Tybee Time!!

65MD and I just got back from Tybee Island.  He had a conference in Savannah so I parked myself on the island for a few days.  All in all it was a good trip, but since it was us, we had our share of misadventures.

First, as 65MD was about to get in the rental car he noticed that one of the tires was leaking.  It was wet and making bubbles.  The agent quickly got another car for us.  The one 65MD was about to get was a step up because they did not have the mid size model we reserved.  Since the nicer car, was now out of the picture, we were given an economy car.  I laughed when he pulled up in it.  And asked if we could get all of our luggage in it.  (We could.)  

We headed out and somewhere north of Atlanta it popped out of gear in the left lane, at highway speeds.  Now, I might have a little post traumatic stress from the accident last week, but both of us yelped.  Somehow 65MD managed to limp us over to the right shoulder without incident.  At this point neither of us knew what had happened. we just felt a jolt and suddenly lost speed.  I thought we'd had a blow out.  He saw nothing wrong externally with the car - all the tires were up.  We limped up to the exit and pulled into a McDonald's and called roadside assistance.

The nice woman said that the particular model of car we had could be either and automatic or standard transmission depending on where the gear shift was located and it had probably just popped out of automatic into standard.  She talked us through putting it back in automatic.  65MD drove while I passed instructions along.  

Everything seemed to be fine so we pressed on.  It was early afternoon as we got to Atlanta and we were told it was best just to go through downtown at that time of day.  I have no idea what my BP was but probably stroke level as we drove through.  The traffic itself really wasn't bad.  I was totally freaked out about the possibility of the car slipping out of gear again.  I prayed a lot and wondered if my friend Jan, who lives near Atlanta might be able to rescue us if something happened.  Nothing happened in Atlanta.

Just about an hour away from Savannah the check engine light came on.  65MD didn't tell me because he was afraid I'd make us walk the rest of the way.  (Like I could walk that far!)  We got there in one piece and found our accommodations very nice.

The next day, 65MD left for Savannah for the conference and I sat in the room reading because it was pouring rain.  The day after that, 65MD got a major award at the conference and I continued spending time in the room because the weather was chilly and damp, although the rain had stopped.  During the afternoon I found a nice room at the back of the hotel with a view of the ocean.  The wall facing the water was all glass and the windows could be opened to let in the sea breeze.  They were closed at this point but it was still quite nice to be out of the room and be able to read with a lovely view.  The only down side was this was the room with the pool table and arcade games, so it was less than peaceful.

Saturday made up for the other two days.  It was very pleasant with plenty of sun and not too hot.  As the day wore on, however, the gentle sea breeze turned into something more like gale force winds.   The pool, which we were in, appeared to actually have current like a creek rather than a pool.  Needless to say, it was quite cold when we got out.

We went over to Wilmington Island for supper.  We noted the roadside signs noting that during high tide that water may come over the roadway.  We wondered when the last time that happened.  We'd been through that way during low tide and the water in the marshy area was gone.  It was a mud bog.  At other times, the water seemed to be several feet from the roadway.  When we came back through after dinner, we discovered that the signs were right.  The water was quite deep in some areas.  We were glad for the warning signs then!

We got back to the hotel with no incident and were laughing about how we should take warnings more seriously, as 65MD was turning on the TV to get the football scores.  Apparently, the TV comes up with emergency information automatically.  The screen was showing safe places to go on the island in case of tsunami.  (We were on the Atlantic ocean.)  Somehow 65MD missed the part about "in case of emergency" and thought we were in real trouble.  Remember the gale force winds and extremely high tide.  He began to try to figure out where the safe places were and should we take our stuff or not.  I said that I didn't think we would have been allowed to come back to Tybee from Wilmington since it was further inland.  We probably would have been directed to go the other way.  Plus, no one else seemed to be evacuating.  That is when he noticed that he was looking at an information channel rather than a news channel, so we did not embarrass ourselves by fleeing the hotel!!

We got home yesterday afternoon without incident, even driving through Atlanta .  We'd had enough.  It was a nice trip.  It was nice to get away.  I got a lot of reading done. I had packed four books.  I finished two and am more than halfway through the third.  65MD and I had plenty of time to discuss life, plan, and just be.  That is always good.