Where in Ohio Are You From?
Let’s get the basic facts about us out of the way first. My wife Kelli and I are from Northeastern Ohio, more commonly known to non-Ohioans as
Cleveland. We actually live closer to Akron but about the only thing people outside Ohio know about Akron is that it is the home of Lebron James, who
has left us (again) to be part of the glitz and glamour of the Los Angeles Lakers. We did get one NBA championship out of him when he came back
to our Cleveland Cavaliers after he left us the first time for Miami. But we’re ok because we’ve now also left Ohio (most of the time) to come to the
“glamour” that is Tybee!
We “found” Tybee in 2006 when we, along with close friends, began looking for a vacation place that we could share, some place “warmer” near
the ocean. But not Florida (too crowded) and not North Carolina (too many hurricanes, or so we thought). Our friends wanted to look at Hilton Head,
which frankly is where thousands of Ohioans have been going for decades! While we were open to that possibility, we also wanted to explore a little
more and after Kelli did extensive on-line searching, she said to me “Let’s look at this place called Tybee Island.” I responded with a “Huh?!? What’s
a Tybee?” Nobody, I mean nobody in Ohio that at least we knew, had ever heard of Tybee at that point.
So we made a trip, saw Hilton Head (meh), came to Tybee and fell in love with this quirky little paradise. Of course, the thing that really sealed the
deal was that we could take our beer on the beach or anywhere around the island (no glass of course). Our friends wanted Hilton Head so we went
our separate ways (and stayed close friends) and bought a condo on the south end a block from the beach.
After about 9 years of walking around the entire island with our beers and patronizing Sting Ray’s, Fannie‘s, AJ’s, Huc-A-Poo’s, North Beach Grill,
etc., and having our kids, and now grand-kids, come to the beach to swim in the ocean, and faithfully attending almost every Pirate Fest, Beach Bum,
Labor Day Bash, New Year’s Eve and Polar Plunge, we knew this was where we want to be during our “sunset years.” We began to look for more
permanent housing and ended up building a house on the marsh-side (for the sunsets, you see), mid-island from which we can easily go both ways
- that is, to north beach or south beach.
Now, y’all (a great pronoun that I’ve been using more and more) seem to think you are being overrun by Ohioans. And I’ll admit there are a lot more
of us down here now than when we arrived in the first wave of immigration in 2006. I assure you we didn’t bring them all with us, although we did talk
up the many virtues of Tybee to anyone who would listen. And as I meet these fellow Buckeyes on Tybee, I find that we pretty much come from every
corner of our fair state: Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati (which I believe is where your honorable mayor hails from), Akron, Toledo, and on and on.
Why do we feel so comfortable here? First of all, y’all are very welcoming, at least to our face (and so nice with those many “bless your heart”
comments during our conversations!). And Tybee isn’t Florida which seems to be the haven for the New Yorkers, New Jerseyians and other northeastern
coast folks. Ohioans are simpler, mid-western folks who frankly are not that different than y’all, other than the funny accents we have.
Of course my other theory is the reason we feel comfortable here is that you take your college football, especially your Georgia Bulldogs, very
seriously, just like us and our Ohio State Buckeyes. And yes, you have a few of those folks around who root for Clemson or Alabama or South Carolina
or even Florida, just like we have renegades who root for Penn State or Michigan State or even “that team up north” (i.e., Michigan). But the love of
red-and-black is eerily similar to the love of scarlet-and-grey. In fact I’ve found that an easy conversation starter with someone with the big “G” logo
on their shirt or hat or black/red pickup truck is to say “How ‘bout them Dawgs!” They usually can go on for hours on that subject!
Bottom line, we simply feel at home here, just a little warmer and we can drink our beers on the beach!
36 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | FEB 2019
Dear Jimmy (aka Bad Advice from a Beach Bum),
After reading your article last month in regard to having what it takes to write for the Tybee Beachcomber, I hereby submit my attempt at
writing an article for your fine publication. The topic I’ve chosen is “Where in Ohio Are You From?” I look forward to hearing from you and, in
particular, to enjoying that half-opened PBR from the back of your fridge.
Best regards, Tom McKenna
By Tom McKenna