawyer who rides as a recreational outlet. I mean real "leather wearing, dew rag, ole' lady on the back" biker. I know. I know. The doctors and lawyer look much the same but there is a difference that shows. OK, enough of that. The fall rally was last Wednesday thru Sunday. There were an estimated 150,000 Harley Davidson bikes here. We were going to ride our scooters and join the daily parade route but we chickened out. We did go in the bug and park on the parade route. I love the sound of the bikes. Reminds me of our drag racing days (I do love the Funny Cars). We became Biker Mamaw and Papaw. Larry has a hat and I want a T-shirt. There wasn't any real problems. A few DUIs but that was the locals. The venders were everywhere. Myrtle Beach has a population  of 22,000 but during the bike rally time, the revenue is about 8 million a day. We talked to some of the business owners and 40% of their income comes during the Spring and Fall rallies. We enjoyed the sounds and watching the people.

The Spring Rally has about 250,000 bikes. I can only imagine what that is like.

Several times in my life I have been caught in "Who Knew?" type of situations.  Once when I was single, my date invited me to float the Buffalo River. We planned a romantic trip with a picnic lunch and time to really get to know each other as we serenely floated down the scenic river. I had visions of me in a big floppy hat holding a rose and gazing dreamily at my date. We left early and arrived to get our canoe. We loaded up and slipped into the river to float off. As we moved out of civilization into the wilderness, I had flashes of "Deliverance" laced with sounds of banjo music. Banjo music? Where was that coming from? Oh, there is another canoe up ahead and the paddles are banging against the side of the canoe. Oh, there is another canoe. Another canoe ahead. One coming from behind. It turns out our romantic day was the same Saturday of the statewide Boy Scout Annual Float trip. We were the only adults that did not have a canoe full of Boy and Cub Scouts. Our romantic trip turned into Survivor just trying not to get hit by another canoe.

The second time was when a girlfriend and I played hookey from work to go to the movies. We wanted to see "Romeo and Juliet". We got popcorn, candy and a drink. Going all the way that day! Since it was a weekday afternoon, we figured we would be the only ones in the theater. We settled into my favorite seats. Middle of the row, middle of the theater. About 5 minutes before the movie started, people started filing in. Did I say people? I meant preteens/teens. It was the junior high school from Sheridan, Arkansas. They were coming to see the movie as part of a class assignment.  The movie started and the giggling started. Groans from the boys except for the fight scenes. Giggles from the girls during the love scenes. Have you ever seen a junior high girl go to the bathroom by herself? Of course not! Ever seen any junior high kid go to the snack bar alone? Of course not! It was like a can of worms. Everyone swapping seats to sit by their new best friend, tossing popcorn, etc. You can imagine the rest of the story. The teachers were having a ball sitting on the last row and visiting with each other - out loud. Thanks goodness we both had a sense of humor. One good thing about it. If you are the only adults, you never get blamed for throwing the ice or popcorn. Carol and I had a ball throwing things and never getting blamed. Of the freedom. As far as the movie, I have no clue. We were too busy watching the junior high dynamics. I still haven't seen it.

Later, Judy 

I love Savannah. Larry loves Savannah. I even like to type the name - Savannah - it just flows from your fingers.

Sunday was our day to take the Ole Town Trolley Tour and to eat at The Lady and Sons. The history of the city is amazing. Georgia was the 13th colony. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is very active and the ladies of the historical society are tyrants when it comes to preserving the Historical District. Some of the streets are still cobble stoned. There were 24 squares each about the size of a city block throughout the Historical District. They have fountains, benches, walking paths and hugh live oak trees. Perfect small parks nestled among the residents. The federal government chose two of the squares as building sites to place gray, square 1950 type federal buildings. However, 22 have been protected from any further such confiscation and restored to their original use. Maybe this is why the DAR and Historical Ladies are so bull-doggish. One of the squares was used as a hanging site where the live oaks limbs were perfect for a rope. 

Many movies have been made in Savannah. Forrest Gump sat on a bench in one of the squares and said "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates......". We saw the church steeple where the feather at the beginning of the movie floated down to Forrest. The Six Pence Bar and Grill is where Julia Roberts looked through the window and saw her husband, Dennis Quaid, with another woman in "Something to Talk About". We saw the Mercer house from Clint Eastwood's  "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". We saw the first house in Savannah to get electricity. All the people in town used to gather each night in the square across the street to watch them turn their lights on. Once they were turned on, everyone went home. The DAR cemetery is where General Sherman's Northern troops camped. The men broke many of the headstones, changed the names and dates, and moved the headstones around. After they left, the townspeople we able to sort most of them out. The headstones that could not be matched to a grave site were mounted on the brick fence in the back of the cemetery. As a convenience, there is a very nice dueling area right next to the back entrance to the cemetery. 

