Savannah, GA

August 30 & 31, 2006

I got out of the office a bit later than expected. My whole training experience was coming together as I'd actually taken the time to create the content for this class. I procrastinated, struggled, had writer's block of all kinds and types, but I got it done!

So I finished things up lateish and got on the road in a little red, well...let's just say it wasn't a corvette--but it was a Chevy Cobalt. I got out of Atlanta pretty efficently, with the exception of a long wait in the line at the bank, but hey, it was a pay day, and pay day is worth the wait.

I headed down to Macon, and since it's on the way, I stopped in for a visit with my former Mercer U. Colleagues. It was nice to see everyone. I was able to come and claim my missing academic regalia and a jacket I'd left behind. I saw the 4 PM Cockfield Dance that Lee and Consuela had invented, and it was both hilarious and embarassing.

I resumed my drive to Savannah on Interstate 16. This is probably the longest, most dull drive between major Georgia cities. There's pretty much nothing between Macon and Atlanta. It's very green, very flat, and very straight. Fortunately, The trees keep me for getting that driving dementia that I get in the midwest.

I arrived in the historic downtown area of Savannah. My directions, as usual, sucked. Savannah is one of those towns where directions are pretty useless anyway. Abercorn St. is the key. It connects all!

So I settled into the Hampton Inn once I found it. I didn't have lunch or breakfast, so I was rather starving. I headed out to find food. I stepped into Chili's, but it was too damned busy. There was a local Chinese buffet nearby that looked pretty good. It wasn't but it filled the hole.

I settled back into the hotel, got myself a little more organized to teach, and drifted to sleep.

The 5:30 alarm came all too soon, but fortunately, I got on up and got going. The morning was rainy and damp, the trailing edge of tropical storm Ernesto had dropped in to sprinkle some wind and rain on Savannah. Chatham County closed schools for the day--better safe than sorry.

I set out to find Savannah State University. Easier said than done. My yahoo maps directions took me into some gated back entrance of the university. Gate was closed. So I got lost. Really lost. Really, really lost. I just collected myself, kept calm, took a deep breath, dodged lots of mud puddles, tried not to get stuck in swamps when I turned around, and finally--got myself to where I needed to be right on time.

Savannah State has a fairly small but nice campus. I came into the classroom and met folks, and made some really great connections. The class went much better than I had expected--overall,I feel I performed beautifully, and I had selected the best content for an overview and summary of information literacy.

I was so thrilled to have a wonderful public librarian in my class who was able to contribute a lot of what public libraries were doing for information literacy training. She had great tales of how they were going into schools, working with school media specialists, making connections with their patrons through GALILEO and ancestry.com training.

For our lunch break, I was invited to lunch by our faculty person who attended...also a great thing to have in a class like this--a real-time contribution and chance to comment from faculty. She is a sociologist and made great comments and added to our collaborative spirit.

She took us to an Indian restaurant in Savannah, all vegetarian, amazingly good food,a variety of curries and breads. Amazing and entertaining. It's always fun to eat an ethnic cusine with someone from that ethnic group. I always learn. Learned that there are all these different curries--comprised of several ingredients--different flavor combinations, based on the amount of each contributing season added to a particular kind of curry--are applied to different bases, meat, veggies, etc. Fun!

So the class wrapped up, I got some good comments and information to help me improve it the next time, and I got through it all just fine.

If only getting out of Savannah was as easy. Interstate 16 ENDS in Savannah, so there's only one or two points you can get on--it's not like Atlanta where, if I drive long enough, I'm going to drive right into an interstate on ramp.

So a period of being lost in more swampy areas of the city, and finally, 516, to 16 and outta there. I stopped for gas and combos (required road food) and got up outta there.

The drive was long and evening thunderstorms were frequent. I was happy to be back in our little apartment. I got a nice welcome back from Dawn, got settled in, had a beer, watched "A Different World" and went to sleep.