Kings of The Road
We are two friends who went on a road trip around the United States 20 years ago to serve churches. We kept a journal as we traveled and are reading through the journal and remembering our adventures. Listen and laugh with us as we go back in time and inspire others to go on an adventure.
Kings of The Road
43: A Southern Sojourn: Savannah’s Flavors and Phantoms
Have you ever wondered what makes Savannah, Georgia, a haven for both food lovers and history buffs? This week, we're serving up a delicious slice of southern charm as we take you on our unforgettable journey through the historic streets of Savannah. From savoring the unbeatable fried chicken at Mrs. Wilkes' Boarding House to discovering the hidden lodging gem tucked within, our culinary adventure sets the stage for all the local flavors we encountered. Cruise with us through the ethereal beauty of Bonaventure Cemetery, where ancient gravestones and majestic oak trees tell their own stories from the past.
But our exploration doesn't stop there. Join us as we recount our spine-tingling ghost tour, capturing the quirks of spirits on film and uncovering the chilling tales behind mysterious windows. We'll also reflect on the profound echoes of the Civil War that still resonate in Savannah and Franklin, Tennessee, offering a unique perspective on these historically significant locations. As we wrap up, we'll share our favorite coffee picks, highlighting the simple joys of a well-made cup amidst such rich historical backdrops. This episode promises a captivating blend of history, hauntings, and heartwarming moments, perfect for anyone who cherishes the enchanting charm of the South.
Thank you for listening to the Kings of the Road podcast. It's a good day to be alive, good day to chill and go to Savannah Georgia back in time. Hopefully you're doing well today. Thank you for joining us Kings Road Podcast. If you haven't yet, follow us on Facebook, instagram and subscribe Spotify Apple Podcasts wherever you are Scott Hawkins here, andrew Gare there, and we are going on a journey.
Speaker 2:So Lazy Days, motorhomes, georgia, savannah, sweet tea, fried chicken Good things good days we always end up doing this where we're like we're going to talk about the road trip and then you go and say something like fried chicken and I'm like well now all I want is fried chicken.
Speaker 1:It's partly a food podcast too, because we've done a lot of food talk, which is okay with me.
Speaker 2:You know what, though, like we need food or we die. So it's just a part of life. I mean, we don't talk a lot about breathing, which is something that is also needed for life.
Speaker 1:Or sleep.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:No, those topics haven't come up as much, but the food topic has come up. In fact, when do we go to a great lunch? Is that today?
Speaker 2:Well, I think that might be today it has to be today. I was just looking through photos the other day and I saw a picture of this lunch. Yes, I don't know if we talk about it today or not. We'll find out.
Speaker 1:Well, I hope we do. Yeah, I hope we do, because that's a thing that I tell people. When they say, bro Savannah, I'm like, ooh, I have a suggestion for you, I got.
Speaker 2:A place for you, I got a place for you Is it still there, last for you.
Speaker 1:Is it still there? Last people, I went. Well, your mom was there recently. Did she say oh, I don't know if she went there Sad, but she didn't. Oh, man, we got to Sad for her.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I want to look it up, because, okay, I'm going to look it up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll bet you it's still there. It's one of those things that will probably outlive everything Nuclear war zombie apocalypse they'll still be serving fried chicken.
Speaker 2:You know what Google Googled? I barely typed in the name and Google was like oh yeah, it's here, it's here.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's still there. Okay, good, leave that open, because I hope today we talked about it, because I'm curious about, like the hours of operation and stuff.
Speaker 2:So oh my gosh, I'm looking at about anything else, oh dude. Oh my gosh, did you know you could stay there? It's like a hotel too.
Speaker 1:That makes sense because of the name, but I didn't even think about that. Right, like the name is Boarding House, right? Well, this is, or is that not, technically, the name.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's the Wilkes House, and so I looked up dining room.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I guess there's. I always think of it as Mrs Wilkes boarding house. Yeah, but I thought that was maybe like an old thing. It was Like, oh, it used to be a boarding house and now we just do the lunch, gosh, it's lovely. Better than you remember.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm looking at where you stay and it's just like this very classic, I don't know very regal southern. Oh, it's like an apartment, like moldings and, oh man, stone fireplace, oh, man, that's so great what I you know what, when I'm an old lady, this is definitely the type of place that I would want to stay in yes, well, you would be a great old lady.
