From Hikers to Hackers: Something for everyone at Jekyll Island.

Savannah is amazing with the town squares and the hanging moss and the French Colonial houses. It’s brutally romantic. ~ David Morrissey

When we departed Tybee Island, we did not expect to drive the motorhome through old, downtown, Savannah. These historic towns have streets that were designed for horse-drawn carriages, not behemoth busses. We should have asked our GPS to stick to the highways, but hindsight, as they say, is 20-20. We managed to squeeze through town unscathed, making it to Jekyll Island without incident.

Living amongst the live oaks.

Jekyll Island State Park is on the north end of the island. The camping area is heavily treed and shrouded with Spanish Moss. It is spotless, quiet, and has surprisingly few mosquitoes.

The park also has extensive fishing piers, a horseback riding stable, and a nature trail that is a birdwatching paradise. It meanders through the marshlands for a little over a mile and ends at Driftwood Beach; a hauntingly beautiful piece of ocean front that is strewn with ancient driftwood. It is both magnificent and other worldly.

The south end of the Island includes three golf courses, resorts, high-end hotels, a shopping district and an historic area that housed many of the robber barons during the late 1890’s and early 1900’s. There was a great deal of wealth and opulence. Private residences were erected on the grounds of The Jekyll Island Club by the social elite of the time: Rockefellers, Astors, Cranes, Goodyears and Macys were known to arrive via yacht to spend winter months at the exclusive club.

The island is roughly 7.5 miles in length and the optimal mode of transportation is bicycle. There are bike paths that circle the entire island. The trails take you along the ocean front, through the marshlands, and to the various points of interest. Motorized vehicles are allowed but many opt to ride bikes or rent golf carts. It is at this point that I give a plug to Red Bug Motors Golf Cart Rentals. I was running on the trail one morning, with Gypsy. We do not run together like a well-oiled machine. Sometimes I drag her, and sometimes she drags me. She was panting like crazy and I noticed a cooler on the porch of Red Bug Motors. I planned to buy some water and beg for a cup so that my incorrigible running partner could have a drink. The gentlemen at the rental store invited Gypsy in, filled up a dog bowl with fresh water and gave her a dog biscuit. Rich, who may have been the owner, even invited her to come back, to run around the fenced airport, which is directly behind his store! Now, that’s good, old Southern hospitality.

If you pedal around the island, you cannot escape the beauty. From large, live oaks, to colorful marshland, to spotless shoreline, to Spanish moss, the scenery is amazing.