The cycle of life

Jekyll Island, GA -- First thing this morning, we were at the campground office door in order to register officially, since we arrived after office hours yesterday, and to see about renting a couple of bicycles. We'd been told there were only about five bikes to rent, but our promptness gave us the entire fleet from which to choose. Since they were all identical, it wasn't too difficult! And fortunately they were quite comfortable coaster bikes, with a heavy frame and fat wheels.

The island has a network of bicycle paths, most of which are smoothly paved, and we had a map to help us find the local highlights. We set out northward to the tip of the island, under a wide canopy of live oaks festooned with Spanish moss, which filtered the morning sun and dappled the road ahead. We passed a corral where one could rent horses for rides on the beach, and then arrived at the pier at the northern tip. The path continued in a southeast direction through flat, open marshland before opening onto a sandy trail leading to Driftwood Beach.

Craggy, weatherworn branches of felled trees clawed the sky from the wave-washed sand, and large rolling waves the colour of coffee curled in from the ocean. To our left and right as far as we could see, more fantastic driftwood branches dotted the beach, throwing crooked shadows on the sand. Val discovered a small jellyfish that had beached itself, and started chatting with a woman who had a long-lens camera around her neck. She took a picture of us with my cellphone, and we ended up conversing for some time with her about her horses and her travels. One of the fun things about traveling to new places.

The next leg of the circuit was more citified, with residential houses on either side of the road. By the time we reached Tortuga Jack's seaside restaurant, we were ready to get off our saddles and have a tasty Tex-Mex lunch and a chilled drink.

Sufficiently refreshed, we hopped back on to the trail, turning inland along the expansive golf course and toward the town. We had hoped to visit the Jekyll Island museum, but discovered that it was in transition to a brand new facility that will open three days from now. Where it was moving from was not clear! So we continued along the path, which took us past a series of enormous mansions with manicured gardens, pillars and porches where the rich folks had lived in bygone days. We also saw the massive Jekyll Island Club Hotel, set back from the road, a venue in times past for folks like the Rockefellers to get away from the winter.

By this time we had crossed to the east side of the island and were heading northward toward the campground. Across the water we could see the bridge to other nearby islands, and a wide swath of marshland in between. It was a pleasant vantage point for the Horton House, the island's first building in 1753, overlooking the mainland. The ruins of the house still stand; the building material is called 'tabby', a mixture of crushed oyster shells and other materials that clearly have stood the test of time. In its earliest days, Jekyll Island had been a plantation with cotton as a major crop. It changed hands several times between the Spanish, the French and the British.

We were very glad to see the campground entrance at last, having nearly circumnavigated the whole island! The temperature hit the mid-80s today so we felt we'd earned the ice cream bars that we picked up at the camp store on the way to our site.