Welcome to Savannah Dave. I live in Hinesville, just outside of Savannah. There's a lot of good riding here, as said, up and down highway 17, from Savannah you can have a good ride north to Hilton Head, or Charleston. Or you could head south to St. Simons and on down to Jacksonville.
If you want to ride with a group, you could join the Southern Cruisers Riding Club, Savannah Chapter. Great group of people and they don't care what you ride. The Chapter president has a VTX 1800. Look them up online.
BTW, for St. Patricks day you don't want to ride, you'll most likely need to walk
