25 March ‘09

Wednesday

We’ve used our generator more than I thought we would during the rally in Perry.  The solar panels were doing great, but when it comes time for the microwave, hair dryer, and the coffee pot, I thought it best to fire up the generator.  Besides, you are supposed to run it about an hour a month.  It should have a decent load on it, so with the rally going, it fit right in to run it.  When leaving the fairgrounds at Perry and checking the tires for pressure, engine oil, and generator oil, I noticed that we had reached the time for the generator to be serviced.  I’d already purchased the oil and filters to do the job, but before getting it done we stopped by Speedco in Jackson, Georgia.  With Speedco, all you have to do is pull up to the door and they are ready for you…  We pulled up, got the go ahead to pull in, and things got started.  No sooner had it started and it stopped…the drain plug had been stripped and would not budge.  They didn’t have another plug, if they were to get the stripped one out, so they really didn’t want to take the chance to do more damage.  They wanted us to drive up to Atlanta and go to the Onan Service shop and they could handle the problem for us.  When we pulled up to the door at Onan, they told us that they couldn’t do anything for us until Wednesday but if we wanted to stay, they had a spot for us to hookup.  That was Monday, today is Wednesday and tomorrow we leave.  In being able to stay here in their security area for free, it softened the blow for the difference we paid here versus the cost we would have paid at Speedco.  After setting up the coach for our stay, we headed out to find some fresh veggies.  Across I-75, we just happen to have the largest "Farmers Market" in the state,

 so we couldn't get there fast enough.  We were told that they had good prices and great produce...well the test shows that they were right !!!

While we were here we also had 2 other agendas to accomplish.  Tuesday morning Louise called a cousin that she hasn’t seen in over 50 years.  Ray lives just outside of the gates of Stone Mountain, and as luck would have it, we got an invite over to see him.  Thanks to the GPS, we drove up to the front door without any trouble, a knock on that door and Ray and his 2 dogs were there to welcome us in.  It was a great visit that got even better as each minute went by.  Ray really made us feel at home.  About 30 minutes into our visit we were joined by Dean, Ray’s son.  Neither Louise nor I had ever met Dean but in a minute after he got there we really KNEW each other and liked every minute of it. 

 The thought of lunch came up and Dean suggested that we go to The Longhorn.  Seeing as our car was “stuffed” with laundry and other things, we all got into Dean’s car.  Lunch was really good, but the company was better but unfortunately too short.  We have to say “Thanks” again to Dean for buying, and “Thanks” again to Ray for the hospitality…

Today we accomplished number 2 in our agenda.  CNN Atlanta has been on “the list” for awhile now and today was set apart to get it done. 

 Last week as we sat waiting for the “Balloon Glow” at the lake in Macon, we just happened to be sitting next to the Timko’s.  It seems that Dave had purchased some new batteries for his camera, charged them and “something happened”…they were dead.  I offered mine, but unfortunately he needed 4 instead of the 2 that I had.  Well here we were sitting on the banks of the lake and meeting some more “strangers”…  Dave, Laura, and their little daughter.  It turns out that Dave is a Senior Editor and Producer for CNN and offered us a personal tour through the operations at CNN.  Fact is, he is an “Emmy-award winning television journalist 4 times over for pieces like “Hurricane Katrina: Heroes of the Storm” in 2006.  Well anyway, Louise and I took the standard CNN tour and then met up with Dave.  After getting our visitor pass we were taken into the locations were things  “take place” behind the scenes. 

It was a kick to mix with everyone that makes CNN work and those that we see as the news correspondents.  We really want to thank Dave for taking the time to show us around and we wish we could reciprocate some day, somewhere…

22 March “09

Sunday

Last Saturday, as you know, we didn’t get a chance to finish our bus tour around Macon, so Sunday morning we quickly make it back to town central and caught the bus to finish up.  Saturday on our way into Macon, we drove by some really outstanding homes, and Sunday we wanted to see some of those “up close and personal” and that we did. 

There are about a dozen homes that the driver will point out, but there are another hundred or so that is absolutely beautiful and are just a part of Macon’s historical beauty.  We did see some of the past that we’re not too proud of…  One of the beautiful buildings, that also has a tremendous amount of history to it, is the Macon Train Station. 

