More Camping Fun

Before we delve into more camping fun I'd like to mention that Cris has finally been released from the rehab center, heading home after a little more than three months after contacting Covid-19. What happens next is the question, but one thing that is for certain is that it will take lots of sacrifice and dedication on both his and his family's part. Judy, Cris, Katie and Jessica can use all the prayers and good wishes you are willing to send their way.

Secondly, our son David had some long awaited shoulder surgery on Monday and I'm thrilled to report that the doctor is confidant he was able to repair the serious muscle tear. While he remains in some pain from the procedure, he and Michelle will be doing all that they can as a team to get him back in shape in the coming months. In both instances we are praying for better days ahead.

When I sat down to write my last post I'd forgotten to get one camera out of the car, meaning I missed a few things I wanted to document. One of which is getting the kayak on the car roof, a task made easier by a sliding mechanism Bruce bought, but hey, you still have to get it on the roof! I'd gone to the lake with him to retrieve it from the boat rack and I cannot tell you how dadgum hot it was. When I wrote that Fall was here, I was way too optimistic because it is hotter than blue blazes still. Thus, once the boat was out of the water and on the rack, Bruce moved the car into the shade for tying it down. 

Then too I mentioned the cooler which deserves a place in this blog because it such a vital part of our gear. If you are wondering how we can pack so much food, wonder no more.

Empty water bottles are employed for half and half, along with milk, and a smaller than normal bottle of orange juice. Containers to divide the different types of food, along with keeping them out of the ice have been a real blessing. 

Before arriving at our first park, we stopped for gas around Valdosta, and while there had to drive less than half a mile to see one of the very first Darden restaurants Bruce built back in the early 90's, and boy does it still look nearly as good as the day he signed off on the final punch list! Seeing places he has built around the country makes me very happy.

I don't think I did a very good job of showing off the site in Reed Bingham so I'm including another one that shows the entire setting. For posterity you know. Isn't it pretty?

Although we took the Interstate to our first park, that was not the case on the next leg of our journey which is fine by me. The volume of traffic on them is intense and frankly, makes me nervous. I much prefer to glide by on sparsely traveled county roads where you never know what you will see. It did not take much convincing for Bruce to turn around so that I might photograph this incongruous scene we passed. Not a soul was nearby making me wonder what the heck a bright yellow Mustang was doing in front of this worn building.

The scenery was more like this:

Cotton fields as far as the eye can see, along with peanuts and peanut processing plants. Eventually we came across the town of Parrot, stopping there for a snack at the purported country store which turned out to be nothing like we anticipated. We did, however, have a little look around Parrot, which proved very interesting.

No one was manning the tourist information center, however, Bruce did some sleuthing, discovering that this town with a population of around 150 used to be crazy prosperous with many millionaires in residence when cotton was king. The two block downtown had some sad/interesting sights depending on how you look at things.

  

Not quite a flatiron building but close.

I had hopped out of the car to take these photos and not only had it begun raining, but it was down right chilly, suiting me just fine. Here is Bruce coming to pick me up along Main Street.

I'm sure it won't surprise you to learn that it was once used for filming a Western, never mind that it is in the middle of Georgia! A lovely church built in the 1890's.

Had we more time I would have loved going down more of the streets; alas, it was back on the road again.

Because we'd passed loads of Pecan groves, well, we just had to stop for freshly packed pecans.

Is it any wonder it takes us a long time to go from point A to point B? My kind of a road trip is what I have to say about that! Although, stopping in Columbus to have our tire checked was not something we looked forward to, better safe than sorry when your tire light goes on. The guy put the car up on a block, put some air in the tire, and said we were fine. Okay, we'll take that.

Along the road around Columbus is Fort Benning which if I'm not mistaken, my brother Pat spent time there before heading to VietNam as a Green Beret. 

Still raining, we carried on not too much further, coming in the back of Franklin Roosevelt State Park off Highway 27. Beautiful from the get go, we stopped to register then made a left onto the park road leading to the campground. Sadly the rain continued, but when Bruce has a mind to do something, well it gets done whether I'm hip to it or not. Later on I could see the wisdom in setting up in spite of the weather.

BTW-- the photograph makes it look as if the tent is crooked, but hey guys, you know my husband, that just isn't happening! What was happening was glee on his part at the site I'd booked because well, you can see, we were right on the water. Honestly, it was great. 

After setting up our shelters, the kayak came off the Subaru, 

and he was off, well not before dumping the water out of his Crocs. Don't be horrified, he only wears them while kayaking!What with one thing and another, we'd not had a proper lunch meaning food needed preparing ASAP, thus I made chili that was very welcome in the cooler weather. 

The rain ceased, the campfire roared, and we could not have been any more content. Well, maybe a little had there been more stars evident in the night sky, but with a nearly full Moon, what was I expecting?

your friend,

Gail