Speaker 1:Yeah, could happen. You never know. Yeah, could happen right now. We'll see. That's weird. Yeah, that would be weird, but hit us. Where are we?
Speaker 2:at. Here we are. Well, we're in Savannah still, why leave when you're having such a great time? Exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah. So today is day 54. It's Saturday, november 20th in Savannah, georgia. Today was a free day, a quote, day off. I know that's laughable, but really that's what it was like, sort of we thought we would take advantage of the day and see the sights. First, we drove to Well, this is another place where I just left it blank, thinking I'd go back and fill in the name. But we drove to some cemetery. I don't know the name of it. Oh, bonaventure, bonaventure, let me. Well, I don't know how to spell it. Maybe that's why. Okay, look at you.
Speaker 1:The Bonaventure summit there's a book called midnight on the good and evil. Yeah, I think was, and that was bid at that moment and so we had that.
Speaker 2:So yeah, okay, got it, got it. Um. So we went to that cemetery because I am absolutely obsessed with really old dead people. Well, that's not really true, but we heard it was a cool place to check out and it was. Many beautiful statues and old, large oak trees with the Spanish moss were strewn all throughout the grounds. Yeah, it really had that spooky old cemetery feel and I think that's cool. To see gravestones that have been there for over 200 years is fascinating to me for some reason, I don't know. It was also great having the Jeep because we could just drive through and see more than we had walked it. It sprinkled a bit, but no big deal.
Speaker 1:I'm going to pause there. I don't remember it sprinkling, but I do remember this is the classic, like southern cemetery, you know, just beautiful weeping willows or Spanish moss, like you said, driving in, yeah, and having that whole thing, and there's that picture of like an angel on top of a tombstone, right, I think that that's the like, famous one there.
Speaker 2:I think I shared that photo on Facebook and Instagram already. Okay, so go check it out if you haven't seen it and, while you're there, like and subscribe if you haven't already. Very well done. How's that for some pandering? Smash the like button Smash Get notifications. I don't know if that works, is that?
Speaker 1:YouTube. I think that is. I think that is the YouTube.
Speaker 2:Okay, is that youtube? I think that is. I think that is the youtube, okay. Okay, well, I don't know if you see a like button, smash it, smash it. It was. Yeah, it was cool. It's funny, you know, I'm thinking back. We went and saw another cemetery up in the in new england, right um and I made and I made this comment about like wow, 200 years old for our european listeners, yeah, they're like it's laughable don't like this person's that the dirt hasn't even settled.
Speaker 2:But yeah, american history, that seems pretty, pretty legit. Um, but yeah, very cool, just what you would expect. What you see in tv and movies, it's like old grave graveyards this is like exactly that.
Speaker 1:It felt like a southern cemetery and you're driving in and the spanish moss is there and you see all these old tombstones. I don't think one of the things in our brief history of savannah that we've we failed to mention is savannah was not, um, it was not burned down by Sherman. It was Sherman's March after the Civil War, and so he marched through the South and just was burning everything just as a way to kind of like, put you in your place, thing like the North One. Pretty nasty, it's not?
Speaker 1:very nice at all? No, not very nice. And I think it's just known as sherman's march, and they marched towards savannah and savannah's mayors came out and said we present the city of savannah to president lincoln as like a christmas present I think it was in december with its, you know, 545 canyons, and basically saying that savannah is too beautiful a city to burn down. Right, so it's. It's why it's one of the few cities that still has antebellum mansions in it.
Speaker 1:And like pre civil war stuff like kind of everywhere, because it wasn't burnt down, huh yeah yeah, where did you learn this?
Speaker 2:was I there and I just wasn't paying attention, that's, I feel like it was a conversation you had in there, probably those things that stuck.
Speaker 1:As you're like over there hammering something, I'm like, oh, let's talk some more. Yeah, let's learn some more things.
Speaker 2:I like being your friend, because you remember cool stuff that I'm like oh man, I just missed that that is.
Speaker 1:That is interesting. Yeah, so I thought that was an interesting thing yeah, that that's super cool.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm glad that that happened, I mean, and well done on the mayors, yeah, of well, when you know savannah at the time, right like, yeah, what do we have here?
Speaker 1:yeah, oh man we're not gonna win this, so you're just burning everything, please stop please don't burn us down see, this is there.
Speaker 2:This is the lesson. In all of this is set aside your pride, know when you're beat and preserve what you've got, yes, and give it to Abraham Lincoln. Give him the city Just when in doubt, give it to Abraham Lincoln.
