My first impression of the islanders
on Hilton Head Island

I stepped off the plane at Savannah International around 11 pm. I told the rental car lady I was headed for Hilton Head Island in the morning and asked her how to get there. She reached down and handed over a 3x5 card with some typed out instructions for Hilton Head Island. The flight from Oregon was long through Houston and I was ready for bed.

Next morning I was up blurry-eyed, clutching the card and my tote bag and heading north on I-95 toward Hilton Head Island. I had to be on the island by 9 am because that’s when the tour of the Hilton Head ocean front rentals began. With only about an hour to go I clenched my little 3x5 and followed it religiously.

I had been told that Hilton Head Island was one of the most beautiful pieces of real estate on planet earth. But when I finally crossed the long bridge onto the barrier island it didn’t seem to be living up to its billing. My senses were assaulted by scrub pine, old barbed wire fence, barren pasture, and some rundown farm yards. One more mile and I was supposed to turn left at milepost 8, but no such marker presented itself.

Perplexed, I drove a mile past the spot and then doubled back, now totally confused. Finally, I pulled over in front of a house where a woman and her two kids were warming up their SUV, about to take off for the day.

As I explained my plight, she wryly observed, “you’re on the wrong island. Hilton Head Island is 20 miles south.” After a futile attempt at giving directions, she finally said, “Just follow me, I’m heading that direction anyway -- with a few quick stops.”

On the road I glared at my delinquent 3x5, demanding an explanation. It was only then that I noticed a second set on instructions on the back – the directions to Hilton Head Island. I gave myself a mental kick in the pants. All that time I had been following the directions to Parris Island on the reverse side.

In this single act, my reputation as the ultimate absent-minded professor was now forever secure. Unless of course, I never divulge the secret.

At length, the woman pulled into a Mini-Mart and pointed down the highway, “Just keep going in that direction and you’ll be fine. I flashed a smile and a grateful wave. Casting a thankful eye to Heaven, I took off. In my quest for Hilton Head Island I had come face-to-face with the legendary southern kindness and hospitality.

Return from Hilton Head Island to Sell This Old House