Thursday, October 31, 2019
It has been a while since we posted anything. We had made several plans for trips in the Roo but life has a way of getting in our way. They say the way to make God laugh if to make plans. Well, She must be having a good laugh at our expense this year. Our much-looked-forward-to trip to the Zydeco Festival in August was canceled when Al had surgery to remove a tumor from his bladder. It was cancerous, but the surgeon believes he got it all. Al is now undergoing BCG (bovine tuberculosis bacillus) treatment every Tuesday for six weeks to make sure all the cancer cells have been destroyed. It is called immunotherapy and he is responding well. BCG comes from cows that have TB but have lost the ability to transfer the disease to humans. We have two friends who were raised on dairy farms, and neither knew cattle could contract TB. Apparently, bovine TB has been eradicated in cattle in the United States, but not in Europe. Go figure.
The Roo has been ready to roll for some time now. She has six new tires, a new engine battery and starter motor, has been fully gassed up and is just sitting there ready for us to use her. We moved her up to our driveway yesterday morning, plugged in the refrigerator and packed her for this short trip. However, we found her windshield wiper blades had deteriorated from the long hot summer sun and needed replacing. It took unplanned-for time to drive to the nearest RV supply store to replace them because they are too large to be sold in ordinary auto supply stores.
It has been unusually warm this year, even for Florida. The temperature this morning was approaching the 80s when we drove through the back gate shortly after 10:00 a.m. and headed north on I-75. The fairly new Chewy and Fed-Ex distribution centers are now up and running, creating several hundred new jobs for our county. We passed the 600-acre Baldwin Angus Ranch with its long history of supplying local restaurants with best-of-the-best beef. Their web site is interesting and offers recipes and information on everything you ever wondered about concerning beef.
We could both feel the pressures of life melting away as we passed the pastoral sight of horses serenely grazing under huge old oak trees. That really takes the edge off the hassle of driving on an Interstate. This is the Florida we love. We passed the Cade Museum, “Where big ideas happen every day”. Their mission is “to transform communities by inspiring and equipping future inventors, entrepreneurs, and visionaries.” Wow. We must remember that for some future day trip. Although his inventions were numerous, Dr. James Robert Cade will mostly be remembered for his invention of Gatorade, originally made for the Gators football team at the University of Florida to replenish the carbohydrates that the school’s student-athletes burned and the combination of water and electrolytes that they lost in sweat during rigorous sports activities under the hot summer sun.
The wind is quite strong and is made worse by the big trucks passing us and causing a tailwind that nearly blows us off the road. A big motor home (MH) passed with no directional signals on its toad. Another MH passed with the blue license plate: DO WHOT. There are dozens of cherry picker trucks lined up in a field with all their huge cranes raised to the same height and angle.
The sky was filled with clouds of all sizes and shapes. Some were fluffy white while others were dark and foreboding. The blue between them varied from deep blue to pale blue/gray. What are the weather gods planning for us? Florida is known as the lightning capitol of the United States and there are lightning storms in Florida on an average of 100 days each year.
At the intersection of I-75 and I-10, there are 330,000 solar panels on 500 acres, harvesting the power of the sun. It is quite a sight to see. This $100-million Florida Power and Light site requires no staffing, makes no noise and uses no water. Florida rains keep the panels clean. This sounds like a win-win situation for everyone.
We stopped at a Love’s truck stop for Al to take a quick power nap. Another MH was there with a small dog lying in his bed on the dashboard. Maddy prefers to travel curled up under my seat. But as soon as we stop, she comes out and is curious about all that is around us.
There are miles and miles with huge billboards advertising all conceivable take-out restaurants and BBQ; souvenirs; Triple X-rated Adult stores; hotels and motels; truck supplies; strippers; tourist attractions and in gigantic letters: JESUS IS ALIVE
Further on, we passed miles of cotton fields and pecan groves. Supposedly, pecans are “tops for antioxidants”. For miles there are small tufts of cotton alongside the road. I would guess that they have fallen from trucks transporting them to cotton gins. T&B Gin Supply offers new and used cotton gin machinery for domestic ginneries. (I didn’t even know that was a real word!)
