Goodman's Journey
  • Home
  • Blogroll

An Uncle and CNN...What a Day

3/25/2009

0 Comments

 
Picture
_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,


Picture
_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.



Picture
_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.



Picture
_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. 

Picture
_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…

Picture
0 Comments

Another Day In Macon...

3/22/2009

0 Comments

 
Picture
_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. 

Picture
_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. 

Picture
_At one end of the station you find this portal: 

Picture
_Below it is this bronze plaque:

Picture
_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


Picture
_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,

Picture
_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.

Picture
_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’.


Picture
_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". 


Picture
_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.

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

0 Comments

Macon Georgia Cherry Blossom Festival

3/21/2009

0 Comments

 
Picture
_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


Picture
_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.

Picture
_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??? 

Picture
_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

Picture
_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.

Picture
_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.

Picture
_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. 

Picture
_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.



Picture
_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.

0 Comments

The Great Georgia Getaway...

3/19/2009

0 Comments

 
Picture
_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 81st International Convention. 


Picture
_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.


0 Comments

    *Locations*

    All
    Amsterdam
    Austria
    Belgium
    Bosnya
    Canada
    Croatia
    Czech Republic
    Egypt
    England
    Estonia
    France
    Germany
    Germany Part 2
    Greece
    Hungary
    Ireland
    Italy
    Latvia
    Lithuania
    Luxembourg
    Madrid
    Mexico
    Mexico Bcs
    MX - Cabo San Lucas
    Netherlands
    Poland
    Portugal
    Scotland
    Serbia
    Slovakia
    Slovenia
    Spain
    Switzerland
    Turkey
    USA - Alabama
    USA - Alaska
    USA - Arizona
    USA - California
    USA - Colorado
    USA - Florida
    USA - Georgia
    USA - Idaho
    USA - Illinois
    USA - Indiana
    USA - Kentucky
    USA - Louisiana
    USA - Maine
    USA - Maryland
    USA - Massachusetts
    USA - Michigan
    USA - Minnesota
    USA - Mississippi
    USA - Montana
    USA - Nevada
    USA - New Jersey
    USA - New Mexico
    USA - New York
    USA - North Dakota
    USA - Ohio
    USA - Oregon
    USA - Pennsylvania
    USA - Seattle
    USA - South Dakota
    USA - Tennessee
    USA - Texas
    USA - Utah
    USA - Vermont
    USA - Washington
    USA - Wisconsin
    USA - Wyoming
    Utrecht Nl
    Wales


    *Archives*

    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    July 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008
    March 2008
    February 2008
    January 2008
    December 2007
    November 2007
    October 2007
    September 2007
    August 2007
    July 2007
    June 2007
    May 2007
    April 2007
    March 2007
    February 2007
    January 2007
    December 2006
    November 2006
    October 2006
    September 2006
    August 2006
    July 2006
    June 2006
    May 2006
    April 2006
    March 2006
    February 2006
    January 2006
    December 2005
    November 2005
    October 2005
    September 2005
    August 2005
    July 2005
    June 2005
    May 2005
    April 2005
    March 2005
    February 2005
    January 2005
    December 2004
    November 2004
    October 2004
    September 2004
    August 2004
    July 2004
    June 2004
    May 2004
    April 2004
    March 2004
    February 2004
    January 2004
    December 2003

© 2018 Amy Croson, LLC