Speaker 1:When in doubt, yeah. When in doubt, give it to the Lincoln, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:We'll get some bracelets made.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what would LinkedIn do? W-w-l-d.
Speaker 2:G-I-T-L. G-i-t-l. Give it to Lincoln Give it to Lincoln.
Speaker 1:That's the Savannah motto.
Speaker 2:That'll remind you to lay down your pride.
Speaker 1:We should. Yeah, if our jobs don't work out, we should move to Savannah and start. You know how in Mexico they make those bracelets for you very quickly. With the time you should make some GITL bracelets and tie them as the tourists walk around on their creepy haunted mansion tours and stuff. Yeah, that's a great idea. That sounds very lucrative. It does. I'm in. We'll probably make it. This will be a good life decision, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll make at least $15 to $18 a month.
Speaker 1:A month, oh great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, done us, maybe. Well, we'll flesh that out a little bit more, but okay. Next, we drove to Tibby Island, where the Good Beach is. So this is something that, even having been there, when I think of savannah, I'm not thinking about the beach, right, right right, you're not, but agreed. It's right, but it's just another thing that's great about savannah like you're pretty close to the coast, I know the river goes into the water.
Speaker 1:Man, yeah, great city. I don't know why I live here. I I know I was just in the same thing. We've made some poor life choices, except for now this, this bracelet making business good plan we okay, we're turning our lives around this podcast we thought the reason for it.
Speaker 2:We thought would you know? It's by others international fame and which hasn't really been the case yet. But really it was all just this to get us to realize that we need to relocate ourselves to Georgia and start bracelet making, that's right you know how.
Speaker 1:It is incredible how fast those people do that. Though it's a pause on that for a sec you ever had got one of those? You know what I'm talking about. I think I know what you're talking about. No, I haven't had one made. We were on the cruise and they stopped in sonata and you know they're like, oh, three dollars and we'll make your kids bracelets, like, well, we're about to get in this little shuttle bus, no problem. I'm like this is like a wow, yes, wow. Is it like? Oh, my gosh, it's phenomenal how fast they are. So I do think one of them, like a hope, was maybe made, or an isaac, like one of the more, but it was just like goodness, you guys are quick. You want that's cool, pink and purple. Okay, done, wow, amazing, it's a, it's. It was pretty incredible that is cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, tibi Island I had one of those.
Speaker 2:I had one of those like hats woven for me once in Hawaii. I think it was where it's like they take a palm frond and then they make it into a hat, yeah, yeah. And then they made like a little grasshopper on a stick and that was like how did you figure that out?
Speaker 2:And it fit well, and it's great, super cool, super cool, super cool. It's amazing what people can do. Anyway, savannah is not on the ocean. It is upriver a few miles. That's why it was such a good spot. It was easily defendable from the Spanish in Florida and the Native Americans. Hope you enjoyed the history lesson. See, that's as deep as I go I'm like uh, it's defendable by you know.
Speaker 1:So that's why they chose it, that's why it was a team. Which team? Oh shoot, king george right, king george the third yeah, george, the third, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yep, uh, hope you enjoyed the history lesson. The beach was similar to myrtle Beach. The sand had that brown sugar texture and a beautiful white color. We sat out and enjoyed the sand and sun for a while and then headed downtown Historic Savannah. We drove around aimlessly through the squares for what seemed like hours and may have been, and after taking pictures and getting tangled in the maze of the city, we headed out for dinner. We picked up some chicken and ate it back in the rv. After dinner we drove back to savannah for a walking ghost tour. Ah, there it is. Ah, right, remember that. Yes, I think it's quite famous for that. People told us they were cool. So we thought heck, heck, yes, let's do it. We followed a guide around for two hours or so listening to stories of history and, of course, death in Savannah. Of course, yes, seriously, I'm not obsessed with the dead, but when? In Savannah.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, we saw the cemetery in the morning, do you? The one memory I have from that is that we went and there was this window. Does this remember? Do you remember this, this window that you were supposed to put your camera up to, and if you knocked three times on the door then the spirit would appear, boom, take your photo and in the photo there'll be this like thing and I I think you and I said together or something, but we're like, wait a second, digital photos have ruined this because you just walked up, knock, knock, nope, no, no spirit whereas on film.
Speaker 1:You would be like, okay, when we delivered that, that picture developed, we'll see a spirit. Yeah, you're like this is the boop.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and and they knew, with the film ones like you're just gonna get the glare off the window.