The sky was becoming overcast as we passed a sign for Quail hunting, Hog hunting and Deer hunting. We stopped in Arabi for another a quick stretch and bathroom break. The souvenir store looked deplorable but was at least much better than the building next door. Across the street was a sign for the Bee House and Goat Walk – whatever that is. According to Wikipedia, Arabi has a population of 586. If you are a country music fan, you might recognize the name of one of its favorite sons: T. Graham Brown.
I don’t know much about it, but apparently Georgia’s soil, weather and environment in general are all likened to the Mediterranean Sea area — so Georgia’s latest upcoming crop is olives. The resulting olive oil is supposed to be quite good. I will be sure to try it if we come across any. We did not stop for lunch, just wanting to push through to our destination, Fair Harbor RV in Perry, GA. We nibbled on peanut butter/cracker sandwiches while we drove along. About ten miles south of Perry the sky became very dark and it began to rain hard. We have stayed at this RV park many times because it usually honors PA members with half prices for the first few days. Today, however, we were surprised to learn they don’t honor those prices during the month of October. We suppose that is because there are so many festivals in this area during October.
It was mid-afternoon when we finally settled in. The toad stayed hitched up and we never stepped out of the Roo. Along with the rain, the temperature dropped dramatically. By evening, it was down in the low 50s and was predicted to be in the 30s by morning. We have electric heaters to avoid using up all our LP gas in our house-heat, so we were quite toasty. We both fell asleep watching something mindless on television and it was a very early night.
Total miles for the day: 267.5.
Friday, November 1, 2019
The sky was clear when we woke up this morning, but the temperature was 32 F. It has been a very long time since we saw temperatures like that. We both woke up early but had no reason to leave early because we cannot get into the fairgrounds until noon. I spent a few hours writing up yesterday’s post before we left shortly before 10:00 a.m.
We headed north on I-75 for just a few miles and stopped to gas up the Roo at a Pilot truck stop. Gas is probably the most expensive item in all our travels. The Roo runs on gasoline, not diesel, and the tank holds 75 gallons. Some larger rigs hold three times that many gallons. We saw two signs. One sign was for the Massee Lane Gardens, botanical gardens focusing on Camellias at the National Camellia Society headquarters. The other sign: Georgia is a Hands Free State. It is unlawful to hold a telephone while driving. I like that.
As we neared Macon, we avoided driving through the city by taking Rte 475 around to I-75 again. There were four lanes each side along here and we wondered at just how much traffic travels on this section of I-75 during rush hour. For us, it was an easy drive with no traffic problems at all. We had pretty much HAD IT with the Interstate, so we exited at exit 201, onto State Road 36.
Almost immediately we passed the Georgia Diagnostic Prison. Wait…What? Never in all our years had Al and I ever heard of a diagnostic prison. What does that mean? In looking into this, I have learned that it is not unusual terminology. The Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison is a maximum security prison and home to Georgia’s death row and execution facility. It also contains a special management unit that houses some of the most aggressive and dangerous prisoners in the correctional system. Also, numerous county jails are paid by the state to house sentenced felons until space becomes available in the prison system. Sentenced felons may spend years in local jails until housing space becomes available in the state prison system. This is a system I am not at all familiar with – and I am actually grateful that I have no need to be.
This road is very narrow, no passing and built in such a way that there are some steep drop-offs in some places. It is very hilly and in the low areas the road was evened out by building it high, like roads were built thousands of years ago by the Romans. Some of the drops beside the road are 15-20 feet deep, making the drive a bit worrisome on this narrow and curvy road. But it is a pretty drive with average size homes, each on several acres. Everything is lush and green. There are driveways that disappear into thick woods.
