October 4 Providence Canyon Redo, Georgia National Fair, Ocmulgee Mounds

 Friday, October 4

Greg spies the gator (we assume same one?) again this morning, and a pretty heron looking for breakfast. 

Not likely to go for a swim here!

And speaking of breakfast, we use our new egg cooker which does an egg, some pre-cooked bacon, cheese and a little salsa in one minute in the microwave!  The finished product fits perfectly on an English muffin!  New favorite breakfast!

We see two white tail deer on the way out of the camping area and decide to re-visit the canyons this morning to see what the lighting may be.   Quite nice! The story is that these canyons were formed by poor farming methods, where one thing led to erosion and mother nature took over.

And then we head for Perry and the Georgia National Fair which just opened today.  We pass quite a few pecan orchards along the way.

The Fair is easy to find in Perry, and parking is a breeze. 

It is a little overcast this morning, but the rain holds off and there are quite a few people here including many youth groups.

I remember the big ride at our little Dallastown Fair in the 1960's - and here it is!  The Tilt-a-whirl!  Seems pretty tame now....

The pig races were a hoot.  Some even had a swimming portion!  The announcer mentioned that their pigs went to a school somewhere in Florida to learn to race.  They are encouraged to run because the winner gets a bigger treat, though they are all rewarded.

And this magician was entertaining (especially if you were under 12).

This was my favorite shot from the large animal barn...talk about contented cows!

Lots of "Fair Food" with your usual candied apples, cotton candy, sausages, corn dogs and more.  We had to try some warm Georgia Peach Cobbler with ice cream  - it was delicious!

From here, we decided to move on and visit the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park which wasn't too far away.  This area was visited by most of the known cultures of North America, beginning with the paleo-indian culture way back around 1500BC!  These mounds were probably built in the Mississippian era around 900-1350.   

  

There are many mounds here, but the Earth Mound has been excavated and reconstructed. It still has the original clay floor with a raised platform with a bird symbol and built-in seats around the perimeter.  Here is a diorama of what it may have looked like inside.

And this is the actual mound.

A clay pot was the only item found in this mound, though other items from the area included many pots which were painstakingly reassembled, with missing pieces fabricated.  The floor has been carbon dated to 1015.  So much history that most people are totally unaware of....

We head back towards Perry and spend the night at their local CrackerBarrel where they have parking for RV overnighters.  We usually try to give them some business, so Beth has a catfish dinner while Greg goes with a grilled chicken salad.  Pretty quiet area and nice and cool.  A huge class A pulling a toad (towed vehicle) joins us later and puts down levelers and opens slides - both no-no's in our boon docking experience.  They run their generator most of the night!  Some people!

Oct 3, 2024 Selma to Montgomery, AL, Providence Canyon, Rood Creek COE

 Thursday, October 3

Pretty sunrise as we rise early.  We stop in Meridian, Mississippi which is a bit of a rabbit warren of streets.  We find gas and hit a McDonalds for breakfast before moving onto Alabama 80E where there is very little traffic.  Signs announce "Welcome to Sweet Home Alabama" with a reference to song by Lynyrd Skynyrd (1974).   Not to be outdone, in Georgia they use "Welcome, We're Glad Georgia's on Your Mind" referring to an old song, most notably performed by Ray Charles in 1960.

This area of the state is pretty rural and seems pretty poor.  The homes and barns in some areas are just grey wood with paint long gone and most homes seem to be small, single story.  Then you come across an area of beautiful homes - reminiscent of Tara in Gone With The Wind. 

When the cotton is picked it is made into large bales and wrapped in colorful plastic till picked up to go to the gin.

 Many people depend on the land - lumbering, cotton, catfish ponds, hay fields,  crawfish farms ("fattest tails in town!"), a paper plant and some rice fields too.

