As Tony Joe White wrote:
A rainy night in Georgia, a rainy night in Georgia
It seems like it's rainin' all over the world
I feel like it's rainin' all over the world
This song, recorded by the likes of Ray Charles, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Al Hirt, Herbie Mann, Nelson Riddle & his Orchestra, The Temptations Revue, B.J. Thomas, Conway Twitty, Hank Williams Jr., and the composer, really says it all. When it rains here, it feels like it’s rainin’ all over the world.
We got up at 8:00am and were downstairs having the free Continental Breakfast by a little after 9:00am. It had rained during the night, but it wasn’t raining when we left. Eric decided it probably wasn’t worth it to rent the bicycle again, because it really looked like rain, but we decided to drive to AUGUSTA, GEORGIA anyway, and – if by some chance it wasn’t raining there – we would find a bike store and rent a bike, so he could ride FATS, like he planned.
The ride took a little over an hour. Augusta was a nice little town. The first thing I saw when we got off the exit was a Starbucks, so I knew I would like it there right away. We also saw a big billboard for an antique mall, so I was excited! We followed directions I had taken off the internet for where the forest was, but – again – we couldn’t find any signs leading us to the main entrance, or the place where the trails start. It started to rain, then pour. It was teeming – really coming down.
We were just going to head back, but we figured I might as well do a little shopping. Eric dropped me off at one antique mall, but it was just room after room of furniture. Then, he took me a couple of blocks away to another place, called THE ANTIQUE MARKET, which seemed the same at first, but I asked the owner, Suzette, about accessories and she showed me a single booth that had hats, hankies, purses and costume jewelry. I was in heaven! I looked around and then she opened the cases for me, so I could see a couple of pieces. Their prices were ridiculously low – much lower even than Columbia. Suzette was so sweet and helpful. It was a delightful experience.
I ended up getting a gorgeous navy blue petit point and needlepoint purse with a flower design, which is in mint condition, a round pin with lots of white stones (which will look fabulous on black), and a really old 1920s pin with three light blue plastic flowers with a blue glass marble in the center of each and three gold chains dangling with a blue glass marble at the end of each. It’s SO pretty, so different, and I love anything with dangles, because the movement attracts the eye!
When I left the antique mall it was really coming down.
We drove to the Starbucks and, luckily, the had a drive thru, so I didn’t have to get out. I got my iced decaf venti nonfat raspberry mocha latte and we hit the road. It was only 70 miles, but Eric was driving very carefully (as he always does), so it took us an hour and a half to get back. By the time we got here it was not even raining anymore, but it was still very dark and dreary out.
We came upstairs and Eric watched TV while I took a nap. We had lots of leftovers from the last couple of days, so we brought it all downstairs at about 4:00pm and they heated everything up for us. We watched TV in a little sitting area, ate our leftovers, and then bought a piece of chocolate cheesecake and came back upstairs. We were stuffed from all the leftovers, but we knew we’d want something sweet later on and didn’t want to have to go back down.
We knew we were in for the night. I was hoping to watch DREAMGIRLS, because it’s been on HBO for the past couple of days, but every time I find it it’s in the middle, and Eric wants to watch it from the very beginning (and I can’t really blame him).
After flipping through the channels 4 or 5 times (and Eric was ready to kill me), we decided to rent another movie. We watched SUPERBAD, which is really funny. There are three young actors in it (who play high school seniors) and they were hysterical. We highly recommend it!
At around 11:00pm I ended up going downstairs to the lobby where they have a little snack bar and got a bottle of water for Eric and a grapefruit IZZE for me (sparkling water and fruit juice). There’s something very cool about getting anything you want and just giving them the card key that opens your door. They slide it through the register and it is automatically charged to your room. Very cool.
Eric’s happily watching football and I’m almost finished with FOR ONE MORE DAY, which I am really enjoying. It’s another beautiful book by Mitch Albom.
Tomorrow is supposed to be another rainy day and Eric was thinking about taking another drive to see more of South Carolina. I was happy we took the drive today, even though he didn’t get to ride, because we saw a lot more of South Carolina, and a little bit of Georgia, too.