Washington DC, Hilton Head Island, Savannah
23:45 - Atlanta, Georgia - Mole & Zihao
Upon arriving in the leafy suburb on the edge of Georgetown (via some in-town 'offroading' by Michael and TomTom), we were greeted by Brian, one of Tripp's housemates. Soon after settling in, our host Tripp, whom Alec had met through the Society of Cincinatti, made his first appearance on the scene and we all instantly knew that it was going to be an exciting few days. Almost instantly, it was suggested that we have an American style cookout that night, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Out tired motley-crew decided to have an early night in preparation for, what would prove to be, a truly epic day of sightseeing. After a quick breakfast, we headed straight for the White House, followed immediately by the Washington Monument. Zihao remarked that he had spotted a group of travelling Amish folk, causing a stir of excitement in the group. Mole and Benji sped off to investigate further. The group then ambled over to the Lincoln Memorial, which, as Zihao noticed, was far more crowded than in the movies. So as not to be late for our lunch-date with Mole's DC-based friend Pete, we hastily made our way to one of Washington's more 'fabulous' districts on its air-conditioned metro system.
After lunch, we trundled over in DC's 40 degree centigrade, 95% humidity heatwave to the vastly impressive Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Highlights included the actual Apollo 11 landing module and excellent photographic exhibit, featuring each of the planets in our solar system, but the children's exhibit was thoroughly enjoyed by Benji and Alec. Upon leaving the museum, we headed for Capitol Hill. Having reached the large fountain in front of the iconic building, it was voted that we should go no further towards it, and instead turn back to get into the relative comfort of an air-conditioned cars.
Despite the group's heat-stroke fuelled protestations, Mole uncharacteristically insisted that we walk the mile or two to the Jefferson Memorial, who we later found out was a personal hero of Mole's. En route, in typical fashion, Michael greatly misjudged his own height, and blundering into a tree sent his San Francisco Giants cap hurtling into the murky water below. Had it not been for a group of tourists passing by, seeing Michael's plight and helpfully suggesting that Michael use a stick to fish out his cap, it would surely have sunk to its watery grave, and we would not have seen Michael retrieving it from the water 'like a buffalo', as one oriental member of the group remarked.
Having reached the memorial of the great man, the entire group concurred that the journey had been well worth it and we took a well-deserved rest inside, while reading choice passages from Jefferson's writings. With the day's sightseeing over, we headed back to Georgetown to the promise of another delicious cookout, where we met an eclectic group of friendly and lively individuals who both showed us an excellent time, and offered much advice regarding where to visit on the rest of the trip.
The following day, we had a thoroughly cheerful itinerary, first visiting the Arlington National Cemetery (where JFK was laid to rest) in the morning, before wandering through the Holocaust Memorial museum in the afternoon. The situation was remedied in the evening with a thoroughly enjoyable meal and drinks in the nearby Georgetown (where Tripp seemed to know literally everyone). This was also the first time we encountered rain on the trip, which was in fact quite pleasant, given the horrendously hot temperature in Washington the day before. Having enjoyed the evening with our host Tripp, Mole's friend from Eton, Pete, and our lovely friend from Oxford, Jo, we retired to bed for a ridiculously early morning to drive to Hilton Head Island - a journey that would end up taking around 15 hours.
It was on this journey that we got our first taste of driving in bad weather. Thunderstorms had been threatening to roll in for days (Michael's weather app on his iPhone showed a full week's worth of little grey clouds and lightning bolts), and it finally did on this journey. Visibility was at times reduced to a less-than-ideal 5m, and we saw many poor souls broken down on the side of the highway. The feeling of pity soon gave way to a "better you than us" mentality. After a few hours battling the elements, we stopped for lunch at Wilbur's BBQ - a restaurant recommended to us by Michael's friend Kevin, who we'd met in New York. Wilbur's was the first place where we encountered the southern accent, which amused us for a short while.
Back on the road, we enjoyed, via audiobook, the musings of one Karl Pilkington, which entertained us until we arrived in Charleston for dinner. Parking the cars on the street for the first time since the Baltimore Incident, we were somewhat paranoid about being broken into, but we returned from our dinner at Wings Cafe to find everything exactly as it should have been. For the final leg of the journey, we decided to each follow our GPSs and meet at Hilton Head, and so the two cars went their separate ways. Alec soon realised that the Toyota was in fact extremely low on fuel, and unlikely to be able to make the 100+ mile journey, and so we had a mildly entertaining/alarming half an hour trying to find a petrol station en route that accepted UK debit cards at 11pm. Finally finding fuel at a BP garage, we were well on our way, and arrived at Hilton Head Island at roughly 00:30am, to find that Michael and Benji had arrived a good deal earlier.
We stayed with Benji's uncle James, aunt Anna, cousin Hugh and canine companion Suki, who all took excellent care of us. After a hearty breakfast, Hugh took us to the beach and explained the rules of horseshoes, boules with and difference, and American football. Benji then took the opportunity to introduce Hugh and his friends to the game of rugby. Rather embarrassingly, the team consisting of two Americans and a Chinaman thrashed the majority British team, despite only a scant knowledge of the rules. Unbeknownst to us at the time, running around on the beach under the harsh midday sun would later take its toll on each of us to varying degrees in the form of quite serious sunburn (a fact that Mole and Benji would later take advantage of by slapping Michael's seemingly glowing red feet. Michael's yelps of pain and cries promising vengeance were most entertaining). Our spirits could not be broken though, with the knowledge of yet another cookout being just around the corner. Needless to say, it did not disappoint and we went to bed with our appetites happily sated and thirst slaked for a relatively early start the next morning. Bidding farewell to our gracious hosts, we headed to Savannah, Georgia; famously the setting for Forrest Gump's opening scene.
Once in the centre of Savannah, we met Preston and Barbara, friends of Alec, again through the Society of Cincinatti, at their lovely home. We had been told to look out for French and British flags adorning the threshold, which proved to be a refreshing change from the ubiquitous stars and stripes, which for those not well versed in American 'culture', is proudly displayed at every petrol station, school and public loo in the land. After a very refreshing drink with our new hosts, Preston, who works as a tour guide at some of Savannah's most historic sights, and has even co-authored a popular book on Savannah's history with his wife Barbara, offered to take us on a tour of the city followed by lunch at a local eatery. It was an offer that we couldn't and shouldn't refuse. The two hours or so that we spent with Preston in the centre of Savannah proved to be incredibly insightful and enlightening (especially as Savannah is a place about which none of us knew a great deal). A personal highlight for Mole was having a group photo taken at the spot where Forrest Gump sat waiting for the bus with his now infamous box of chocolates, but the whole group thoroughly enjoyed our time idling through Savannah's historic squares and streets. After returning to our hosts' home and seeing Preston's beautiful studio (Preston being a skilled and prolific painter), we set off for Atlanta, Georgia, from where our saga continues...
