18-7-12

Hi Folks!
Up and out from Wilmington to Savannah - the second longest drive of the tour.

Everything was going swimmingly - then the weather turned. We saw the black clouds massing for a couple of hours as we drove through the woods - remember them, they are still going strong.

We had a lovely lunch at Hardees - really nice.

Then we hit the road again. The clouds continued to build.

We decided to turn off the Interstate to put the roof up. We rejoined the Interstate just as the rain started, spits and spots turned to rain, turned to a downpour, turned into a torrent, turned into a waterfall -  visibility was down to 10 yards - no more. Water was building to 3 inches on the road, cars were pulling off and couldn't be seen if they didn't have their hazard lights on and 16 wheel trucks were still travelling at 60 MPH. This went on for 2 hours as we made our way south.

Then as suddenly as it came - it went. And we made our was to Savannah, through the woods.

After a few trips around the block we found our hotel - which was lovely. It was situated right in the heart of old Savannah. Luckily a local citizen gave us the perfect suggested tour - and off we set through Southern clapboard mansions and Colonial churches. Trees draped in lichen, lush garden squares, and statues to the great and good, mainly Yorkshire men, something is clearly not quite right when this happens and then you learn they banned strong liquor - only to gain the reputation as the hardest drinking state - typical.

Anyway we escape from the heat into quite possibly the coolest coffee bar ever - Lou Reed on the stereo vanilla cream sodas to die for and the best cookies ever baked - Savannah is about to launch a whole new Starbucks.

We made our way down to the waterfront where the old warehouses have been turned into restaurants and shops of varying quality. We had an OK dinner watching the shipping which included an enormous container ship and some bust ferries.

Then off to bed...