At one end of the station you find this portal: 

Below it is this bronze plaque: 

 It is a part of our past and the present that we can’t shove under the rug. 

Following the bus tour, we headed over to the Ocmulgee National Monument.  Archaeological excavations at Ocmulgee indicated that the early Indian tribes settled here in the Macon area about 12,000 years ago...  Thousands of years later, Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto recorded the first Christian baptism on the new continent in 1540 when priests in his expedition baptized two Indians from the nearby mounds in a ceremony on the banks of the Ocmulgee River.  What they left behind for us to see and question, are the personal and community artifacts, and the “mounds”.  The mounds were used for great ceremonials and earth lodges.  We were able to reach the top of the largest mound

 and enter into one of the earthen ceremonial lodges.  After leaving the visitor center at the Ocmulgee National Monument, we hiked about ½ mile to the lodge.  The ceremonial lodge is like a large mound of dirt that forms a peak at the top.  At one end there is a small narrow tunnel that leads towards the center of the lodge.  I was bent in half trying to get to the end of the tunnel,

but once there it was all worth the effort.  What we saw today isn’t exactly what the archeologist saw in 1927 when they excavated.  Over the years they have brought back the original look of the lodge, except they have closed off the center hole that was used to exhaust the smoke from the fire pit.

   Next we were off to the largest mound to climb to the top of the plateau and see just what was there to see.  You couldn’t be up there without trying to imagine what it was like 12,000 years ago…what were they looking at, what were they looking for, and what….?

Leaving Ocmulgee behind, we headed for the park were the Cherry Blossom Festival was being held.  We had heard that there was lots of opportunity for us to get something to eat and we were sure hungry.  Unfortunately it wasn’t that good and the heavy metal music that was blaring was enough to chase us out.  On the way back to the car, we came upon a demonstration that stopped us in our tracks.  We’ve all seen it on TV, but seeing it in person is even better… We were watching a dog trainer/owner doing some unbelievable tricks with her/his dog and a large quantity of Frisbees’.

  Those dogs are truly amazing and they totally enjoy getting out there and entertaining all of us with their antics. 

In town, they were just getting ready for a couple of races.  Prior to the parade, they took two long blocks and laid them out with hay bales to make the race course a little safer for the racers.  The first was the "Bed Race". 

They had 8 beds with 6 runners on each and at least one "sleeping person" in each bed.  The next challenge was the "Lawn Mower" race. 

 Now these lawn mowers are not the home models...these are really souped up and go like hell.

21 March ‘09

Saturday

We were very casual in leaving the rally as there were a lot of motor homes trying to get out of the fair grounds at once.  There were those that I heard leaving very early in the morning, but I just didn’t want to rush anything.  Our plans were to run up to Macon

and check out the Cherry Blossom Festival.  The campground we chose is part of the Shriners property and well of the freeway noise.  We’re parked in a huge grass area that could hold 2 or 3 hundred other campers, but right now there are less than a dozen other RV’s here. 

Boy did it get cold last night… It only got down to the high 30’s but when I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was run to the thermostat.  I turned it on to high and head back to bed to cover up until it was warm enough to take my shower.  Yesterday afternoon we noticed a lot of small tents going up behind us and it turned out that 400 Boy Scouts are having a Jamboree here this weekend.  Now if I thought it was cold, what did those youngsters think??? 

Our plan today was to head into Macon and find the visitor center, so after a pot of coffee and a bowl of cereal we were under way.  We were totally amazed at the beauty of Macon as we drove into town.  The architecture of the homes

and commercial buildings are outstanding and the parks that we passed were beautiful.  While in the visitor center we watched a great video of Macon and then purchased a couple of tickets for a tour bus that would show us the town.  We couldn’t help but notice that Macon has a lot of churches, and one of them is the central Cathedral.  The tour bus was one of those that would allow you to jump off and on, so when we arrived at the cathedral we decided to jumped off. 

 We really wanted to see the interior of this cathedral because the exterior was so grand that the interior just had to be absolutely incredible. 

