You Spin us right round baby…

Following on from the success of the McAdam appellation controlee for road surface quality, and the Moss scale for shoulder width, we have an important new standard to introduce to our followers: the Squeaky Clean Laundromat (SCL) rating. As MG so accurately predicted, the pants in the wash went round and round today. And how excited were we to find Spin City, sales concept: “a new spin on laundry”? Passing by a number of huge mansions on the way out of downtown Savannah, we suddenly found ourselves confronted by a huge Laundromat with hundreds of machines of different sizes and programs, various driers, a pressing room, a mini-store selling sodas and snacks, some flat screen TVs and….wait for it…a GAMES ROOM? Yes, Kat was beside herself with excitement to see both Galaga and Ms Pacman on offer for just a quarter a pop; and for Anthony’s amusement a driving game with a hummer navigating the streets of Vegas. Dudes… a clear 5 SCL rating for this puppy.

But laundry is not all that we did today (and you thought that the day could not get any more exciting). After a leisurely start this morning, we ambled down to have an early lunch at Mrs Wilkes, which we were reliably informed was the place to go for the best Southern cooking in Savannah. By the length of the line outside the place when we arrived 10 minutes before opening, we had the feeling that we were in for a treat. Mrs ‘ the real deal’ Wilkes (Paula Dean read and weep) is something of a Savannah tradition, and caters for a mixture of locals on their lunch hour, as well as tourists and other hungry folk. It is a “family style” set up, where you take a seat on a table with around 8 other people, then tuck into a table groaning under the weight of all manner of Southern culinary delights: crispy fried chicken, collard greens, BBQ pork, black-eyed beans, okra stew, corn bread etc etc … (we could go on and on) all freshly cooked and DELICIOUS. We had a fun table of folk too from all over: North Carolina, Alabama, Indiana, Washington DC and Savannah itself, and a very convivial lunch.

Having successfully pointed our stomachs back in the direction of the hotel to find our room had been spotlessly cleaned by our lovely chamber maid, Cookie, we are now in the throes of packing and prepping for tomorrow’s ride, which could be a rainy one, from the looks of it (boo hiss). We’d love to stay another day, but that really might be overdoing it …

Us x

Hair today, gone … on Saturday

Apparently Tiger Woods has made his millions based on his kind nature and the image he portrays as being a very nice family person. Nothing to do with how brilliant he is at playing golf you understand! This is just one of the many ridiculous theories one hears when one stays in to watch the bastions of US impartial television; News Channels! After 30 minutes of viewing comic book news stories, Kat could take no more and decided to go out and have her hair and eyebrows refashioned. 2 hours later the door to the hotel room opened to a fanfare, soft focus, slow motion and a gentle stream of L'Oréal air, because she’s worth it!

A day and half to go before Trusty and Steed hit the tarmac again, Anthony opted to stay in and plan the 81 miles to St Simon, a great beach side resort in the south of Georgia. Leaving Saturday at 7am to complete 81 miles after 6 days of rest may seem a little adventurous, but coupled with the excitement of being in Florida on Sunday, doing 81 miles straight off the bench is an effort worth making.

Maps, hair and eyebrows complete, we headed out for a stroll along the riverside for a spot of lunch. Soon after, we were back in the Hotel to chill-out before going out again for Thai Food.

… feeling fat, need exercise.

Us x

Cabin Fever

We’re busy doing nothing, working the whole day through, trying to find lots of things not to do. We’re busy doing nothing, isn’t it just a crime? We’d like to be unhappy, but we never do have the time.

Yes, it was one of those rainy days where time was best spent mooching around indoors. After several hours of rescheduling routes and stops, and booking future accommodation, with just a dash of Google Earth route planning, we were ready for a bit of trash TV (Savannah is so lovely, it has had us out and about in the sunshine, and we were obviously getting withdrawal symptoms). We were a little worried when the emergency tornado warning was broadcast in the middle of a Law & Order SVU. Well, at the time, we were most concerned that we had missed a vital piece of the storyline. But seriously, for our area it was only actually a “serious tropical storm”, and it seems to have blown over, chopsticks crossed (Thai take-out for dinner). So, back to a bit of NCIS….

Us x

Quick Hello

Not very much to talk about today! We did some laundry… duh, completed some paper work and started to review the southern tier route through Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico etc.

A very relaxing day! We even had time to read a few chapters of our newly purchased books.

Usx

Racoons vs. Opossums

Today proved to be a day of twists and turns! First and foremost we needed to service the fundamental pieces of equipment that had successfully brought us the 1,400 miles to Savannah. We wheeled Trusty (Anthony’s bike) and Steed (Kat’s Bike) to Sekka bike shop where Ethan placed his healing hands upon our “vehicles composed of two wheels held in a carbon fibre composite frame” to make them as good as new. More interesting, however, was the fact that in our previous blog we made reference to the evolution of the bicycle made in 1864, and for those not in touch with such trivial pursuits, we were referring to the Penny Farthing (Bone Shaker). And there, standing pride of place in Sekka, was a modern day Penny Farthing… bizarre!

