Trip to Amicalola Falls

We met Terry and Dale at Wally World and headed to one of the prettiest spots around, Amicalola State Park and it's fantastic 700' waterfall. After walking to the lower end of the falls, we rode up to an area near the middle of the falls and could really get a feel for how huge this waterfall is. Then we drove all the way to the top where you can stand on top of the spot where the falls start down hill fast. The stream feeding this thundering falls is only about four feet wide and two feet deep but when it heads down the mountain you would think it was fed by the Atlantic Ocean. 

This is a special place for Patty and I since it was here that I decided we should get married and fortunately for me, she agreed. Gosh, that really doesn't seem like eighteen years ago.

THE PICTURES BELOW WERE MINED FROM DALE'S SKOOLZOUTFOREVER BLOG SINCE I LEFT OUR CAMERA AT HOME. THANKS DALE

Dale and Terry at the Approach Trail to the AT

Terry, Dale Pat and Ward at Lower Level of Amicalola Falls

VISITORS IN THE FALL

One of the things we like about living in Suches is the number of wild animals we get to observe. We've had everything from black bear to a plethora of humming birds and the largest herd of deer was seven. The following pictures were taken last fall in the front yard under the apple tree. As the apples fall, the deer come out of the woods and gobble them up. It is unusual to see them in broad daylight, but this last years draught had their browse down considerably. Such a pretty animal. 

Monday we be heading out to Gainesville to have a little work done on the Bounder at Camping World in Oakwood. Terry and Dale are going to pick us up and we will make a little junket out of the trip. I have no idea where we will go, but knowing Terry, he will find something interesting.

One Reason We Like it in Suches

Can't leave Hercules out

Aunt Jean leaves her dog Hercules the rascally pug behind with her friend Pete when she travels. No posting would be complete with Jean unless Hercules was mentioned so here he is.

Hercules

Visitors From Afar

After we finished the kitchen training, Patty and I returned the short distance to the AgriRama so that we could meetup with Aunt Jean, Julianna, Steve and Carla who were on their way to Florida for Spring break. They go somewhere every year and this year it was Disney World and Daytona Beach. Steve is Patty's cousin and all around good guy. Carla is his wife and Julianna is their granddaughter. When they got to Tifton we all went out to eat at Sonny's Bar B Q where Patty and I were becoming regular customers since we had eaten there with Terry and Dale. After eating, the Indiana bunch went to check in at the motel and Ward went to take a short three hour nap, so we didn't meet up again until the next day.
Thursday morning Carla, Steve, Aunt Jean and Juliana came back to AgriRama and we all went on a history tour. Tony (Carla's sister and all around great gal), Scott (Tony's husband and good guy), Cody (Tony and Scott's son) and Wanda (Tony's super mom) had arrived that morning and had taken over the motel rooms for awhile. Around noon Scott called and said he was near our motorhome and wanted me to come out and meet him. Scott is a Fleetwood tech and I had called him and asked if he would stop by on their way to Florida to help me with a slide problem. Scott being the kind of guy that he is agreed to stop and here he was. It was a bonus to see Tony, Wanda and one of my all time favorite kids, Cody.
We talked about places to eat and they wanted Sonny's so away we went and once again I had the "all you can eat ribs." After eating, we were sad to see family and friends go down the road and leave us behind. We really do love that bunch of fun loving folks and missed seeing Cheryl, Theresa, John and Michael the rest of the "Chatt" family since they didn't make the trip this year. I know we all missed the smiling patriarch and Wanda's husband, Doyle, who passed away last year. Abetter group of folks you'll never meet.

Patty and Jean

Julianna opens chain for Jean

Carla, Cody (Tony and Scotts son) and Julianna (Carla and Steve's granddaughter)

Wanda and Tony

Scott, Ward, Steve and Jean

Disaster Kitchen Training: Spirit of America Kitchen

Patty and I are Red Cross Disaster volunteers and attended a two day disaster kitchen training session in Americus Georgia. The instructors were truly outstanding and the program they put on was exceptional. The training took place at South West Georgia Technical school in Americus which is the infamous place that the 9/11 high jackers trained. This very modern, well appointed facility was superb for adult training and sort of helped to set the positive tone of this training session. The trainees were a mixed bag of young, older, male, female, white, Afro-American, theists, non-theists, Red Cross volunteers and community volunteers. We were a laughing and amiable group of trainees. The local community volunteers were motivated by the fact they had a tornado move through the area last year which destroyed a number of buildings including the local hospital.
The training kitchen was the Spirit of America Disaster Kitchen which was donated to the Red Cross through the efforts of the Greenwich Connecticut Red Cross Chapter in honor of two men killed on 9/11. This kitchen itself was built by the Carlin Company and is capable of feeding thirty thousand meals a day. Spirit of America is built inside a fifty three feet long semi- trailer. It has everything that a commercial kitchen has and is self contained with fresh and grey water tanks. On the second day of training, we prepared breakfast for the trainers and trainees and then prepared lunch for two hundred sixteen people from the community and school. Joy of joys, we were given the opportunity to clean up our mess and get Spirit of America ready to hit the road.
We learned, laughed, met old friends made new friends and ate pretty well.

