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!

Heading North

 Days 23 and 24: Dunedin to Jacksonville and then to Savannah.

On Tuesday the 16th we got busy! I took Poppy to get a bath while Punk was at the spa. We worked hard to pack up and get Poppy organized again. We left mid-afternoon, after a couple other errands and appointments.

Punk joined the crew. 

We headed north, made the relatively short trip to Jacksonville, and arrived at dusk to Kindred Kitten Rescue, where a pack of donkeys greeted us. 

Punk wasn't too sure about that big dog!

Most of the rescued kitties were too skittish to visit, but a few let us give them scritches. 

In the morning, the host gave us a nice yogurt parfait breakfast and some gum!

 I said goodbye to the donkeys, who were now in their pasture, waiting for the album-cover photographer.

And we hit the road again! I drove Trish to visit an aphasia group in Jacksonville, and I found a Trader Joe's a few blocks from the beach. Not only was I able to visit my happy place, Trader Joe’s, I was able to enjoy a wonderful walk on the wide-open, white sand beach. It was beautiful!

Toes in the Atlantic!

That evening, we drove up to Savannah, Georgia, where we picked up a pizza and took it to Debellation Brewing Company, where we relaxed with pizza, beer, board games, and a lemon crepe from the food truck. Yummers!  

We retired to the back lot, among a half-dozen other RVs. We felt dwarfed! 

Little Poppy among the monsters!

This was our least-favorite Harvest Host so far. Being so close to RVs who fired up their generators was icky. The noisy I-95 ran just behind. The beer was “meh.” They were celebrating their third anniversary, and it showed. They need more practice.

Somehow we got out really early the next morning, and had time to visit Blue Sky Preserve for a short walk before making it to the National Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah.

Little Sister Adventurer also has a blog called “Jack’s Cache,” where she scans and transcribes the letters that her dad, Jack, wrote home during WWII to his mother and to his sweetheart and future wife. Jack was a member of the Mighty Eighth Air Corps, and visiting this museum has been on the bucket list for years, since the last time Trish and I traveled this road and saw the sign (it was closed that day). 

It was a good museum. They displayed a B-17, which is the bomber that Jack served in as a ball-turret gunner. I’ve been up close to a B-17, but it is still shocking and sobering to see that ball-turret and imagine Jack balled up in there, cold and vulnerable, on the belly of the plane for hours and hours. Not to mention the 60% mortality rate of that particular crew member. 

It is a tiny space! And there was no room for a parachute. The ball-turret gunner's chute had to be left up above, separated from the airman by a locked hatch!

They had plenty of exhibits from all over the European theater where the Mighty Eighth served.

Library patrons in London.

This was a poignant story:

What wasn’t fun: the hordes of teenagers from 4-5 school groups who all arrived at the same time and who literally ran amok through the museum with their clip-boards and scavenger hunt worksheets.

What was fun: Meeting Jerry, another Travotan, in the parking lot, who had also arrived early and was waiting to get in. On a multi-month trip from Washington state, he had a beautiful 2019 rig. Travato owners are the best!

After the  museum, we put on our safety belts and steered Poppy west, to Andersonville and Plains. 
Stay tuned. 

Rest in Dunedin

Ahhhhh! Four whole days not on the highways! It was really great to have some R 'n R at Trish's place in Dunedin. 

A walk around the neighborhood:

Really yummy greek food (and sweet tea! We're in the South!)

Snuggling....

Lounging...

Relaxing....

We attended 1959 Pink Thunderbird, a fun duo of one-act plays, a couple connected pieces titled Laundry and Bourbon and Lone Star. The director of Voices of Hope for Aphasia, Trish's aphasia group, had a role. It was a lot of fun.

And bonus! A quick Google search found a swing dance that very night, at St. Peterburg's Coliseum, just a couple miles from the theater venue. The band? It was the U.K's Jive Aces! I was chuffed to find the dance!

I took a walk and bought some postcards. I stopped and rested in this park, wrote the postcards, and mailed them at the post office across the street!

Tuesday was Poppy's bath day, as well as Punk's bath day. After that we took off again in the afternoon! And this time, we have an extra passenger! Get ready for a road trip, Punk!