Speaker 1:So it's not gonna you're like oh darn, I didn't have the right camera. Yeah, or you'll talk yourself into being like that's the spirit. It's the spirit.
Speaker 2:The spirit is that little glare, that's it, right is that where the phrase that's the spirit comes from, maybe, maybe, but I was really excited. That's the spirit there. It that's the spirit comes from, maybe, maybe. They're just really excited, that's the spirit.
Speaker 1:There it is. That's the spirit I was supposed to see in that room. I thought that was such a funny moment where we were like, well, I think there were some girls on the tour with us too, and they were like just taking a bunch of photos of that door Like tick, tick. Oh, probably yeah.
Speaker 2:Not working. Not working oh, I wonder why. So fun, but it's, it's interesting. I do remember. This is actually one thing I do remember.
Speaker 2:I think it was from that tour which was cool whether or not you're into the whole ghost thing but it was like a historical tour too and it talked a lot about the civil war and how you've got this beautiful city, but the armies would come through and basically set up camp in these squares that are basically the way that the city is, is built in. This grid is all these. You've got all these beautiful big homes and then in the middle of them there's a square which is just a square park, and then you go to the next one and there's the next. So they would set up camp in all these uh parks and you just imagine sort of all of these soldiers, you know, getting there from wherever they've been and whatever they've gone through, and and just like how different it must have been then. And you know it's another place we talked about this before in gettysburg and just starting to imagine what these people went through and then to stand in that place.
Speaker 2:I don't know. There's just something really interesting about standing in the place where something so significant in history took place.
Speaker 1:There is. There's a like like I mean, you don't know, maybe the word spirits right, but there doesn't feel like there's a power there or something. And it is an odd, odd thing. And I think that's why they designed Savannah that way was so it could be very easily defendable Because, like, you'd push people through all these narrow streets right Like between the buildings, so you could kind of like camp out and fight yeah, what an interesting city to be in and yeah, the death that happened because of the Civil War and all of those things. So it makes sense, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's, um, no kind of unrelated. But when I go back to Tennessee to visit the family and they're near Franklin and there's a, there's a big area like that and there's a house that you can or a building of some sort and you can drive by and they're like, oh yeah, there's all these bullet holes in it. You can see them driving by.
Speaker 2:But I haven't done this, but my folks have talked about it where when you go in the house and look out, it's just hundreds of holes in the side of this building and you're like, oh my gosh the oh my the things that took place on that ground and, like last time we were there, we went and we got coffee at this coffee shop that was right across from it and I'm like I'm standing in a coffee shop Right that's built on top of land where people were literally Right Fighting to the death.
Speaker 1:Right, that's just complaining about the lack of wifi. Oh yeah, why did I not get good five bars here? Yeah, facebook photos not downloading fast enough. Life's so hard.
Speaker 2:Life is so hard, I'll take a t-shirt.
Speaker 1:Not like the latte foam art you put on there. I would prefer a heart instead of the rose you made me.
Speaker 2:I know, okay, so. You know that building has holes in it from bullets and people yeah, like you know, like you know, like a lot of people died right here, right, and you're complaining about your coffee, sir, but fair enough a heart for you, here you go, fair enough, thank you here's a tip anxiety's anxiety what I don't know. Anyway, if you're ever in Franklin, tennessee, shout out to the Fainting Goat Coffee shop. That's pretty good that's good.
Speaker 2:There's another one it's a newer location. They've got a couple locations now. I love coffee. Yeah, what do you get when you go to a coffee?
Speaker 1:shop great question. Andrew recently I've been doing flat whites, which is less foam, and so it's like a latte, but it's not a lot of foam and so it's just a lot of milk and coffee. And then I also like an americano. Okay, because I like I just like black coffee, so I can drink just straight black coffee, and I feel like an Americano because it's a couple shots of espresso and hot water. It's a little smoother than just a drip coffee. I like a drip coffee, but those are my go-tos. What about you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like black coffee too and I find it really anxiety-inducing to go into a place like a Starbucks or name your coffee shop, and like try to order one of these drinks. So I'm usually just like Mary, whatever you get, just get the biggest size and we could split it, is that?
Speaker 1:cool.
