Day 18

Site #6, Indian Springs State Park, Flovilla, GA

We started the morning chatting with our campground neighbor who as you may notice if you look closely is also driving a Sportsmobile camper, their's a 2006 Ford E350.  Most of the campers that we've seen on this trip are the huge "Dolly Parton" which are bigger than a tiny house.  Talking to fellow campers is one of the joys of camping and really reminds you that despite all the assumptions that many of us make about people in Red States, there are very friendly people with whom we have much in common everywhere.

Leaving the Indian Springs campground our focus for the day was the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Park which includes a visitors center, his boyhood home, his grave and the Ebenzer Baptist Church,

One of the first statues that we encountered on our walk from our parking space to the visitors center was this statue of Ghandi, who was an inspiration for MLK, who went to India in 1959 to study Ghandi's methods on non-violent resistance.

Inside the visitors' center we were incredibly moved by all of the exhibits which focused on segregation practices in the 1900's throughout our country, King's involvement and leadership in so many of the civil rights events in the 1960's, and his death.  After spending the previous day visiting the Andersonville prison "man's inhumanity to man" becomes overwhelming.

Outside the visitors' center is a beautiful garden.  The writings of elementary students were equally moving and beautiful.

The Ebenezer Baptist Church 

MLK's childhood home which was originally purchased by his maternal grandfather.  The guided tour of the home was delightful and revealed how MLK was just a typical boy growing up in Atlanta whose best friend was a White boy who lived across the street.  When the two boys were three, the White boy's parents forbid him from playing with ML (as the guide referred to MLK).  This rejection was MLK's first experience with prejudice, and forced his father to explain to him at an early age who a man's skin color impacted how some people treated Blacks.

Looking up "Sweet Auburn" Avenue which at one point was the wealthiest Black street in the country.  

The Reflection Pool which surrounds the graves of MLK and his wife Coretta.  

Our dinner, take-out barbecue: pulled pork and beans.

Site #12 at the Red Top Mountain State Park, 60 miles north of Atlanta.

Day 17

We spent last night at the Georgia Veterans State Park on Lake Blackshears in Cordele, Ga.  It was a typical Georgia State Park, which meant it was exceptionally clean, with spacious camp sites and very clean bathrooms.  

Site #12, Lake Blackshear Resort aka Georgia Veterans' State Park

Site #12

On our way out of the state park we visited the Veterans museum which focused how Georgia veterans served in all of our wars.  That's a B-29 in the foreground.

On our way to Andersonville we passed countless pecan orchards which won't be ready to harvest until the fall, but the watermelons were ripe and ready for market!

Pecan leaves

ANDERSONVILLE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

Our first stop of the day was the Andersonville Historic Site which commemorates not only the Confederate prison, Camp Sumter, but also has a museum dedicated to all POW's of all US wars, and lastly hosts the Anderson National Veterans Cemetery which serves all veterans and their wives.

The POW museum was extremely moving, especially the Vietnam POW's some of whom spent over seven years in captivity.  How Donald Trump could, "all POW's are suckers or losers..." proves the man has no heart, no soul.  I've never been to any of the German concentration camps, but I can only imagine how moving it much be to visit any of them.

Leaving the museum we then toured the Andersonville prison.  When the Civil War began, neither the Union nor the Confederacy believed the war would last more than 90 days, so neither anticipated the need for a prison.  The Andersonville prison, opened in February 1864, only operated for 14 months.  It was built to hold a maximum 10,000 prisoners, but at it's peak it housed 33,000 prisoners, and over the 14 months over 45,000 prisoners were there, and 13,000 odied while there.  

Conditions were brutal.  Most of the deaths were not battle related, but instead a result of infections and diseases.  The only source of water for prisoners was a stream that ran through the middle of the camp.  The prison guards were housed upstream from the stockade, so all their waste flowed contaminated the stream before it ever got to the prisoners.

The stone marker indicates the location of one of the corners of the stockade.  The white vertical stakes on the left indicate the location of the stockade and the white markers on the right indicate the location of the "dead line".

The hill in the background descends to the stream that provided the only water for the prisoners.

The POW museum was extremely moving, especially the Vietnam POW's some of whom spent over seven years in captivity.  How Donald Trump could, "all POW's are suckers or losers..." proves the man has no heart, no soul.  I've never been to any of the German concentration camps, but I can only imagine how moving it much be to visit any of them.

A reminder of the beauty that does exist in this world.

We stopped for a very late lunch in Macon at the Ocmulgree Brew Pub.  The temp was a humid 88°, so the cold beer,  delicious cheeseburgers, and fries were very well received.  Those are peach slices on the burger!  

By the time we arrived at this park, it was already 4:30 PM, and closing was at 5:00 PM, so we had a quick tour of Indian mounds that date back to 1100 AD and earlier.

This one was called the Earth Lodge and it was believed to be used for special ceremonies.  It is estimated that 10 million baskets of dirt, each weighing 60 pounds, were used to build this mound. The Ocmulgee are just another example of the sophisticated civilizations that existed in the Western hemisphere long before Europeans came here and claimed it for themselves.

The only entrance.  When it was restored they enlarged the opening to about 4' in order to accommodate tourists!

Our final visit in Macon included the Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, where we paid our respects to Duane, Barry, Butch, Greg, and Elizabeth.

 

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DAY 16

 Sadly we left St. George Island this morning after being there less than 24 hours, but that was the only vacancy that we could get when we started booking camping spots in February!

FINAL PIX FROM ST. GEORGE ISLAND

Site #3, Dr. Julian Bruce State Park, St. George Island, FL 

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Found this tree frog in the electrical box this morning!

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The bridge back to the mainland from St. George Island

Breakfast at the Sand Dollar in Port St. Joe

Better than a full Monty

On to Plains

Leaving Port St. around 10 AM after that disgustingly good breakfast, we headed for Plains, GA, to visit several of the President Jimmy Carter sites.  The 300 mile route to Plains was straight as an arrow, and flat as a pancake as we headed north to the Georgia border.  As we approached Georgia, the pine barren waste land gave way to green productive farms, and the closer we got Plains, the more prosperous the farms appeared.

Earl Carter purchased this farm in 1928, and like any children growing up on farms, young Jimmy had plenty of chores.  There was no indoor plumbing for the first ten years that the Carters lived there.  Jimmy, an Anapolis graduate, gave up his career in the Navy to run the family farm when his father died in 1953.  

Jimmy's bedroom.  Notice the books in corner which included Treasure Island.  Jimmy loved to read and one of his school teachers, Miss Julia, recognized he was something special and gave him War and Peace to read when he was 12.

Earl and Miss Lilian's bedroom

The Carters had a clay tennis court and Jimmy and Earl often played each other.

Billy Carter's Gas Station

Main St. 

Official White House Portrait

Jimmy, age 97, and Roslyn, age 94,  still live in the same house they built in 1961.  It's now well protected and inaccessible for public viewing.  The ranger at the visitors' center said the President is now confined to a wheel chair, so he doesn't get around.  

The audio guide to his boyhood home included tapes that the President recorded, making it even more touching.  Certainly in my life time we have not had a more honorable man in the White House.  The more I learn about Jimmy Carter the more I like him.