Spirit of America Kitchen

The Rally 2008 Perry Georgia

We left Tifton and went to Perry Georgia for the rally at the Georgia National Fairgrounds which we had all been to before for an FMCA rally. We signed up for two days early arrival and were surprised to find out that many of the seminars would be presented during those two days and then repeated over on another day or days. We only attend these things for two reasons first and foremost is to attend the seminars and learn what we can about the RV lifestyle, and secondly to visit with new and old friends. Somewhere down the list is going into the new RVs and checking out new styling or ideas.

The Rally disappointed us on the seminar front with only a few of them being worthy of our time or effort since many were nothing more than infomercials.

We did meet a funny couple from Alabama. Ron, the guy, is retired Army and his wife , Honey, is from Germany. We had many laughs with these two and hope to run into them down the road.

I still get a kick out of RV salesmen. Many of them don't know a grey tank from a black tank but will shoot a line of bull a mile long. The sad part is that many RV buyers don't spend enough time researching RVs so they can recognize the BS. My running heehaw at this rally was that we wanted drawers with dovetail construction and I told a number of RV sales people that my Bounder had dovetailed drawers which of course is only in my dreams. Most RVs have stapled drawer construction where the joints are just butted together. Now you know how easily I am to amuse or was it how hard up I was?

Will not return anytime soon to another THE RALLY because it was definitely just two stars out of five. The only reason it is two stars is because we have been to one star escapades. Oh well.

Ron and Hanni at The Rally

TRAVELING BACK IN TIME; Tour of AgriRama in Tifton Georgia

The Agrirama in Tifton Georgia faces Interstate 75 and is a fascinating look at farming methods of the 19th and 20th centuries in Southern Georgia. Here we explored peanut farming at the peanut museum, turpentine production in the main museum, Linotype printing press, steam driven saw mill and a steam driven woodworking shop. There were various types of retail stores from the past including a drugstore, a commissary and a hardware store. A steam engine that was originally engaged in lumber operations in North Georgia travels around the perimeter of the Agrirama complex pulling a single passenger car with it's passengers traveling back in time. All of these features are manned by interpretors, in period clothing, who operate the various pieces of equipment and turn out useful items for the operation of the museums. As an example, items made in the blacksmith shop are sold in the hardware store, logs are sawn in the steam operated sawmill and turned into useful items in the steam powered wood working shop. The sawmill and woodworking shops with their large moving belts, steam boilers and moving blades can be called widow makers or at least amputation parlors.
The dolcent in the main museum building was very knowledgeable about her area, but more importantly was enthusiastic about her task. I of course found the antique tools and equipment to be of real interest, but of real interest was the turpentine harvesting operation which I had observed as a kid but had not seen or thought of for many years. This display was extremely informative and even had a cabin that four of the turpentine harvesters lived in during the harvesting season.
The RV camping area is all asphalt with full hookups and is next to the interstate, but that close proximity wasn't a problem. This has to be the easiest RV campground to access from any interstate highway. It literally takes about two minutes to get off the interstate and pull into a campsite. There are approximately forty full hookup sites (30A, 50A)and can be accessed twenty four hours a day. The fee of twenty dollars a night includes admission to the museum. I recommend the AgriRama for anyone going to or from Florida.

Old Tractor at AgriRama

Soda Fountain in Old Fashioned Drug Store

Farm Area as Seen From the Train

AgriRama Tift House

Carroll's Sausage and Meats

Terry and Dale had scouted out the town of Sylvester for places of interest and had located Carroll's Sausage and Meats, which makes outstanding sausage. They have pork smoked sausage in hot, medium and mild as well as raw pork sausage and beef smoked sausage. We of course had to get about a pound of each medium pork, medium beef and raw pork. Having spent a number of years in Southwest Louisiana (Lake Charles), I consider myself as an devotee of fine sausage and my belly can attest to prior experience. Carroll's pork sausage is some of the best that has made it's way through my relatively discerning (though not picky) lips. However, their beef sausage leaves a lot to be desired since it was rather dry and thus did not meet the test for artery clogging potential. Now for the really wonderful stuff. Carroll's puts together a killer stuffed pork chop. The basic recipe is to take two pork chops, stuff them with sausage (yummy), and then wrap with bacon to complete the scrumptious offering to the gods. Wrap this rascal in foil put in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes and you have pure dining heaven. Carroll's is worth getting off the interstate and driving for a few miles for some truly good things to eat.

