KING COLUMN: A Week Spent in the Slow Lane

Have you ever been to a place where there was only one road in and one road out? My family and I spent last week in a place with no roads in and no roads out. Have you ever heard the expression, “You can’t get there from here?” Well, you can get to Daufuskie Island, but not by road, because there are no bridges. There are roads on the island, but they don’t leave the island. The only way in, and the only way out, is by boat.

Several of the roads there are even paved, but if some of the locals had their way they wouldn’t be. I chuckled when I saw a Ford F-150 that had driven onto the beach and was stuck. It was buried to the axles, and the owner had obviously left it there. A bumper sticker on the tailgate read, “Don’t Pave It, Keep Daufuskie Dirt!”

We spent the week on The Avenue of Oaks. It’s a long winding paved lane, lined with giant live oaks with long-flowing beards of Spanish moss on limbs that bow to the ground. We drove by salt marshes filled with giant bushes covered with dozens of roosting snowy egrets. We had our own marsh behind the house, and the Atlantic Ocean beach out front.

We had wanted to go somewhere different and we did. We found it. We went. We loved it. We hope to go again. The Eagles sang, “Life in the Fast Lane.” Last week we sang, “Life in the Slow Lane.” One reason it is so slow is because most people there either ride bicycles or drive electric-powered golf carts. Even gas-powered carts are not allowed in certain areas of the island. The house we rented for the week came with five bicycles and one golf cart. Our cart was a six-seater, with a top speed of 17 miles-per-hour. That slow speed is not a problem since the island is only five-miles long and two-and-one-half miles wide. A full charge will get you wherever you want to go, and usually on time. Some of the full-time residents or workers there have cars or trucks, but not enough to cause any traffic jams. After all, there are only 500 residents on the entire island.

There are three grocery stores there, but don’t call them supermarkets…they are not. There’s a half-dozen or so cafes, if you can find them all. Frye’s Corner has chicken fingers and the best onion rings that I shouldn’t have ever eaten, but am so glad I did. For dessert, they have hot boiled peanuts. The Island Shack has a great deviled-crab-cake sandwich, and you can dine at picnic tables under a giant oak. The Sportsman at Melrose has a fabulous hamburger and free pool…if you can find the cue ball.

In case you’ve never heard of Daufuskie Island, it is located between Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia. It is surrounded by Cooper River, The Intercoastal Waterway, and The Atlantic Ocean. It has three miles of beachfront, and two lighthouses, but no police department. There is little crime there and it is one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever visited. Pat Conroy’s book, “The River is Wide,” was about the year he spent there as a teacher.

I’m writing this column sitting on the screened-in back porch, on our last night here. I’m listening to sounds of slow falling rain and marsh frogs singing along to its beat. The temperature this evening is like a piece of silky lemon pie, and I’m not sure I want to leave here tomorrow.

The post KING COLUMN: A Week Spent in the Slow Lane appeared first on LaGrange Daily News .