Best ribs in town.

Leaving Savannah was a sad moment. I had been caught up in the magic of it all. But road trip means just that, and we all have to make our way back to somewhere of significance at some point. As we checked out the hotel my roadster friend asked the lady at reception with the grey hair and glasses who looked like the grandma out of the Tom and Jerry cartoon.

‘I want ribs. I want a shack. I don’t want tourist. You know what I’m saying?’

‘Mmmmm Hmmm?’ Was her Southern accented answer. ‘You sure?’

‘Sure.’

And so we were given directions to Randy’s Bar B que. I had no idea what to expect even though he did and was even more surprised when we pulled up at a shack on the road that had two choices. Ribs or Chicken.

‘What’s good?’

‘Well we outta the chicken so it will have to be the ribs. And we outta the sides too.’ Said the screech behind the window.

So we went for medium ribs; medium for a giant maybe. And as we put them on the bonnet of the car in 90 degree heat and feasted, I thought – my lord these are the best ribs I have ever had in my life. Completely worth any food poisoning that may happen.

We drove on to Charlston, but I’ve got to admit the town did not raise my pulse. It looks beautiful but it feels soulless. We wondered around for a couple of hours and felt like we had been there for days. We trundled through a big market selling the usual crafts as over the top prices. I can’t stand markets. Seen a few, seen them all. We had a drink and walked back to the car. On the way, we came across a fountain with some children playing and stopped to read the rules. I’ve posted them below. I think it’s a sign of litigation going a bit too far in the States. It’s not like it was a deep swimming pool. But it pretty much summed up the town of beige cargo pant wearing men.

And so on to Myrtle beach to the Sheraton. I looked on Orbitz and got a price of 70 bucks. I rung the Sheraton and they wanted 140. Make sense of that if you can? I’m glad we only paid the seventy as when we turned up, not only did they charge extra for us to park the car in their car park but the place looked like it hadn’t been touched in a long time. I actually said as I went in, ‘ Hello 1982’ Talk about a plaster over things to cover up the falling apart. The staff smiled thinly but each looked like they had lost the will to live.
But we were tired and had a twelve hour journey back the next day. So went to the beach to play with the night sky app on the iphone. It tells you what the stars are in the sky. Well it could be making it up but it seems impressive. The beach is nice but it looks like a beach that could be anywhere in the world with rows of condominiums. The time was cut short by some morons with a laser light in one of the condos thinking it was hilarious to point it at us on the beach for at least half hour. And from the laughter I don’t think they were younger than eighteen, which I think we can all agree is a shame for them.

The drive back the next day was brutal but broken up with the delight of an $8 all you can eat buffet which did not suck in the slightest. It had fresh catfish any way you wanted it. I completely pigged out and on we drove back to New York, making it past the delirium and home safe. I salute my partner for doing the entire drive and not moaning once, probably more likely because he didn’t trust my driving. It was a journey where we really wanted to keep on driving but work called and so the chapter closed but it will stay dear in my heart as first and best proper road trip ever.