Now for Paula Deen. The Lady and Sons is everything you would expect and she is not kidding about using butter in everything. We got to the restaurant at 11:00 to get our names on the list. We were told we would be seated at 3:00 but to come back at 2:45. There was a line about a block and half long. These were the people that were just waiting for the next available table. Since we were not in a hurry, we jumped back on the trolley and finished our tour. We picked up our car and drove back to Congress Street where the restaurant is located. We arrived 2:15 and miraculously found a parking place about 1/4 block away. There are 3 floors in the restaurant and we were seated on the 3rd floor. Each floor has their own buffet. There is an elevator. All the tables are antique dark wood and the chairs are all the old comfortable teachers chair.  Each place is set with a paper lace doily. The walls are painted with vases, windows with scenes, greenery (I have a couple of friends who know what this is called but I don't remember the term). There are family pictures by the elevator of Paula and her boys as they were growing up.

Our server brought a cheese biscuit and corn pone to us as we were seated. Since it was Sunday, the buffet was the only thing offered. You can order from a menu any other time. No complaints from us. The buffet had fried chicken, baked chicken, pork stew, some other meat, collard greens, mac and cheese, real creamed potatoes, gravy, corn on cob, black eyed peas, okra with tomatoes, several other things and salad bar. You will notice which one I don't have much detail on (hint: salad bar). All the food is from Paula Deen's recipes and made with fresh ingredients. It was wonderful! The services was great. Now for the best part......the ooeey goeey butter cake. I had seen her make this cake on her TV show. I even got the recipe from the web site but I never made it. I left it laying around but Larry never took the hint. It was everything I expected. Wonderful. Marvelous. Want to roll in it. Want to be alone with it. The other dessert offerings were banana pudding, ooeey gooeey chocolate cake, peach cobbler, and some type of cheesecake. You were only allowed to choose one. So we choose the peach cobbler, banana pudding, ooeey gooeey chocolate cake, ooeey gooeey butter cake. After Larry tasted my ooeey gooeey butter cake, he wanted a piece of his own.  I made him pay me back the bite he took of mine.

After we ate, we wondered around taking pictures. We asked the 1st floor hostess for Paula's business card. She gave us one of Paula's, Bobby's and Jamie's (notice how we are on first name basis now). No, they were not there but our server said often they are. We went to the Lady and Sons gift shop next door briefly. Larry was ready for a nap. Isn't that what you do on Sunday - eat fried chicken and take a nap

Would I recommend Savannah? Oh yes. Would I recommend the Lady and Sons? Oh yes. We left Savannah Tuesday, Sept 23, heading for Myrtle Beach South Carolina.

Later, Judy

Shelly and Joe came up to Orlando this past weekend and we just hung out together. They had to leave early Sunday night so they could get home. Joe had to get up at 2:00 a.m. to take a kid to Miami Hqrts to interview for USMC. A nice visit with them. Sarah Beth stayed with us. She is such an old lady. All seven pounds of her would walk under Skippy and he would almost do a summersault trying to see her. They were so funny. A 100 pound yellow lab staying out of the way of a little yorkie-poo. She had her bluff in on him.

Monday, Larry and I went to Sea World. We visited some of the exhibits we missed when we were there in July.  We saw the manatees. I had never seen one before - only on TV. They were magnificent. We missed the dolphin feeding and Pets Ahoy show. Oh well next time.

We pulled out of Disney's Fort Wilderness early Tuesday afternoon. The dogs were glad to be on the road again. Smitty the Kitty road most of the time on the front dash watching the cars go by. We stopped for the night in St Augustine FL. We are about 2 miles from the beach but probably wont get to go there. We are in a KOA campground. For $99 a night you can get a site with a patio, fireplace, and patio furniture in addition to the standard picnic table. La te da!!!!! Needless to say we are not in one of those. We have a plain full hookup one.

Wednesday we are headed to Savannah Georgia. Not sure where we are going to stay but I do know we are going to Paula Deen's Lady & Sons to eat lunch. Not sure where we go from there but we should be heading west by the weekend

Later, Judy