Jekyll Island, Georgia and blowout bike tire

June 1-4 on our way to Jekyll Island we stopped at the visitor center and saw a very colorful Georgia Bulldog outside which I posted a picture of. Drove around the island before we checked into our campground. We loved this island even though it was close to 100 the three days we were there. In the morning we would ride our bikes for about four to five hours a day on the island’s bike trails. We rode by the beaches and around the historic area visiting the big cottages and quaint shops the original owners had built. The Federal Reserve was started here and the owners were all rich and big names. The island was given to the state of Georgia and it is considered a state park but they lease the land for others to develop but it is a controlled development. Bike trails are all over the island and everyone bikes. There is the Turtle Rehabilitation center here and it was great seeing all the sea turtles that they are nursing back to health found on beaches or in the ocean in the south. They were working on saving a baby alligator that had been beaten with a baseball bat and shot while we were there. On our bike rides we saw alligators, raccoons, birds, and the biggest red headed black woodpeckers that we have ever seen. We were told to cover our side mirrors on our camper so that the woodpeckers would not peck and chip it – seems to be a big problem here.
We met a nice couple who were married to other partners at different times here in one of the biggest cottages-they are both divorced now. They gave us the history of the island and what to go see and even invited us to the main hotel’s pool. The woman’s father runs or owns the big hotel on the island. This island is so beautiful with large oak trees providing shade over roads, houses, trails and even some beaches.
George loved swimming at the beach here because the water is so warm actually we found out it was 80 degrees – he would have stayed in all day. Of course this temperature is because they have had over two weeks of temperatures and high humidity in the high 90’s. George also had a big blowout with his bike tire. He was going to have to walk back to our campground four miles away in the afternoon heat. Mom to the rescue! Just ahead were some shops in trailers right off the beach and I went in a hardware store and asked if they could change a tube. The only guy on the island that could change a tube was there at the time and the store had the right tube so George had his bike fixed in about a half an hour. He was so lucky and the price was right only the cost of the tube and 7 dollars for labor. Can’t beat that!
They just opened the only gas station on the island with a Dairy Queen about a week ago so we were lucky that on our bike rides we could stop there for a dipped cone every day. I haven’t had a dipped cone in years! Campground was really crowded on Friday night and can’t believe these 5th wheels that try to squeeze into tent sites and therefore park their big trucks hanging into everyone else’s site. Leaving for Hilton Head tomorrow morning.