We were a bit surprised when we drove into Jackson. It is the county seat of Butts County but rather than cheap motels and fast-food restaurants like most county seats, Jackson is old-south and very charming. It was founded in 1826 but during the Civil War most of it was razed by the army of General William T. Sherman during his “March to the Sea”. Our route took us through very narrow streets with large Victorian homes. One of these was completely decked out for Halloween with the veranda swathed in cobwebs and a dozen or more skeletons in various poses around the yard. As unique as this was, we were past it before I could grab my camera. I was surprised to learn that the population of Jackson is just over 5,000. Today, Jackson is a frequent backdrop for several television shows. Notably, the Netflix series Stranger Things, and the CW’s The Originals. Personally, neither Al nor I have ever seen either show.
In just a few minutes we were outside Jackson and driving past open fields with no fences. A small house with a big barn and 104 acres are for sale. We saw pygmy goats and glimpses of a body of water through thick woods. Looking at the map, I could see it had to be man-made because of its shape. Jackson Lake is one of the oldest reservoirs in Georgia, with the Lloyd Shoals Dam built in 1910 to supply electricity to Macon.
At a four-way-stop crossroad surrounded by acres of hay fields, is the smallest rotary (or roundabout), we have ever seen. These are very narrow country roads, but I can just imagine cars speeding along and not stopping here at all. We passed the large and fairly new Alcovy High School. There are about 2,000 students. In 2009, the school served as a filming location for Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, as the exterior of a hospital. Al and I do not watch slasher movies!
Al made the comment that he was really enjoying this drive. Even though the road is narrow, he doesn’t have to dodge big trucks or deal with wind. And this drive is far more interesting than any Interstate. A sign: Ezell Brown is running for Sheriff. (I just love his name.) Covington — population 13,118 – was named for a hero of the War of 1812. Most of the city was razed in General Sherman’s “March to the Sea”, but some antebellum homes still exist. A large hay bale sits in someone’s front yard, painted orange with a jack-o-lantern face. A church is selling pumpkins.
We picked up Rte 81 and continued north over I-20 and into Oxford – population almost 1,900. At Oxford College of Emory University, students can complete their associate’s degree here and then continue at Emory in Atlanta. The university-wide unofficial mascot is a skeleton named “Lord Dooley”. (I found no explanation for this.) And The Dukes of Hazzard filmed its TV series opening credits (car?) jump on the grounds of the college. A mailbox is decorated to look like a turkey.
We passed the 75-acre campus of the Loganville Christian Academy. The Loganville water tower is painted pale blue, rather than the usual white. From 2000 to 2010, the population almost doubled from 5,400 to 10,400. We picked up Rte 78 and followed this very commercial route on the final leg of our trip to Snellville and Lawrenceville. It was less than 10 miles, but it was stoplights and stop-and-go all the way.
We finally arrived at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds for this week-end’s Stone Mountain HamFest . We entered the front gate and paid for Al’s ticket and 2 nights at a campsite. A golf cart led us to the far corner of a parking lot where 26 RV sites were lined up. They are all on grass and have full hook-ups. There were only three rigs already set up so we had our pick of whichever one we wanted. Al chose #1, the closest to the buildings and the shortest walk. In the site next to us is a pop-up that looks about half the size of the pop-up Al and I had back in the 1980s. With those canvas sides, I certainly hope they have some kind of heater inside for the cold night ahead.
The sun was pouring in through the windshield so I let my basil plants suck up some rays after being relegated to the shower stall for a day and a half. After settling in, we unhitched the toad and found a small Mexican restaurant for lunch.
When we were first being led to our site by the golf cart, we drove through the tailgate area and Al stopped briefly to say hello to Ramon and Pedro, two of the hams he knows. Coming back from lunch, he met another ham he knows. After a brief nap, Al went back to that area and looked around while more tailgaters were setting up. The HamFest does not officially open until tomorrow, but sometimes deals are made the day before.
While Al was gone, I turned on my computer and started feeling sicker and sicker as I realized all the writing I had done in the morning had disappeared. I tried everything I could think of to recover it, but it was useless. I called Al on the two-way radio and he came back to see what he could do. No use. He spent a long time working on it, but the file was empty. This was the first time I had used this particular computer and it was continually updating on its own, so we don’t know if that had anything to do with it. Anyway, everything in this post that I wrote about yesterday has been pretty much recreated from memory.