Visit to Nether's Pork Skin Factory

Our first food stop Monday was Nether's Old Fashioned fried pork skins where we met Johnny and Dianne Nether. Talk about good old southern hospitality, they made us very welcome. Johnny Nether started his business in his backyard and has built his company into a multi employee operation. For two guys with heart problems Terry and I picked out four bags of different flavor pork skins for each of the couples. Pat and I had two bags of the plain pork skins, Bar B Q pork skins and salt and vinegar pork skins. They were truly good and I think we all pigged out when we got back to the motorhomes. Nether's is in Sylvester, GA on Georgia Highway 256 and their product gets a five star rating for snack foods. You can buy their pork skins in area stores or stop by Nether's and get them fresh off the line.

Dale and Terry in front of Nether's

Johnny Nether

Ward, Diane, Johnny, Pat

Georgia Agrirama

Sunday, we joined up with our friends Terry and Dale Pace at the Georgia Agrirama in Tifton Georgia and as Sherman burned his way through Georgia, I think the four of us are eating our way through Georgia. Terry and Dale had located a meatmarket, with stuffed porkchops and smoked sausage, and a plant that makes pork skins. We started out eating at Sonny's Bar B Que on Sunday night and progressed to the meat market and pork Skins place Monday.

Dale and Terry with Neil and Bailey the Scottish gents.

Getting ready for The Rally

Tomorrow we will get the Bounder ready to head out for Agrirama in Tifton Georgia to meet up with Dale and Terry Pace. We'll spend a few days there and then head out to The Rally in Perry GA and from there we will spend two days in Americus GA getting some Red Cross training. From there we plan on meeting up with some of Pat's cousins and her Aunt Jean. She is also my Aunt Jean since I adopted her.
Hopefully, this blog thing will be as much fun as I think it will be, because we are spending the summer at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge as volunteers.

Friends that are no longer with us.

This thing called RVing gives everyone an opportunity to come out of their shell and meet new people. It really is kind of ironic that with some people the feeling is that you have known them all of your life. The first rally we attended was a small Georgie Boy Rally in Michigan and we went not knowing a soul. While there we met a couple from New York. An instant bond was formed between jim and Irene and us. It was the kind of bond where you will drive many miles out of your way to spend time with each other. The first big rally we went to we met Mickey and his wife Patti. Mickey was one of those people who make you feel special and welcome. He would have been a great peace making Indian chief since he made everyone welcome around the campfire.
Both Jim and Mickey passed away and won't be joining us in person at any more rallies, but I don't think I will ever attend a rally without thinking about both of them. Mickey with his smiling handshake and Jim with his little Leprechaun smile.

Photos of our missing friends.

FIRST WORK CAMPING EXPERIENCE

We thought that work camping would be a great way to see the country, and in this time of shrinking budgets, a way to give something back to federal agencies we had worked with in the past. In exchange for doing various kinds of labor, the agencies furnish RVers a place to park, water and electricity. Work camping gives RVers a base camp from which to explore the area in which they are staying and an opportunity to become a part of the community. Sampling local food is one of our favorite things to do and work camping in an area gives us the opportunity to find and visit the restaurants in an area.
Our first work camping experience was at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge near Monroe Louisiana. As is the case with most Fish and Wildlife Service people, we have met, the staff at Black Bayou Lake was super to work with. They also had a very active "Friends" group which opened their arms to us and made us feel part of the community. Anyone contemplating work camping would do well to add Black Bayou Lake NWR to their list of must go places. In fact if you are just passing through Northern Louisiana swing by Black Bayou Lake for a visit. The displays in the welcome center are top notch and make sure you visit the science building for a look at live animals that inhabit the refuge. The Friends of Black Bayou Lake have done an outstanding job of tee shirt design and selection so if you like really neat tee shirts give them a look.

OUR TWO TRAVELING COMPANIONS

BLACK BAYOU LAKE NWR SIGN

NEAT OLD FARMHOUSE TURNED INTO VISITORS CENTER

FOG MAKES THE VISITOR CENTER LOOK EERIE

SUNRISE OVER BLACK BAYOU LAKE NWR

SNAPPING TURTLE CASTING