Jekyll Bluegrass

Jan. 1, 2008 We started the year off by leaving on an RV trip on New Year’s Day, spending the first night in Fayetteville visiting our friends Jim and Hope Tarpley who moved to GA from NC last summer. Their son and daughter-in-law Jamie and Michelle kindly allowed us to park overnight in their driveway, and we enjoyed seeing them and their children Alex (5) and Taylor (2) also. Jim has been emailing us photos of their home which is under construction, and we toured it and visited other locations they had considered. We enjoyed dinner at an excellent Chinese restaurant ending an enjoyable – but too brief – visit with them. Jan. 2, 2008 Today we drove to Jekyll Island, stopping at a country crossroads store where we ate lunch in our coach. A rest area where we stopped had an RV dump so we emptied our grey tank in order to have full capacity for our 4 nights at Jekyll. We topped off the fresh water tank at a truck stop on I-95 at the Jekyll exit and soon after leaving there had a great view of the Sidney Lanier Bridge with the sun shining on the suspension cables. We parked near the Jekyll Island Convention Center in a parking area adjacent to a bathhouse facing the Atlantic with sea oats waving in the gusty wind – the same place we parked last year. Though not usually allowed, overnight parking is permitted at the convention center for the Bluegrass Festival. This year marks the 32nd year for the Jekyll festival. Jan 3, 2008 Having sat much of the day on Wed., we went to Brunswick and walked in the mall Thursday morning since it was cold and windy – not pleasant for walking at the beach – and ate lunch at a locally owned seafoof restaurant that we have enjoyed in the past. We returned via the Sidney Lanier Bridge in time for the first day of the Jekyll Island Bluegrass Festival which began at 12:00 noon. There were six bands performing back to back until 4:30 when the supper break was scheduled. Afterwards, the same six performed a second show ending around 10:00 p.m. We saw all of the performers once but not both shows since noon until 10:00 p.m. is a long time to sit! The cold weather that arrived in Rome with the new year has reached Jekyll too, so it’s too cold to bicyle on the great trails at Jekyll this year – at least so far. Jan. 4 – 5, 2008 The bluegrass festival continued with the same format as Thursday, and we’ve enjoyed hearing quite a variety of bluegrass performers. George especially enjoyed the banjo pickers. Irene visited the Christmas shop and some other stores on the island. We learned about the Initiave to Protect Jekyll Island (http://www.savejekyllisland.org/) and a petition one can sign to preserve access to the main public beach (http://www.jeffchapman.us/). There is much concern that developers will turn the state park for the people of Georgia into an upscale resort too expensive for many Georgians to enjoy. One can also visit http://www.rediscoverjekyll.com/ to give your opinion about the proposal directly to the developer, Linger Longer Communities. We are spending our last night at Jekyll and have enjoyed being here except that George has been sick with a cold and sore throat. Hopefully the sunny weather in Tampa will be therapeutic and he will soon feel better.