We arrive in Selma and recognize the Edmund Pettis Bridge where several marches for Voting Rights took place in March of 1965.  The first resulted in "Bloody Sunday" with police beating and injuring marchers.  Two days later, Martin Luther King came to lead another march, but turned back, obeying a court order in order to avoid more violence.  The third march started March 21 and  included protection from 1,000 military police and 2,000 Army troops.  It grew to almost 25,000 supporters as they arrived in the capital of Montgomery.  President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act a few months later.

We stop at the Selma to Montgomery National Historical Trail Lowndes Interpretive Center which is a museum operated by the National Parks.  A very informative film tells how this is perhaps the beginning of a new strategy of non-violent direct action in the Civil Rights struggle.  Only 2.1% of blacks were registered to vote in Alabama at the time, with all sorts of obstacles put in their way.

We plan to stay at  Rood Creek Landing Recreational Area campground, run by the Corp of Engineers.  Lots of back roads to get there, passing more lumber trucks, farms and wooded areas.  Narrow roads and even a single lane bridge!  

Most of the political signs we've seen have been for Trump, but in rural Alabama there were a few areas for Democrats - few specifically for Kamala Harris, but just urging "Vote Democratic".  

 At Rood Creek there are 7-10 nice sites along the Chattahoochee River and only one is occupied, so we feel comfortable continuing on to nearby Providence Canyon State Park before returning here to settle down for the night.

This railroad bridge caught our attention.

Last mile to the campground is dirt but not bad.

Here's the site we choose.

The Georgia State Parks charge a $5 entry fee per car, so at Providence Canyon we go ahead and buy a yearly pass - only $25 for seniors - because we plan to visit many more.

We decide to do a 3 mile loop trail which is lots of rather steep ups and downs through woods  But we don't see much of the canyon until the last third. (We'd recommend taking the loop in the opposite direction from the Visitor's Center and only doing the first third.)

Never expected to see scenery like this in Georgia!

There are some other trails that go to the base of the canyons but it was pretty muddy there and we opted not to do those.  Nice breeze and lots of shade.  Pretty selection of colors!

Back to Rood Creek, we find a nice site and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.  We have jambalaya for dinner (leftovers brought from home) and watch an alligator lazily cruising the river.  Can hear lots of birds but it is difficult seeing them as they seem to stay in the trees.  A few mosquitos after the sun sets, so we go back inside.  It is pretty warm and humid here by the water, so we use the screens in the windows and run the overhead fan as well as some small hand held ones till things cool down. 

Quiet night and when we leave next morning there are a few more sites taken, but no one close by.

OCTOBER 2-16,2024 GEORGIA AND ALABAMA

 Wednesday, October 2, 2024

And, we're off.  Left the house about 8:15 this morning and have opted to NOT take I-10 across the south.  This is probably the fastest route, but has become increasingly difficult with frequent construction areas and it seems like 80% truck traffic.  Instead we will wind through east Texas and Louisiana to I20 and then into Alabama.

We pass through Jasper, Texas,  Martin Dyes Park and into Louisiana.  We see quite a few lumber trucks and will continue to see them throughout the South.  Something new - our GPS now chirps "Welcome to Louisiana" (or whatever state) when we cross a border.

We begin to see quite a few cotton fields too, which will continue into Alabama and Georgia.   Greg  stops at the Sabine River to take a shot of this "turtle" that someone has created on a pier.  

Nearby is an abandoned building that nature is re-claiming.  This is another thing we often see in our rural travels around the country, whether homes or, perhaps more often, barns.  Always makes me wonder who once lived there and what is the story that led to this condition...

We pass sights familiar from past trips including Frogmore (Cotton) Plantation and Natchez.

We stop for the night at a Walmart in Newton, Mississippi.  We always call ahead to make sure it is ok to overnight there, as more stores seem to be forbidding it.   Almost 500 miles today!  It is still rather warm so we just have crackers and tuna salad, cheese and grapes for dinner.  It cools off a bit once the sun has disappeared, so sleeping is fine in the 60's.