Total miles for the day: 128.3. Gas per gallon in Byron, GA: $2.25
Total miles for the trip: 395.8.
Saturday, November 2, 2019
I woke up shortly after 6:00 a.m. and Al was already up and dressed. He left the Roo wearing several layers of clothing. Even though it was still dark out, most of the tailgaters were already at their tables. This outside area is called The Boneyard because some of the things being sold are junk.
One woman said she and her husband slept the night in the back of their truck and nearly froze. Another man actually set up a small tent. These people must be crazy.
This is the 48th Annual Stone Mountain HamFest, the largest hamfest in the state. It is sponsored by the Alford Memorial Radio Club. The doors to the inside vendors opened at 8:00 a.m. and the HamFest was officially open. The inside vendors are mostly electronics and ham radio suppliers from around the country, local suppliers, radio clubs or other organizations. They sell everything from towers to widgets and gadgets. There was a Tupperware vendor, too, and Al thinks that table is run by the wife of one of the ham vendors.
Back at the Roo…This morning was actually when I recreated Thursday’s write-up and wrote Friday’s. There are only two places where food is sold at this HamFest and the waiting line gets very long. Al surprised me when he came back to the Roo about 11 o’clock with French Fries. French Fries have been one of my very most favorite foods all of my life. He had hit the food stand early and this was the first order of the day. What a nice thing to do! He then left to go have lunch with his ham friends.
I had opened the windshield shade and let the sun pour in. Even though it was still cold outside, the sun warmed up the Roo to the point that I could turn off the heat and even open one window. By the time Al got back to the Roo, he was worn out and slept for a couple of hours. My computer continued to do odd things that neither of us could figure out. Also, neither of us could send e-mail (we each have our own computer). Just to be safe – to make sure my latest 2-day write-up didn’t disappear – when it was finished we put it on a thumb drive for safekeeping.
Al didn’t buy much, just a few new LED 100-watt-equivalent light bulbs for $1 each; a package of computer batteries; an iPhone charging cable; a tablet computer and a foot long item the turned out to be a solar panel for charging a telephone. The light bulbs only use 15 watts and cost at least four times that at Lowes.
In late afternoon, the couple next to us in the tiny pop-up were tailgaters and had apparently sold out of whatever they were selling, packed up and left the grounds. Almost immediately a big rig filled the site. Apparently, it had been in one of the sites where the electricity did not work but wanted to stay another night. It was a quiet, easy evening and an early night.
Sunday, November 3, 2019
We had gone to bed far too early and therefore, woke up too early. By 4:00 a.m. I was wide awake. The day did not start well. Everything went wrong. I could not turn on our WiFi “hot spot” on my telephone. Giving up on that, I tried to do some writing, but my computer was again doing some very strange things. I would type a sentence, but it would take a full minute for it to actually show up on the screen. Then it would flip off or freeze. I was beside myself by the time Al got up. He worked on my computer for quite a while and finally pronounced that it had a failed hard drive. Al works with computers all the time. People give him their old computers and he takes out the parts he can use. He has sold a few that he has put together, but mostly he has donated several to the local RICO program (Re-Entry Center of Ocala). This is a wonderful program that helps minor criminals re-enter society. Their arrests usually have something to do with drugs or alcohol. The bottom line is, Al pretty much knows what he is doing when it comes to computers. Bottom line, my computer died.
All this happened VERY early, before the sun came up. For some strange reason, Al had brought a back-up computer. The Hamfest was to continue until 2:00 this afternoon, but Al was finished with it. We then realized that we hadn’t changed the clocks, so it was really earlier than we had originally thought. When Al was hitching up the toad, a man asked him for the time. He, too, had forgotten to change his clock and couldn’t understand why the HamFest was not yet open.
The skies were clear but it was very cold when we drove out of the fairgrounds at about 7:20 a.m. There was ice on the windshield and frost on the ground. We retraced our route for a few miles and had some serious problems with the sun because we were driving directly east, into the sun. We passed an accident in which a car had been t-boned and every window in the car had burst into a million pieces and were scattered all over the street. I tried to take pictures, but a fire truck was in the way.
