Wednesday, April 2, 2014

March 29, 2014 at Jekyll Island

Our new tent leaked overnight during the heavy rain. I hauled the wet stuff to the laundry room and dried it.
We determined later that the tent leaked because the rain fly was too loose--we usually pull the straps tight and neglected to do so last night.

It rained all morning and Bill was sick all day, apparently a relapse of the stomach bug he had last week. We left Bill flat on his back in the tent while Fred, Doris and I toured the island (Bill was here last year, so it was his choice not to go). We went to the GA Sea Turtle Center, a hospital and rehab center for rescued endangered sea turtles.



We stopped at a book store in the old infirmary. Jekyll Island was a private enclave for the very rich in the early years of the 20th century, and many of the buildings in the historic district were once part of the Jekyll Island Club.


We returned to the campground and the weather finally moved on. By then more of our friends had arrived: Dick and Carolyn from Grosse Ile and Tom and Pat from Wyandotte. As soon as it stopped raining Tom, Fred, Dick and I went out for a bike ride.


They all come here every year, so I was the only one who had not ridden here before. There are bike trails all over the island, some in very good condition, some in need of repaving, and some that have never been paved. The unpaved trails were muddy after the 12-hour rain, but we made it through with our skinny tires (should have ridden the mountain bike, which was in the back of the truck at the campsite).

We rode to the beach and marveled at the trees shaped by the prevailing winds. After that Dick headed back to camp, since he was cooking the fish for our dinner.


On one of the unimproved trails we came upon a small lake and saw some alligators lying in the sun. That's always a bit of a thrill.


After the pond we headed to the west side of the island and stopped at the old pier that was used for the Jekyll Island Club in the early 1900's. We also looked around the club itself, now a first class hotel.



After our ride we all had dinner together (except for Bill who was still sick). The food and the company was excellent. We are so glad we finally made it down here!

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