Savannah, GA - Sunday

This morning I took Drew to the starting point for the "Savannah Century" Bike Ride, then I went back to the hotel. The ride started at 8am and there is not much sense in walking around Savannah that early in the morning. At 10:30am I drove to River Street, parked the car and started my day in Savannah. I always loved Savannah - not the weather, because it is hot and humid - but the city itself. I walked along River Street where vendors had put up tents and sold their wares.

I had to take a picture of the bridge, because it was the first "problem" that Drew ran into when the ride started. But it could have been worse - they could have put that huge bridge on the route on the way back! I don't think a lot of pople would have made it then. It is a very steep ascent to the top and at least that early in the morning the riders were still fresh and could handle it.

While poor Drew was riding his bike, I wandered around in Savannah. Savannah is one of those towns where it really doesn't matter what street you take, it is all beautiful. It is the first US city that was planned from the start. The layout is like a huge grid, with squares of houses surrounding a park square. In Savannah, you will never be far from a little park, benches, shade, peace and quiet.

Walking around in Savannah is never boring. The buildings are interesting, everything is green and lush, there are stores and little restaurants everywhere and very few chain stores. Savannah is unique and beautiful.

I stopped at a little shop that also had a counter where they sold refreshments. It looks like it came straight out of a bistro in Paris!

I met up with Drew after his ride and we sat at the River for a little while before we made our way back to the hotel.

Savannah, GA - Saturday

Saturday morning after breakfast (at the Village Inn, of course!) we left for Savannah. The weather was good for driving and there were no accidents or construction sites that gave us problems. We checked in at the hotel in Savannah and then drove to "The Distillery", where the Saturday night ride would start. It was appropriately called the "Midnight Garden Ride".

The ride started at 8pm and by that time it was already dark. The police had come out on motorcycles like on all the other rides, but because this ride was in the dark the flashing lights of the police and the white and red flashing lights of the riders turned this into a see of bright lights.

There is Drew, just one of 300 people out for a nice, leisurely evening ride. He was easy to see in his test dummy shirt! :) And speaking of shirts - for every ride, the participants get a T-Shirt. Usually they are bright, ugly colors with gaudy advertisement on shirts that you would not be caught dead in. The shirt for this event is VERY nice! It is a black shirt with the name of the ride in the front and very nice art work. The names of the advertisers on the back are very discreetly written. Whoever came up with the design and layout of the shrit did a really good job!

While waiting for the ride to start I was talking to the lady standing next to me and we decided to go to the bar at the Distillery and get sloshed. We actually didn't get that far, but we had a really good time sitting at the bar, talking and watching the people.

Since this was a very organized ride and was done with all the riders riding together, it took almost two hours before they all came back. At that time we went back to the hotel, because Drew has the big "Savannah Century" ride tomorrow morning.