bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday- We packed up to leave. Dr. Bob arrived around 8 AM from Statesboro with the pick-up truck and we put the bikes on the back. We said our good-bye’s to everyone. Jackie let the rental company know we were out of the house and I texted Kim, who had the dogs that we were on our way.

The traffic was not bad leaving Hilton Head around 9 AM, since we were heading south, back to Statesboro. We stopped and picked up the happy dogs. They did not seem too traumatized staying a week with Kim. We will use Rover again!

Once back in Statesboro, we unpacked the car. Bob took the bike rack off the pickup truck and put it back on our rig. Meanwhile, Jackie and Bob, who have been looking online for houses in Virginia, had found one that they were very interested in buying. So they decided to leave in the morning for Virginia, with their motor home, towing their car. They kindly let us stay at their home for the Memorial Day weekend. We will be leaving on Tuesday.

We had leftover enchiladas from Hilton Head for dinner and watched some TV.

Sunday- Jackie and Bob had packed up their rig last night. They only had a few items to pack this morning. All the dogs were very confused! One of their dogs, Trixie, decided she would take a nap on Jackie’s clothes and cell phone as she knew Jackie was not leaving without them! They left around 7:30.

We ate breakfast and took their pick-up truck to Walmart to grocery shop. We picked up a few items and returned to their house. I had worked on last week’s blog and Bob read his book and played on his iPad.

It was a quiet day.

Monday- Today was another restful day for us, reading and hanging out. I worked some more on the blog. I have been having a lot of trouble with transferring pictures from my phone to my computer. It’s been very frustrating!

In the afternoon, we went to Brusters for ice cream. They did not have my favorite flavor, so I had the Chocolate Éclair. It was very different from the same flavor I had in Arizona. This tasted like a Boston Cream doughnut. It was very good. I don’t think I got the right flavor in Arizona, or they made it differently.

We did a lot of packing in the evening.

Tuesday- We left around 8:30. We had filled the pick-up with diesel yesterday, and it was $2.759 a gallon. This morning, at the same Walmart Neighborhood Market, the price was $2.889 a gallon. Wow, a big increase overnight! Still inexpensive compared to elsewhere.

We drove north on I-16, stopping at a Loves for propane. We drove west to Americus. Then continued on to Plains GA. Home to former President Jimmy Carter. We stopped at the Plains Visitor Center, and the gal gave us a map, showing the Carter historical stops. Of course, she also gave us each a packed of peanuts! We left and went into Plains. Our first stop was at Jimmy Carter’s High School, which is the Federal Historic Site. It was not open as it is under construction and due to the pandemic. I did get out of the rig and take a picture.

Next we had to stop and take a picture of the smiling peanut.

From there we went to the church where Jimmy Carter preaches. If you want to attend one of his sermons, you have to arrive at 6 AM, and get in line in the parking lot. You need to check first to make sure that a bus is not coming in. The tickets are first come/first serve, unless there is a bus coming, in which case, no tickets availabe. The service is at 10:30! It is quite a wait; but it is a small church.

The next place on the list was Billy Carter’s gas station. It contains a small museum, but we were not really interested in going it. It did not look open anyway.

From there, we drove past the Carter compound. There is sidewalk construction on that side of the street, so it was impossible to see anything, other than the Secret Service building and the agents cars. The house is behind the Secret Service building, and normally, if there is no construction, there is a viewpoint to be able to look at the Carter house. 

We continued west, turning left to go to the Jimmy Carter NHS, which was his boyhood home.

There was RV parking and we were allowed to walk the dogs around the facility. The dogs just could not go into the house or near the mules.

Below is the back side of the house.

The house does not have original furniture and is typical of its time. Below is the bathroom. This was a big deal. First, they had an outhouse, below. Which was away from the house.

Since the new bathroom was inside, they actualy had a shower. See the pail in the background?

The house was small and faced a road and the railroad track. The train came thru at 2:30 AM. The Carters were used to it, but guests thought the train was coming thru the house!

Next was the tennis court. Carter played tennis with his father on this clay court.

Wednesday- We packed up in the morning, and went back to Americus. We turned north and went to Andersonville NHS. Andersonville is actually the National POW Museum. The exhibits are about POW’s from all American Wars. The museum was very interesting and also very sad! Looking at the pictures of the men who had been POW’s in WWII, they looked like pictures of the Jewish prisoners we saw at Nuremburg, when we went there. They were skin and bones. We did enjoy the short movie of the POW’s returning home and all the happy people. There was also an exhibit of the wives (and other family members) who talked about waiting to hear about their loved ones. They would show the family member, talking about what it was like waiting at home and then the POW, waiting in the camps to be rescued. There were women POW’s in the Civil War and other wars, including from Iraq and Afghanistan.

