As it happened, Liz and I were first in line and when we looked back, there were some 50 people, or more, in a line behind us, so obviously the first sitting was popular with families. We pre-paid our dinner and were directed to an adjacent small room where we were given paper plates and real silverware, and then ushered into another room where the chef and his assistant stood behind a table on which were numerous, insulated paper bags holding our pre-cooked orders. Once we identified ourselves and displayed our “paid receipt”, we were given our steak dinner and told that we could pick up our baked potato at the next “station,” and then we were to head out into one of three dining areas and avail ourselves of what turned out to be a somewhat questionable salad bar… which we did. Thinking back on it, there were foodstuffs in that salad bar which neither of us recognized….obviously local product!
There was a choice of seating, ranging from three 25-foot-long banquet tables to tables for 4 or 6.. there were no tables for 2 people. Thus, we set ourselves down in the middle of one long banquet table, covered in the traditional checkerboard plastic table coverings and wondering if eventually we might be joined by others, perhaps travellers like ourselves to share our meal and a discussion.
And it came to pass that a senior couple did sit down next to us, identifying themselves as residents of nearby Beaufort who came to The Country Club at least once every 3-4 weeks for dinner and had been doing so for years. The conversation was pleasant and the husband described Beaufort in detail. He was most interested to learn that our cycle trip was going to take us there and we would be spending 2 nights at the Beaufort Inn. He told us that there was a great breakfast place that we should not miss and as it turned out, our cycling group did in fact attend that restaurant one morning for breakfast and who did Liz and I meet there - none other than our new best friend whom we had met 3 nights previously at.. The Country Club.. it was like old home week. He apparently went to this restaurant every Thursday morning with a friend and had been doing so for over 10 years. We were also visited during our meal at The Country Club by the Owner/Chef, who stopped by to greet us and hoped that we might return “real soon”.
There is not much of a sequel to this adventure. The following morning, we headed into Charleston, where we met our cycling group and had 5 really fun days, ending up, as I stated earlier, in Savannah. Liz and I had visited both Charleston and Savannah perhaps 20 years ago, but it is always a treat to re-explore interesting cities.
Our trip home to Canada was uneventful, except to say that at the USA-Canada border, there were a total, yes, a total of 3 cars waiting to pass into Canada when normally there are 7 stations open with perhaps hundreds of cars waiting. It took all 3 cars a total of 8 minutes to cross into Canada, and as a welcome surprise, it turns out that our Florida Sunpass entitled us to a free crossing at the Thousand Islands Bridge across the St. Lawrence River that divides Ontario from New York State. Who knew?
We highly recommend Charleston and Savannah and even Beaufort as places worthy of a visit.. The Country Club (??) well maybe not so much.
