To get onto Jekyll Island, you drive across a causeway and pay a $4 toll. We pulled up to the mechanized toll booth, I took my wallet from my pocket and rolled (you know what I mean) down the window. Then I heard the AI voice from the toll machine say “Your pass is recognized. Please proceed.” And the gate raised for us to pass through.

I add this to the growing list of mysteries that will remain with me until the end of my days.

Did I mention we ate at the Driftwood Bistro? (IM me the answer). Let me say this about that. It’s a very nice place with a quirky menu. Not that the dishes are quirky. But every entree has a choice of being “petite” or “regular”. Each petite is $14 and each regular is $17. Yes, dinner for the price of brunch.

And there is more. They have (in addition to a full bar), two classes of wines – “house” and “better”. A glass of house wine is $9 and a glass of better is $11.50. BUT a bottle of house is $14 and a bottle of better is $19. Go figure.

The last time I was on Jekyll was in or around 1972. I went camping with someone none of you know. Other than the campsite, I remember the deserted old Jekyll Island Club buildings, a beach and a lot of untouched land. Apparently, there were also a few hotels, but I don’t know if we saw them. I don’t remember them at all.

Now the island has a fair number of hotels and other establishments, and the Club (former hangout of Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and the like) and the surrounding “cottages” have been restored to perfection. The broad beaches are beautiful. Nature has everywhere been preserved. I’d like to go there someday.

Our only other stop before Charleston was, of course, Savannah. Just time to drive around and once again admire the old residential areas, take a short walk and have lunch. Tell me again. Why can’t all American cities be this nice?

We picked a convenient place for an outdoor, on-the-sidewalk lunch. I had a Morrocan Scramble, which consisted of eggs on pita with, on top of the eggs, ground lamb, sliced avocado (for Edie), greens, radishes, tomatoes, peppers, pine nuts and chick peas. You see, I like to order local and simple.

Then on to Charleston where we found our old friends’ new house with no trouble. We went to a small neighborhood pizza house which was an anti-Villages eating establishment. Add the ages of all the other customers together, and you wouldn’t reach ours.

This was followed by about 4 hours of conversation where we filled each other in on all the good and the bad.

And that was the day that was.