The drive up the Jekyll Island took us through huge areas of coastal grass flats. When we finally got out to the island, we were greeted with a $10 access fee. We needed to pick up a few things at the grocery store, so whipped out our phones to find what was on the island – not much. After not trusting GoogleMaps a few times as to the location of the little IGA, we realized that yes, the grocery store was located in a complex of trailers that resembled portable classrooms parked along the beach. Most of the local businesses were temporarily moved there while some mega shopping complex/convention center was being built. We didn’t like this place already. After paying island prices for bread, milk, and bananas, we made the short drive up to the campground at the North end of the island. We didn’t like this place even more once we saw the campground. There was almost no vegetation/privacy between the sites; just a bunch of RVs parked in a pine forest. The campground host checked us in and told us where our assigned spot was. We lucked out; our campground was at the very edge of the campground and we didn’t have anyone in the site next to us.
Per usual, we got the bikes and trailer unloaded and set out to see what was in the area. There was nice wide paved path that wandered along the coast, so we followed it in both directions for a while. On our way back into the campground, we met a couple that with five young barefoot kids. The three youngest were boys, but it was hard to tell with their long hair. Their parents said they often get “with all these girls, ya’ll must have been trying for a boy” type comments all the time. The youngest one was three and was running around in only a t-shirt. I think it was his way of showing the world he is no girl. After dinner, we walked back across the street to the coast to watch the sunset, and ran into the barefoot family again. The kids all played in the mud flats – Cooper trying to keep up with the older girls that were catching fiddler crabs, and Brooks just happily walking in the water/mud with his shoes on.
The next day, we rode the bikes several miles around the island. We realized that there wasn’t much of a beach up where we were, as it was covered in piles of old concrete and huge driftwood trees. After Jennifer knocked out several loads of laundry at the campground, we again hopped on the bikes and rode down to the historic district.
That evening, we again crossed to the street for another awesome sunset while the kids played in the water, but the no-see-ums made it nearly unbearable right as the sun was going down. The campground had WiFi, so once the kids were asleep we made our first real attempt at getting this site up. The connection turned out to be rather useless. We gave up and went to bed with plans of getting off the island early in the morning.