A sign for the Orchard Church in Loganville: “No Perfect People Allowed”. We drove through a community called Split Silk: According to tradition, the community received its name “from an incident in which a girl’s silk dress accidentally was ripped near the local country store”. The community of Between has a population of about 296. It has been suggested by many that the town is called Between because it is equidistant to Atlanta and Athens. There are other suggestions as to why this community was given this name, including feuding families and hubris. Take your pick.
We drove from Rte 78 to Rte 11, in Monroe. There were a few huge old homes with grand entrances and rows of tiny houses all in the monopoly style. In July 1946 the area was the site of the last mass lynching in the United States. A White mob attacked and killed two Black married couples who were driving through the area. The four people were pulled from their car and shot several times. We continued on Rte 11, also called the Social Circle Parkway.
We passed the Standbridge Color Corporation, “a leader in providing services to the thermoplastics processing industry”. (Huh?) A DART Container Corporation (I may be wrong, but I think this has something to do with solo cups.) The origin of the name Social Circle, GA, is murky at best. It is also home to Fox Vineyards and Winery.
Mansfield has a population of about 410 and we passed a stand of very tall pine trees and a deer processing plant. Jasper County calls itself the Deer Capital of Georgia. In Mansfield, the Clybel Wildlife Management Area has 6,400 acres of interesting and diverse habitats. We passed the Jasper County High School, with less than 700 students. Monticello is the county seat of Jasper county and was named after Monticello, the estate of Thomas Jefferson.
From the internet: “On January 14, 1915, about 100 white men of Monticello formed a lynch mob and lynched a black family of four, including two married women. They took Dan Barber, his son Jesse Barber, and two married daughters Bula and Ella (Barber) Charles from the county jail, where they had been put after being arrested for attacking the chief of police. He had challenged Dan Barber in his house for making liquor illegally. The mob shot and hung each of the four.” Today, I believe the mayor of Monticello is a black man. We passed a church offering a “Spiritual Cake Bake” and more lined-up pines. Hillsboro is next to the Piedmont National Wildlife Forest. On a church: Get right or be left.
In Round Oak, we passed the entrance to the James Jarrell Plantation and Historic Site. It was owned by the same family since 1847 until the family donated it to the state in the 1980s. There are 28 original buildings on their original sites, including “a sawmill, cotton gin, gristmill, shingle mill, planer, sugar cane press, syrup evaporator, workshop, barn and outbuildings”. The plantation was worked by about 40 slaves prior to the Civil War. It survived General Sherman’s “March to the Sea,” typhoid fever, the cotton boll weevil, the advent of steam power and a transition from farming to forestry. Most of the furnishings are original to the family. This was considered a “middle class” plantation. This looks like something we would really enjoy visiting but we don’t have time today because we have to get home for Al’s BCG treatment on Tuesday.
We drove along beside railroad tracks to our left with a dirt road on the other side, and an occasional house on either side of the tracks. The sun was extremely strong and as we passed under trees the resulting flashing light made it difficult to either read the map or for Al to drive. We passed more goats and entered Wayside. The name Wayside was selected for the community in the 1880s when the railroad was extended to that point.
The railroad tracks continued alongside the road as we drove into Gray. I love the brick sidewalks. Gray was founded in the 1850s and named for local resident. There is kudzu covering everything for ¼ mile — bushes, trees, and the covered branches hanging over road appear to be lurking like huge creatures getting ready to pounce.
In Gordon, we drove past a very large manufacturing plant of some kind, but there were no signs to say what it was. I later learned the City of Gordon is located in the center of the Kaolin Belt in middle Georgia. Kaolin, also called china clay, is “a soft white clay that is an essential ingredient in the manufacture of china and porcelain and is widely used in the making of paper, rubber, paint, and many other products. Kaolin is named after the hill in China (Kao-ling) from which it was mined for centuries”.
Although this plant offers hundreds of employment opportunities, 21% of the population of Gordon live below the poverty line.
