Part 5: Florida and Georgia

I picked Trish up in Florida a week ago! 

I'm muchly behind in my trip documentation. I've been wanting to connect to WiFi but have been thwarted at every turn, so here I am very very late in chronicling the continuing saga!

I made it to Dunedin finally on Thursday March 20 and got a couple days RnR.

I was happy to reunite with Punk.

We hit the road mid-day Saturday and traveled to Paulk Vineyard, a Harvest Host, in Wray, Georgia. We made it just in time to partake in a wine tasting.

They make wine out of the Muscadine grape, a grape that is indigenous to the South.

The wine is sweet. 

It's shitty.

OK, maybe I'm being unfair. I'm a California girl, surrounded by fine wine makers and wine snobs. I don't drink a lot of wine, but I like hearty, complex, dry wines. 

Muscadine wine was none of that.

But they kindly let us spend the night on their grounds. Thank you, Paulk Vineyard!

It was a comfortable, quiet night, except for the good ol' boys in their pickup, horn blasting "Dixie" and yelling "'Murca, fuck yeah!" on their way past. 

The next day, we went north through Georgia, stopping at the place where Jefferson Davis was captured. The story is that he tried to disguise himself as a woman and was captured in women's clothing. The truth is more nuanced, and if you are interested you can read about it elsewhere. 

During the scuffle, two Union soldiers were killed in friendly fire. 

We next made our way to FDR's "Little White House" in Warm Springs, Georgia. He loved it there! He took the warm spring waters to treat his polio, and he built a house there, which acted as his "Little White House." 

He loved children, and he invited children stricken with polio to swim and play with him in the warm spring waters as well. They called him "Rosey."

Who knew? I didn't.

He spent a lot of time in Warm Springs, Georgia, and it is where he died.

I came away with a lot more knowledge and respect – if that was even possible – for the great man who led our country from 1933 - 1945.

Photos!

One of FDR's cars

Some of his mobility equipment. He tried to hide his polio-induced mobility difficulties from the public, most of whom didn't know or pretended not to know about his physical difficulties.

The last car he drove, with hand controls (below) that he designed himself.

FDR also traveled by stagecoach

And when he walked, he used a cane. These are some that were sent to him from the public. 

The Little White House

The famous unfinished portrait. He was in the process of sitting for it when he died. 

FDR died in this bed

We made our way to this nice mini-farm home in Ringgold, Georgia, where we had a quiet night with the chickens. I slept well with drip-drops of rain throughout the night. I awoke well-rested, despite my fretting about finding new tires the next day (to be continued...)!

Georgia

 When we hit the road again after visiting the Mighty Eighth Army Air Corps Museum, we arrived to Andersonville an hour before closing. We did a walking tour around the prison site. It was sobering. I had had a vague understanding of Andersonville, but it really hit home to see the space and read the stories. Learn about Andersonville. 

Recreation of the stockade and entry gate. 

Aiming North to ward off the damn Yankees

It was well before dark before we found our next stop for the night, a Boondockers Welcome host called Evergreen Cove in Ellaville, GA. 

Breakfast in the great outdoors.

So far, Evergreen Cove is our fave! Boondockers Welcome is a subset of Harvest Host. Once a separate platform, they merged in the last couple years. BW hosts allow you to stay on their property for free. It’s often a driveway or a field or whatnot on private property. There’s no business to support, so no need to buy anything. Totally free! Sometimes they have electrical hookups for a fee. But Poppy never needs that! Whooop!

Evergreen Cove was a nicely outfitted camp spot, with water and electric if you needed, plus a fire pit with free wood! 

It was secluded and quiet and felt safe, despite the occasional leaf-rustling of a small critter nearby (see pics).

Barely a toad! He still has a bit of a tail!

A luna moth. I don't think I've ever seen one in person.

We almost hated to leave the spot the next morning, but there were more adventures to be had!

We got out fairly early and made our way back to Andersonville, where we toured the cemetery and the POW Museum. It’s quite sobering to understand what happened to those men in Andersonville. What a tragedy. One tragedy in a universe of tragedies during the war. 

Thanks to Clara Barton and Dorence Atwater, there are only a few Unknowns among the thousands buried at Andersonville. If you don't know that story, you should. Read about their work!

Sgt. Tuttle's grave is the only one that has a dove adornment, and it is a mystery.

We mustn't forget.

Soon we headed to Plains, Georgia to visit Jimmy Carter’s former and current haunts. 

He still lives in the house that he and Rosalynn bought in 1961. It's the only house they've owned! We walked past his current home. We couldn’t see the actual house, but we know he was inside the complex, on hospice, but undoubtedly doing that one last task to make the world a better place. 

Rosalynn has many butterfly stops in Plains

The front part of the Carters' property.

This isn't the main house, but a carriage house or some such at the front of the property.

I took a picture of this house that is directly across the street from the Carters'. It's a little shabby and run down, but it illustrates how unpretentious the Carters are to live in their modest house in this very small town.

We walked around Plains, visiting the wonderful museum housed in the Plains High School building, where he and Rosalynn attended school. It educated students until 1979. It's a good museum in its own right.

A quilt signed by many admirers, including world leaders and Plains folk.

I learned a lot about how principled this man is, starting from a very early age. I love him!

We visited the train depot which served as his campaign headquarters when he ran for president. 

We drove out to his childhood home and farm and were just in time to walk through before they closed.

The back of Jimmy's childhood home.

The home is not filled with original furnishings, but it's outfitted the way it was pre-electricity in the 1930s.

Here's a bit of the narration that accompanied some of the rooms of the house.

The property also had a commissary, and the Earl Carter family sold items to local farmers and farm workers on credit 

A refreshing stop for peanut ice cream in town (we gobbled it down and forgot a selfie!), along with a few other landmarks, and we were off again, making the three-hour drive to the Atlanta area and our next sleeping spot.

We hunkered down at another brewery, this time Cultivation Brewing Co in Norcross, GA, just north of Atlanta.

Cultivation Brewery was a lively brew house, but a comfortable place for the night, once the parking lot emptied and Poppy could find a good spot.

While in Atlanta, we visited the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum. I can’t get enough of Jimmy! He is true statesman in every sense of the word. Actually, he is a worlds-man. He has done so much for the U.S.A. and for the world. I admire him greatly.

This is a cool painting, made up of images that were important to Jimmy Carter's legacy.

I hadn't remembered that President Carter visited New Mexico.

We took turns visiting the museum, as Punk is an anxious little beastie and cannot be left alone. I had noticed the "oil change required” notice on Poppy’s dash, so I dropped Trish off a the MLK National Historical Park and Punk and I went to a nearby oil change place. 

Poppy’s first oil change (since I’ve owned her!). I had thought about doing it before I left, but decided to throw caution to the wind and just do it when the notification came on. I hated to miss the MLK museum, but luckily, we were in Atlanta, and I had no problem finding a place nearby for the oil change, and it was done lickety-split.  

Or as Punk says, licky-spit:

Waiting for Poppy

That Friday afternoon, it was northward bound again! We were headed for Shenandoah National Park, and this time decided to stop when we were tired and hungry. Since we were on the Interstate, we had many Cracker Barrels to choose from, so we swung off the freeway, ordered some down-home food, and ate in. I forgot to take a pic of Poppy in situ at the 'Barrel.

Onward!