Our Road Trips

8/27/2015

8/23-25/2015

Sunday morning, we were packed up and down the road by 9. Our next stop is south of Atlanta, which we anticipated to be about 6-7 hours. We arrived at Chattahoochee Bend State park about 415, got signed in and set up, both got a shower and headed to Newnan, dinner with our friend Patti. We got there about 6 and talked a bit and then we were off to Senoia, GA for a walk around the historic part of town and some dinner at McGuire’s, nice little pub in a basement of the historic district…nice spot. We drove back to Patti’s and called it a night, stayed at Patti’s.

Monday morning, Barb & I both slept late, had some coffee & talked. Patti is a great host, and her 3 dogs are great entertainment. About noon, we headed out again, this time Rome, GA is the destination. It is almost 2 hours away, so Barb & Patti sat up front and jabbered…me in the back seat just relaxing. Rome is a thriving small town in NW Georgia, enough out of the way that it is not on the way to anywhere, so it is a quiet little place where 2 rivers (Etowah & Oostanaula) meet to form the Coosa River, which flows into Alabama and eventually into the Gulf of Mexico at Mobile Bay. We had some lunch at a place called Curlee’s Fish House & Oyster Bar (2 other people in the whole place) and then drove around downtown checking out a few sights. It was almost deserted, so we had it almost to ourselves. The ride there & back was really pretty, traveling through several small towns & the foothills of the Appalachian Mts. It is named after its namesake in Italy, as both have 3 rivers and seven hills rising in the city. We visited the Rome City Clock and the Myrtle Hill Cemetery, home to 368 Civil War graves from both sides, both on one of the seven hills in the city, founded in 1834. Much of the original city was burned during the Civil War. It is a pretty place and was fun to visit. It was a very nice day.

We said our goodbyes and headed back to the camper…tomorrow is another long day. But it will be back to Florida after 69 days away. We are out of Chattahoochee Bend by 9 and head south, mostly on secondary roads, which means less traffic but more traffic lights, small towns & narrow bridges, etc. We see several local cops ruining folk’s day but we motor on. Near Columbus, GA we actually end up in Alabama and spend the next several hours following US 431 from Columbus to Dothan & US 231 down into Florida. We end up on SR 71 to Blountstown & SR 65 from Hosford to US 98 just east of East Point. The GPS takes us on a route we would not likely have picked, but it is also on roads we have never traveled and through towns we would never have been through. We both enjoy the ride. We arrived at St George Island State Park, which is on the far eastern tip of St George Island, a skinny barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico just east of Apalachicola, world famous for their oysters…bet I have a few while we are here during the next 6 nights. We are keeping a wary eye on a hurricane (Erika) out in the Atlantic, which likely will not make it here before we head east next Monday, but we will watch it anyway. Today, we are just relaxing, catching up on this blog and getting pictures organized. We have pretty poor internet, so we need to go for a ride in the car to send or receive, so we are just hanging out. We are planning to go for a ride after a while and catch some dinner and maybe a sunset…tough day.

Steve & Barb Larson