We toured outside. It is hard to imagine what it must have been like for the POW’s from the Civil War. The stockade was built for 300 men and over 3,000 were there. There was no water, sanitation or food. Few escaped. Many, many died. The women there were put to work in the hospital to care for the dying.

Below is the spring to supply water to everyone. There was no way that it was enough for 300 men, never mind 3000!

We left and stopped for lunch at a little café in Americus. On the way through, we saw a sign for the airport which talked about Linberg stopping there. So we went in to look.

We shopped at Walmart and returned to the BW home for the night again. Bob met us again, and we talked for a long time. He is a craft beer drinker and he and his wife RV, so we had a lot in common.

We ate dinner and watched Netflix.

Thursday- We left around 8:30 and drove first south, then north to Plains. We continued through Plains, to Hwy. 41 in Preston. We continued north following Hwy 41 through miles of Georgia countryside. It was a very nice drive, most of the way, at 55 mph. We stopped in Manchester, and purchased diesel for $3.039. We stopped at a BBQ stand, and picked up lunch. We continued on to Warm Springs, to the FDR Little White House, which is a state run facility. We pulled into the RV parking, finding a place in the shade, and we ate lunch. We left the dogs in the rig, and went to tour the facility. It was $10 each, senior rate.

Both signs are near the entrance.

Above is the car hand controls that FDR designed himself so that he could drive his car.

One of his cars…

He was quite a stamp collector. Below, there were flags from all the states. Unfortunatly, they were not in very good shape. The Docent said they are going to buy new ones, when the new budget starts July 1.

We walked down to the Little White House.

The building on the right is the servents quarters. The building on the left was the guest house. The middle one was the Presidents house.

His bed…

His desk

The Presidential throne… note how it is elevated for easier transfer from wheelchari to seat.

Below is the uncompleted picture of FDR, that he was sitting for, when he had the massive stroke that killed him. If you look closely, you can see the penciled in parts that are not completed.

Below is the completed picture.

This was Meriwether County Georgia. In the county there was a Mural Trail. We were able to find several of the murals

in the area. Here they are:

Manchester: the railroad industry, a tribute to military service men and woment, along with local heroes are featured. FDR often came to the city to sip cherry cokes, which were delivvered to him curbside. Stuart Woods, NY Times bestselling author is featured, along with a loca business man and a former police Captain, know for his white cadillac and diamond rings.

Above is Warm Springs : This mural is referred to as the Presidents’ Mural as it depicts three Presidents who have honored the area with their presence. The busts represent the Polio Hall of Fame located on the grounds of Roosevelt Warm Springs. A classic photo shows tears streaming down the cheeks of accordion-playing Chief Petty Officer Graham Jackson as Mr. Roosevelts flag-draped funeral train leaves warm Spring in 1945.

This last one, below, is not on the brochure, but FDR is in the left corner fishing and in the right corner, behind the tree, is his car.

We returned to Manchester to purchase propane, but could not find any. So we stopped at Dairy Queen for chocolate cones. They did not have chocolate ice cream, so we ended up with the vanilla ice cream coated with chocolate. This has happened to us before, where the DQ does not carry chocolate ice cream! We continue on to FDR State Park, where we had a reservation. We had a beautiful site, overlooking a lake! It was a really nice park!

Friday- Our next drive was to Atlanta. We accidently drove into the town of Stone Mountain.  It is a very small town, and we were over the weight limit for their roads. That was an issue, so we left and went out of town for lunch. We ended up at a gourmet school restaurant. That was interesting. They were teaching waiters, waitresses, and chefs. The food was good, but their selection was limited.

Our destination was Stone Mountain Park. Yes, that Stone Mountain. We wanted to see what all the hub-bub was about. We had a reservation. We stayed near the lake in the very busy campground. It is clear, that the facility is hurting for money, as the campground, while expensive, was very run down. We had 30 amp/water, but no cable or sewer.

We had made a reservation in town for a German Restaurant, called the Village Corner German Restaurant. We ordered an Uber to take us to the restaurant. $15.00. The driver was great. He dropped us off at the door.

Our dinners were excellent, but they had a real problem with service and wine. I wanted a glass of wine, they were out of the Moscato. So I asked for a White Zinfandel. They were out of that also. No wine for me; I drank water. Bob was able to drink a flight, but they seemed to have a shortage of waiters, so he had to wait and then he wanted another beer, and it took a while for the waiter to come for the order and to deliver it. I am pretty sure this is all pandemic related!

We ordered our Uber for the return drive, and he showed up fairly rapidly.

Filed under: Uncategorized |