This area is very hilly, but the hills are no more than 400’ in elevation. In a long wooded area a deer was slowly crossing the road in front of us. As soon as she saw us, she took one leap and disappeared into the woods. It all happened in seconds.
We crossed over I-16 and stopped for gas. Our old Roo does have an appetite for gas. We passed a stand of pine trees only about 8’ tall. The Georgia Forestry Commission contracts private land owners to grow pine trees on idle land. It is easy to figure out which grove is natural and which is not: Mother Nature does not grow trees evenly spaced apart and in straight rows. The contracts run for 10-15 years and uses about 400-700 seedlings per acre. It is a long-term forestry investment that pays off for everyone – Mother Nature and the rest of us.
Somewhere along here we missed a turn due to lack of signage, but got back on track and were never really lost. We crossed the Ocmulgee River. From the internet: The name of the river may have come from a Hitchiti words oki (“water”) plus molki (“bubbling” or “boiling”), possibly meaning “where the water boils up.” A young boy – 12-years-old or so – was riding down the middle of the street on his bicycle. He was wearing earphones and we were right behind him honking loudly before he heard us and moved over. I hope he outgrows ‘stupid’.
We decided to stop in Hawkinsville for lunch. However, this being Sunday, we couldn’t find anything open. We asked Siri and she directed us to Renee’s Southern Bar and Grill. I don’t know why it has that name because it doesn’t sell alcohol so it is not a bar. Anyway, there was an all-you-can-eat buffet with all southern cooking items: chicken-fried steak; Salisbury steak; fried chicken; rice; collard greens. I ordered off the menu, a crispy chicken wrap with wonderful fried chicken and coleslaw inside. At first, we were the only white people in the place. Then, diners came in of all colors. Everyone was warm, friendly and with hugs all around. An elderly gentleman with a long white beard smiled at us as he walked by. His beard was separated into about seven braids with about half a dozen multicolored beads on each end. The colors reminded us of colors used often in the Caribbean islands.
This is about as deep-South as you can get and it made us feel good to see such warm interaction. You could feel that all this was not superficial, but warm and real. When Al went back to the buffet a large container of freshly made mac-and-cheese had been added. It was cooked the southern way (the pasta cooked to mush), but the taste was wonderful and like nothing that could come out of a box. The buffet came with a slice of key lime pie. Yum. I also want to add that this place is spotless. The tables are all mismatched, solid wood with various legs and/or pedestals. They were all covered with white (plastic) tablecloths. Everything looked like it had just been scrubbed and the floor was buffed to a shine. This impressed me. All this was accompanied by gospel music.
Hawkinsville is known as the “Harness Horse Capital”. The Lawrence Bennett Harness Horse Racing facility is owned by the city and serves as an important training ground during winter months. The Harness Festival takes place every April at the end of training before horses head north for the harness racing season. I think that festival would be interesting.
Rochelle was depressing. It reached its peak in population around 1980 with a total of about 1,600, and that number has been dwindling ever since. All the storefronts on the main street are empty and several have broken windows. Even Wikipedia has little to say about this town. 36% of the population live below the national poverty line.
All along this Rte 112 are miles and miles of cotton fields. I chose this route and crossed my fingers that it would be a good one for the Roo because it is a gray line on the AAA map. That means it is one of the lesser roads, just above a dirt road. It has turned out to be very interesting and an easy ride. Al is happy with it. We prefer to drive longer in both miles and time to see the “real” America, rather than to speed past it on a highway.
In 2000, the population in Rebecca was 246, but in 2017 it was down to 164. Huge grain silos sit empty beside the railroad tracks. Our aim for the day was to poke around these small Georgia towns and end up in Ashburn, home to Carroll’s Sausage and Country Store. I have written about this place in the past so I won’t spend too much time on it now. Ashburn has a population of about 3,600 and the only reason we know it is because of Carroll’s. The town offers a Fire Ant Festival in March with events such as the Fire Ant Call, Find the Fire Ant, Fire Ant 5k, and Miss Fire Ant Pageant. How exciting!