Happy that Trusty and Steed were in the hands of a professional, it was time to place our next most precious items in the hands of Gloria and Sabrina for a good servicing. What many of you may not realise is that keeping bodily parts wrapped in leather, sweating for 8 hours a day can result in skin falling off those bodily parts. Fortunately for us, Gloria and Sabrina were proficient pedicurists and, much like the achievements of Ethan with Trusty and Steed, Gloria and Sabrina made our feet as good as new. However, slightly disturbing was Gloria’s advice on the best way to eat a "coon". Sometimes referred to as wild meat, the best way to eat a "coon" is to cut its head off first and then skin it (unlike Opposums where you burn/scorch the skin to remove the hair). Once gutted and portioned, season well and cook until tender. Apparently it tastes like beef. Personally eating Racoon or Opposum is something we’ll leave to the professionals.

With feet and bikes ready to stamp out another 1,400 miles before their next service, we headed back to our hotel for social hour; a complimentary spread of wine, cheese, biscuits and fruit to encourage frivolity and social chat amongst hotel residents… we know what you’re thinking! Not wishing to be party poopers we duly got into the elevator and made our way to the foyer for drinks. “Chance is as chance does” we met a lovely lady who lives in North London and works for Clifford Chance. We had a nice chat but Anthony decided to show Kat the “enough talk about boring work, already” card when the work conversation stretched past the 5-minute barrier.

Now seated in a lovely restaurant overlooking the Savannah River, Kat and Anthony were tucking into some great food. The interesting thing about this restaurant is that it overlooks the Savannah River, which carries cargo ships into the port, the 9^th largest in the US. We’re not sure if you have ever experienced the optical illusion of sitting on a train in a station looking out of the window at the stationary train next to you? You gaze down to read the article in the newspaper placed on your lap then briefly look up and out of the window again, shocked to see your train is moving backwards. Of course it isn’t, it’s the train next to you moving forward. Well, when sitting in this restaurant looking out of the window witnessing a container ship the size of Manhattan making its way down the river you get the feeling the whole restaurant is moving; it’s mind blowing! We even heard the guy on the next table ask his date if the earth moved for her!

Us x

Blue (Whale) Savannah Song

After watching Forrest Gump last night and realising that he was actually sitting on a bench in Savannah while telling his life story and talking about “my Jenny”, we were even more excited to get out today and have a look round the City. The historic downtown is made up of a grid system, but with a historic square in the middle every 2/3 blocks: 22 in total. Forrest sat on the North side of Chippewa Square, which is just one across and two down from our hotel. We have John Wesley in the middle of ours: the founder of the Methodist Church. Luckily, despite his influence, we were still able to locate a Mimosa (Bucks Fizz) and a beer for brunch today…yay!

In fact, one of the best things about being here has been the opportunity just to wander around and find cafes, restaurants etc that serve fresh food; not fried; no pizza, and definitely no Golden Arches. We might even manage to take a few photos…TMG, we actually saw a woolly mammoth riding on the back of a blue whale down the Savannah River today - couldn’t get the lens cap off in time; sorry…

Us x

‘effing Ham

Have you ever spent the first few hours of the morning thinking something wasn’t quite right? Then suddenly realised that you have done something in your life you have never done before. Well we have and guess what it was. OK, don’t guess, we’ll tell you… Last night we had Burgers (McDonalds to be precise) for dinner before going to bed and then burgers this morning for breakfast. The breakfast burgers weren’t actually made of beef; we think pork was the main ingredient. Nonetheless, they were the yummiest processed man-made food substitute we have ever tasted. Fortunately today was due to be a 5400 calories burn… “should have had two of those man-made miracles!"

The plan for today was to enter the wonderful state of Georgia, touching down in Savannah to witness a little piece of Surrey in America. You see; in 1732 James Edward Oglethorpe, a member of the English Parliament who grew up on his family estate in Godalming Surrey, founded the Colony of Georgia now called Savannah. This interesting chapter of English/American history is confirmed as soon as you enter Savannah…the English are everywhere!

So, spinning out of South Carolina at 59 rpm feeling the sun in our eyes, no rain on our faces and love in hearts, we set off on the 60-mile trip to Georgia. Unfortunately, an additional 15 miles were missing from the plan. Worse still it was 2pm, the Sun decided we had seen enough of him and we were 45 miles into the trip in the aptly named county of Effingham (excuse our French) before the calculation error decided to reveal itself. Panic would have been a natural response. Good thing we didn’t panic, we just gave each other the “YES WE CAN” stare then set off at 20mph with flames dancing off our back wheels…burning rubber! Overjoyed with the hard shoulder presented before us that rated on the Moss scale somewhere between Lebron James and Shakil O’Neil, we were hindered only by the appellation controlee. If you’re familiar with the evolution of the bicycle made in 1864 by the French Michaux family, you’ll know exactly what the ride felt like. We soldiered on and remarkably made it to the Hotel just before 4pm.

We’re now fed and tired watching Forest Gump on TV, which reminds us. We have not yet seen any of you join us on a stage of the trip. We suppose if it does eventually happen it’s likely y’all are waiting for the PCH stage. But before you jump to make arrangements with work, family etc. we need to tell you that we’re going to be spending the next 7 days in Savannah to make significant changes to the route through Georgia, the West coast of Florida (Ferry schedules etc.) and the Southern tier avoiding the Mexican border (don’t ask). Blog postings will be short and sweet over the next few days.

Us x