Part III - Savannah and the last leg.
I left South Beach last Saturday Morning after gassing up my Camry. After a 3 1/2 hour drive I ended up at Dixie CrossRoads in Titusville a little before noon and met up with Stevekoe for lunch. This was the first time we met and we discussed many things including Florida, Long Island, Roadfood, our careers, women, travel etc. Stevekoe also warned me about the huge servings at the Crabshack in Tybee Island where I was going to have dinner the next day. Anyway I knew I was going to order the Steamed Rock Shrimp, Stevekoe recommended that 2 dozen should do the trick. The meal came with two sides along with very addicting corn fritters. I chose the shrimp soup and Chicken flavored rice as my sides. The Shrimp soup was more or less a chicken stock based soup chock full of shrimp and the chicken flavored rice was just that,however the rock shrimp came lined up, already split and just needed a tug or two with the cocktail fork provided. The shrimp was very sweet and almost tasted like lobster, it really didn't need the drawn butter which was provided with the meal. I believe Stevekoe got the same thing, however I believe he ordered the french fries instead of the rice.
After lunch and parting ways with Stevekoe, I drove the three hour distance to the Georgia Pig, I stopped at the Georgia Welcome center on the way up to chill out since I was still not hungry from my big lunch. I arrived at the Georgia pig at around 5pm. Now I know I've been warned by others (Paul) of possible discrimination/bigotry, however I'm the type of person who has to see things for themselves. Imagine to my chagrin when I was approaching the wooden shack and there was an Asian American family happily eating their Q on at one of the outside picnic tables and as I entered into the wooden shack I was greeted by the African American gentleman behind the counter who told me that they had just enough pork for one sandwich due to the busy day they had due to the holiday. Well, I ordered the pork sandwich, with sides of Coleslaw and Brunswick stew and Sweet tea. I thought about dessert but they were all out. The Q was ok, I liked the tomato based sauce but thought that the meat could be a little smokier. I thought the brunswick stew was really good and the sweet tea wasn't all too sweet which to me is a good thing.
I arrived in Savannah just before 7pm. I checked into my hotel which was right on River/Bay Street and parked about a quarter of a mile from the hotel on Oglethorpe. As I walked the historical streets of Savannah I noticed a local coffee house right on bull Street, perfect for tommorow's breakfast. I decided to take a stroll down River Street that evening perousing the souvenir shops and taking in a live blues band and some local beer at one of the bars.
The next morning after breakfast I drove to Tybee Island to the Tybee Island lighthouse and museum, toured the museum, climbed the 173 steps to the light house and enjoyed the views of the ocean. I then drove to the beach and took a brief stroll.
I arrived back in Savannah just in time for lunch. I went to Lady and Sons, walked right in and sat at the bar without a wait, although it was crowded considering it was just before noon. I asked for a glass of sweet tea from Morgan the bartender. She later gave us an acapella serenade of a Jazz tune to which everyone applauded. I went to the buffet line, and loaded up my plate with Creamed Corn, Eggplant Casserole, Collared Greens and Mac N Cheese. They were out of fried chicken. I patiently waited for about 10 minutes when the chicken arrived hot and fresh. I grabbed a breast and a leg and sat back down at the bar. The meal was fantastic however, the collareds were barely luke warm probably from sitting on my plate while I was waiting for the chicken. The fried chicken was some of the best and so was the mac n cheese. The eggplant casserole was delicious. I took one sip of the sweet tea and almost spit it out. It was sickenly sweet, my only criticism. I finished the meal with some peach cobbler for desert. Truly the second and last highlight meal of the trip.
After lunch I walked around the city market area and then headed back to my hotel. It started to rain for about 1/2 hour or so. I decided to purchase a ticket for the one hour riverboat tour of the Savannah River. The tour was informative and relaxing and it had stopped raining. After the tour I took a house tour, the tour guide freaked me out, he was quite bizarre to say the least.
After walking back to my hotel I headed back to Tybee Island later that evening and went to the Crabshack and ordered the Shell Fish feast which came with corn on the cob, potatoes and sausage. The feast was truly that a hodge podge of shrimp, mussells, crawfish, crablegs, and stone crabs. Yes it was huge, but guess what I ate all the shellfish, I just left some potatoes and sausage over. The entire meal with a glass of unsweetened iced tea was $31 with tax and tip, the second most expensive meal on the trip. After dinner I headed back to Savannah and had a couple of microbrews at the moon river brewing company across the street from my hotel.
On Monday I decided to go the Savannah history museum before heading back north. It was then a short two hour drive to Santee South Carolina where I went to Maurice's BBQ for lunch. Yes I know Maurice Bessinger is a silly old man, I couldn't care less about his politics or politics in general for that matter, however all the South Carolina Q restaurants are closed on Mondays and I wanted South Carolina Q, even if it wasn't as good as Dukes which I went to three years earlier (I really wanted to go to Sweatman's but they are only opened Friday and Saturday) I orded the big pig combo platter which came with pork q, ribs, rice and hash, hushpuppies, slaw and a roll. The bbq was ok, I do like their rice and hash though, I laughed at the display of books and literature in the lobby as I left.[|)]
I arrived in Richmond at around 5pm. I was now exhausted, and could no longer walk like I did (due to two blisters I had on both feet) from all the walking I did. I had a hankering for spoon bread. I called Glenns' Tavern to see if they had any (like the website advertised) they didn't, so I headed to old reliable Freckles Restaurant in the libby grove neighborhood. I ordered the Fried Chicken dinner (four pieces) along with a side of Green Beans, home made potato salad, spoon bread and sweet tea. The fried chicken and spoon bread was good, the green beans tasted like it came from a can and I didn't like the Potato Salad. It had raw onion in it which I felt just didn't belong. I should have gotten the fried okra instead. I was hoping they would have banana pudding for dessert, however this time it was blackberry cobbler, peach cobbler, and chocolate bund't cake I wasn't interested in either so no dessert for me, which was probably a good thing.
The next morning I left Richmond bright and early at 6:30 am for the last day of my roadtrip. I arrived at St Mary's Landing in Charlotte Hall Maryland just before 8:30 AM. I ordered the Charlotte Hall Breakfast which include eggs, choice of bread, homefries or potato cakes and the star of the meal, stuffed ham. I chose homefries (although I probably should have gone with the potato cakes) and whole grain toast. The Stuffed ham which is corned and stuffed with kale, cabbage and onions was absolutely delicious. I head back towards the interstate and before arriving at Gaetano's in Mt Laurel New Jersey just before noon, I gave Cheesewit a call. Sadly, he was unable to make it. And I thought I was getting a free cheesesteak!
I ordered the whizz steak with fried onions. And as usual I ordered the small instead of the mini. Yes, a small, is gigantic. Of course it's probably the best and biggest cheesesteak around loaded with meat and dripping whizz and the best crusty bread perfect for a large sandwich but I couldn't finish it. It was just too big.
I left around 12:30 pm dreading the traffic especially on the Connecticut Tpke, but there wasn't any. I was back in Rhode Island a little after 4:30 pm.
The end