Day 14 –  Back in Greenville Alabama

We were up early today under stormy skies to set off on the nearly 500 mile drive back to Greenville, necessitated by me having left my passport there! We took the road to Savannah and from there we went onto Interstate 16 over to Macon in Georgia and from there down a series of State highways to Alabama and Greenville. We let the satnav do the work and pootled along enjoying the sights and trying to keep out of trouble. At one point the right-hand lane was blocked by an incident involving three police cars and a fire tender. As we passed we saw that they were all peering under the bonnet of a stranded pickup truck. 

As it turned out, apart from a terrifying thunder storm, the drive was quite pleasant. We spotted the deceased-armadillo-of-the-day quite soon, at only 40 miles out, but without doubt the most spectacular roadkill spotted today was the alligator! We were so impressed we had to turn back and go past it again and get a photo. Judging by the size of the thing, whatever hit it must have been fairly substantial as there was no sign of any wreckage that you’d have expected if it had tangled with anything smaller than an 18 wheeler. 

A bit further along we saw another armadillo lying on its back on the hard shoulder but frankly, after the alligator, it was wasting its time if it thought we were going to be impressed. 

The aforementioned thunder storm  appeared just around Dublin but before we reached Dudley (seriously, we passed both places on the journey today). We could see it brewing up ahead as it got progressively darker apart from the lightning flashes that periodically lit up the sky. The rain came down like stair rods and visibility dropped to a few yards. It got quite frightening at times particularly as the conditions didn’t seem to be diminishing the enthusiasm of some of the truck drivers and they were going past at speed, adding their spray to the already ridiculously heavy rain. It was very difficult to judge distances and at one point all we could see was vehicle hazard warning lights ahead without being able to tell if they were stationary or even how far ahead they were. It was also necessary to keep going on at a reasonable speed as we had no idea what might be coming up behind us. 

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However we survived and once we got past that the sky gradually started to clear and the temperature rose until by the time we reached Greenville it was warm and sunny. We checked into the hotel and I was able to retrieve my passport and other stuff. The staff here are lovely and I knew they’d kept them safe for me but it was reassuring to have them back in my own hands. I shall try not to lose them again on the rest of the trip….

One of the compensations for being back in Greenville is Wintzell’s Oyster House which is only a short walk from the hotel. We ate there last time we were here and had really enjoyed it. We weren’t disappointed by our return visit. We started by sharing a plate of 16 oysters cooked with a variety of of toppings and then had the same broiled seafood platter that we had before. All this was washed down with a couple of pints of the local brew. The only somewhat disconcerting feature was when a shaven-headed chap with a beard wandered in with a handgun in a holster at his waist. Alabama is a state that permits open carrying of firearms in public but we did wonder why someone would want to wear one for a meal out with his family. Perhaps he was expecting to have to defend himself from a marauding shrimp. 

Tomorrow we are going to Florida. It should only be a relatively short drive of about 200 miles. We are staying at a place called Sugar Balls  Sands just outside of Destin, which is just to the right of Pensacola.