Speaker 2:And then she like knows what to do and her trick so she'll get like one of the flavored ones yeah, if we're going to a coffee shop, that kind of thing, right. But she'll ask for, like her trick is half the pumps less. Because, yeah, if you're like getting a hazelnut thing or whatever, it's like, okay, how many pumps in that? They're like 20. Yeah, I know it's a lot and we'll be like just do 10 and yeah, that's perfect but yeah yeah, I uh there's a place called platch.
Speaker 1:That is the first time where, like the roast has mattered. So you know different beans and they roast them differently, and they'll be like oh, this has like a peach fruity aftertaste. And then you taste it oh, it actually does like just the coffee. You know just the bean, yeah, and I've always been amazed, and they're like. Their mixed drinks, though, are really good too, because they they use like real pumpkin and like cinnamon cloves instead of cinnamon cloves, instead of like you know, yeah, they like just like to mix up a batch and that's their pumpkin spice. So that's like, oh, that's different than just a pumpkin spice latte.
Speaker 1:This is like a yeah, a special drink, you know, yeah, it yeah Tastes really good yeah.
Speaker 2:Tastes good.
Speaker 1:It's good, it's good All right, so we didn't talk about Mrs Will's Boarding House today.
Speaker 2:We didn't talk about that. No, and I don't. Let's see if I must talk. Yeah, we're still in. We spent a lot of time in Savannah.
Speaker 1:So remember that I was able to find a lot of things for us to do in Savannah very quickly, yeah, whereas like other places, they just weren't as receptive to us. And so this was a place where we had the work of the youth groups, because we had two different youth groups we helped out, we had the work at the Wesley Center, so, like there were things to do there, so we had a kind of a full schedule. So, and that was the, the idea of the trip was to not like rush into the next thing. Right, we didn't need to be anywhere and so, hey, if we have this, let's do it. It's almost. I just did this. Um, I don't know if you guys are watching the chosen. Have you watched the chosen yet? I've seen a few mary, okay, but it's very, very good yeah it's very, very good.
Speaker 1:But, um, we're doing this section on the chosen, I'm doing as a bible study, we're watching it, and it led us to the passage where jesus sends out the 72, two by two, and they're not supposed to go with anything, except like they're what they're wearing, right, no food, no clothes.
Speaker 1:Because the idea is you walk into a town and you have to find someone who's going to take care of you and like, if they're not going to take care of you, you go to the next town. So, like you know, you find a man of peace is the word in the greek there. And if they, hey, welcome in, then do ministry there, heal the sick, preach the gospel, do all those things. But if you don't find anyone this is that classic verse shake the dust off your shoes, and it'll be better for sodom and gomorrah on the day of judgment than the house people, yeah, and so, um, they have that and and I was just we're talking about it, as you know where you're able to be welcomed and do ministry. And I feel like that's what we were doing is like, okay, this place is ready, this place wants us, let's do it. Yeah, yeah. And so we stayed and also it helps helps. It's warm, and beautiful and unlike any other city in America.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they were living by the mantra of give it to Lincoln Give it to Lincoln.
Speaker 1:I don't know if that really checks out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so is that the day? Yeah, that's the day. And you know what? I don't know how I wouldn't have written about it, but I think this must be the day that we go to Mrs Wilkes, because the next day is Sunday and I just read ahead a little bit and we went to the Mellow Mushroom for lunch on Sunday. Oh, um, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, the Mellow Mushroom for lunch on Sunday. Huh, and I think we did some stuff with the youth group Sunday night and we definitely did it for lunch. Yeah, definitely for lunch.
Speaker 2:Do you need to talk about it?
Speaker 1:We do have to talk about it. We've got to talk about it. Yeah, do we do it now or do we leave as Cliffhanger for next week? I think next week Cliffhanger Missile Sporting House oh, alright, we can do that. Oof, I can't wait. Come back next week, guys, and you get to hear about the most glorious I've been twice. How many times have you been?
Speaker 2:Oh, just once, Just once.
Speaker 1:You got me beat. All right, I'm booking the flight and I'm going to find myself a real estate agent while I'm there. Yes, oh, yeah.
Speaker 2:And we're doing it.
Speaker 1:Bracelet making materials Okay.
Speaker 2:Bracelet making materials.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe I don't need a real estate agent, maybe I just need a nice van to live in, by the river, by the river, beautiful river.
Speaker 2:To live in, yeah, the river. By the river.
Speaker 1:Beautiful river. Have a great day, everybody. To be honest, see you next week when we talk about Mrs Wiltsport, who knows Bye, bye.