How I LOVE Savannah!
Rather than go to (Mother) Ft. Rucker, Alabama like any normal Army Aviator, I volunteered to take my advanced helicopter training at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah.
My friend Ole Prairie Dog had found us a neat place to live... a 200 year old Town House on Jones Street, not far from the famous Savannah town "squares".
We were there four months PARTYING and learning to fly Hueys, just before leaving for our all-expenses-paid year-long vacation in beautiful Southeast Asia.
While in Viet Nam I filled out my "Dream sheet"...
The form you fill out that tells the ARMY what you'd like to do and where you'd like to go in the future. I found out pretty quickly that if your request mates up with something the ARMY actually wants you to do, you stand a better-than-even chance of having your "dream sheet" wishes come true.
I asked to return to Savannah as a Flight Instructor and got my wish. I lived in Savannah almost three years, from November of '69 until August of 1972.
I bought a motorcycle almost immediately. With a warm jacket you can ride all year long in Savannah. Winter temps will drop down into the 20's briefly now and then, but will then rebound quickly back into the 60's in a day or two.
One of my fondest memories of Savannah is hard to describe. With my favorite gal riding behind I could leave my home, set off for "Victory Drive", and follow it to the end of the world...
The end of the world on the motorcycle, anyway. I would drive my Kawasaki, generally with my friend Joe alongside on his new CB750 Honda, until we came to the parking lot at Savannah Beach where you couldn't go any farther without getting your wheels wet in the Atlantic Ocean.
There we'd stop, put the bikes on center stands, look out at that endless water, chat, and absorb as much life as we could.
Being unable to go any farther was calming.
You HAD to accept it.
We always hated to start the bikes and leave.
I love Savannah.
My new "Dream Sheet" includes going back and driving Victory Drive 'til I can't drive no mo'...
On a bike.
5 comments:
Beautiful! Fulfill the Dream Sheet Savannah ride, indeed!
Funny how moments like that tend to 'live on' in our memories... :-)
LOVE your story! My husband and I used to visit Savannah all the time and then we moved here. There is nothing like Victory Drive when the azaleas are popping!
my husband and I "honeymooned" in Savannah the first eight months of our marriage...34 years ago. he drove into Fort Stewart each day, and I explored the sights. We explored the forts, and beaches on the weekends. I remember winding through Hunter Army Airfield to pick him up after two weeks of training...he had grown a mustache, and walked out of the fog...
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