 Well with the bus now out of sight, and us walking up the steep steps to the church, we noticed that they were having a funeral service and had closed the church to visitors for the afternoon…well, now what?  We walked around the block and enjoyed some more of the exterior and 2 additional Baptists Churches, and then waited about 15 minutes for the bus to return.  Unfortunately when the bus returned, it was heading back to the visitor center instead of continuing on.  Well, that turned out to be ok because when we asked the driver if there happened to be a “special place” that he might recommend for our lunch, he told us about the restaurant H&H.  

Not only did he know of a great place, but he would personally deliver us to the front door and pick us up after (all in the tour bus..).   While watching the video at the visitor center, H&H was one of the places that were shown in the presentation.  Another little note is; when Ophra was here for one of her shows, H&H was her restaurant of choice.  For us, we enjoyed a good dinner.  We both had fried chicken, corn, collard greens, rice and gravy, and our choice of desert.  We weren’t too sure what the meal was going to cost us as they don’t list the prices on the menu.  We knew that those who paid for the meal prior to us didn’t cry foul as they departed so it must have been alright.  Well it turned out to be $10 a piece…a good price for our dinner and a dinner/lunch house that we would recommend to anyone who happens to Macon Georgia.  We had no sooner finished our dinner and paid the bill and our bus driver walked in looking to see if we had finished…that’s what I call good service.  After arriving back at the visitor center we returned to the coach for the night. 

Well we had no sooner arrived back at the camp ground and we were getting ready for the nights entertainment.  A stage had been set-up and a band was playing some great music, so we grabbed our beach chairs, a drink and some snaks and headed over to enjoy the sounds. 

 About an hour later we pulled up and headed over to the lake.  They were just setting up for a hot air balloon "glow".  The lake here is small but large enough for 10 hot air balloons could inflate and rise on a tether.  We were pretty lucky to be here, especially being camped here.  We had everything that we needed and with the day being full of exciting things to do and great food to eat, this "glow" was a wonderful climax to our day. 

19 March ‘09

Thursday

It was a little tough leaving the Florida coast, but we had to move on.  By 3 on Thursday we were in the parking lot of Costco Montgomery, Alabama and loading our shopping cart.  It’s amazing how fast the costs add up…I guess we could just quit eating…bitch, bitch, bitch.  Instead of heading off to find a campground or Wal-Mart for the night, I got the approval from the Costco manager to stay in their parking lot for the night.  Friday noon we had an appointment for a tour through the Hyundai plant here in Montgomery.  It is the most “automated” automobile manufacturing plant in the world.  While we were there they had a goal of putting out 3500 cars a WEEK !!!  I ask you, “how many Hyundai’s do you see on the road????”   It’s amazing, but true and even more amazing is to see them going through the assembly lines prior to heading out to the test track.  We really did have a good time there and would highly recommend the tour to anyone that might be in the area.  They also told us that Kia was just about ready to open a larger plant a few miles away in Georgia.  This plant will be even more modern than the one we visited today.  I can’t imagine just what more a “robot” can do but I guess they will soon show us. 

After our tour, we headed for the roads again and headed for the FMCA rally in Perry, Georgia.  Not having to hurry, we stopped for dinner in a Fort Valley Mexican restaurant which is about 15 miles west of Perry.  We pulled into a large parking lot that once was the parking lot of a large grocery store.  Unfortunately the store didn’t make it, but for a parking lot we found it to be very comfortable for a nights stay.  Not only did we find it comfortable, so did 2 other coaches that were heading to Perry in the morning. 

Saturday morning we pulled into the Georgia National Fairgrounds and got ready for a week at the FMCA’s 81^st International Convention. 

We are but one coach out of 3500+- motor homes ranging in size from 21’ to 45’.  On top of the 3500, there are another 450+- motor homes that are occupied by vendors showing their wares throughout the grounds.  Then there are the vendors that have brought their NEW motor homes in…we have heard that there are at least 300 of them.  An aerial picture shows quite a site.  From Monday morning to late this afternoon (Thursday) we have been able to attend classes, visit vendor booths, and walk through some great motor homes.  The evenings have been filled too.  They have booked some great entertainment for us over the last 3 nights and we have enjoyed a lot of it. 

Tomorrow is the day for packing up and heading out…IN MASS…  This should be really fun so I think we’ll hang back as much as we can and watch the wheels drive by.