The store was actually rather crowded. The 50-foot long meat counter holds some of the best looking meats I have ever seen. If you are a carnivore, this is the place for you. They sell every kind of marinade, rub, mop, spice or mix for meat. How many different varieties of butt rubs do you need? But this is more than just a meat market. Brittle comes peanut, chocolate or peach. Pecans: Cinnamon Orange, Cinnamon Whiskey, White Chocolate or Cinnamon Glaze. Pickled everything: garlic, peas and watermelon rind. Stone ground grits. Jams of every kind you’ve ever dreamed of and many you haven’t: Peach Habanera, Gator Jam, Toe Jam. We don’t care for Frog Jam (figs, raspberries, oranges and grapes).
This is one of the few places where I can buy Green Apple Twists. Remember old fashioned licorice sticks? Well, now they come in several flavors, the latest being Pina Colada. There are dozens of jellies. Pepper jellies alone come in peach, blueberry, blackberry, pineapple, cranberry and mango. Ciders: cherry and cinnamon apple, muscadine. Local wines are made with different kinds of berries. All of these are just a small sample of the varieties of everything Carroll’s sells. Al was walking by when they were taking fresh pumpkin bread out of the oven. Even though he doesn’t care for pumpkin pie, he fell in love with this bread. I must say, it is the best pumpkin bread I have ever eaten. Al couldn’t resist taking a picture of these grills for tailgating.
Besides a loaf of pumpkin bread, we bought veggie chips, jarred peaches (they come in spiced, pickled, vanilla or plain), Green Apple Twists, and the locally grown and processed olive oil I wrote about a few days ago. We also bought sausages, both Andoulle and Granny Smith Apple and Chicken.
The last time we were here, Carroll’s had opened the field next to the store for RVs. The price includes a $10 credit for the store so we were able to apply it to our purchases before we even took the Roo to the site. There have been several improvements. There was nothing here but the layout and hook-ups when we last saw it. Today, a pavilion has been built, each site has a picnic table, several palm trees have been planted and more are ready to be planted. It is right beside I-75, but traffic noise doesn’t bother us, especially in this cool weather with the Roo all closed up.
A huge rig pulled into a site near us. I’m not sure why anyone would want a big tractor like that. The weather continued to warm up and there was a little breeze.
Total miles for the day: 216.4. Gas per gallon in Jeffersonville, GA: $ 2.59
Total miles for the trip: 612.2
Monday, November 4, 2019
We were surprised how warm we were when we woke up. The temperature had risen to 49° F. We took our time packing the car. We had learned long ago that the best way to arrive home was to have almost everything packed inside the car. We can drop the Roo at the RV parking area, drive home into the garage and unpack at our leisure. By 10:30 the temperature had risen to 62°. We left Carroll’s at 11:15 a.m. and stopped for lunch in Lake City, FL.
We had made the decision to drive the rest of the way home on I-75. There isn’t much to say about our drive on the Interstate that I haven’t written about before. We passed a huge Confederate flag and the sky was overcast most of the way home. We stopped at Webb’s Antique Mall in Lake City, FL. Al didn’t last long and soon returned to the Roo for a nap, while I wandered up and down aisles of antique, vintage and historical items. There is something for everyone and I think the prices have definitely gone down in recent years. If you are interested in antiques – or just old stuff – this is the place for you. I am not a big jewelry person, but in recent years I have been attracted to old brooches. I have actually been stopped in the street with comments about pins (brooches) I was wearing.
Today I bought the butterfly pin. The peacock is actually about 5″ long and I have worn it many times. These pictures do not do either one justice. With a camera flash, the stones reflect the light and without the flash they look drab. These are the best pictures we could come up with.
We were able to get home and the Roo put away just as the sun was going down. The temperature had reached the 70s. Maddy did her usual jump from the doorway of the Roo to the ground, leaping over the steps and prancing up the driveway. With all the problems we had with our computers it will be a few days before we can put up this post. It was a short trip but it felt good just to get away. We are planning more short trips in the near future. Let’s hope life lets it happen.
Total miles for the day: 221.2
Total miles for the trip: 833.4