Marching Through Georgia

After two really long travel days (about 12 hours each) we have arrived in Lake Wales, FL. We navigated the last few hours of the trip mostly in a downpour of varying strength. At a couple of points I would have pulled off the road if I could have seen well enough to find a spot to pull off. But we arrived safely. There are very few people staying at the resort where we are, not everyone chooses to travel during the monsoons. Other than the last few hours, the trip was pleasant and uneventful.

By far the most interesting thing that we saw was a giant windmill farm in Indiana. We believe that it is the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm, a joint venture between Dominion Oil and BP Alternative Energy. My research indicates that the first phase deployed 222 wind turbines, a second phase this year added 133 more and a third phase is planned (or underway) to add and additional 150, which will make it one of the largest wind farms in the world. It was an impressive sight, it went on for miles on both sides of the road, as far as we could see. A few years ago, we saw wind farms in southern Minnesota and South Dakota, but this dwarfed anything that we saw then.



After leaving the wind farm and continuing through the very long state of Indiana, we crossed over the Ohio River from Indiana to Kentucky as we entered Louisville. The river is incredibly wide at that point, and is also very beautiful. Jovito found it interesting that the state line is in the middle of the river. We saw Churchill Downs which is an institution. On to Nashville, where we did not see any traces of the major flooding that occurred not too long ago. We got a good look at the Tennessee Titans Stadium. Fortunately we were too early in the year for there to be a game, so traffic was not an issue.

We stayed in Chattanooga last night. We had dinner at Cracker Barrel, which had a 15 minute wait at 9PM, then had a true Southern breakfast at a Waffle House. I enjoyed the Tennessee accents and the Tennessee scenery. Although Chattanooga is far from Johnson City, there are enough similarities to make it feel like home. After breakfast, we drove through the last 10 mines of Tennessee, following a lovely river then climbing the mountains out of town.

We then crossed into Georgia and traveled the rest of the way today. Georgia is a very large state it seems, and encompasses multiple types of geography. The northern part is mountainous and filled with forests; the foothills are rolling with pine forests. Atlanta is truly a big city; since it was Sunday, we drove straight through the middle of town, and it took nearly 30 minutes to get all the way through. It is really a lovely town, quite modern. We saw Turner Field, the home of the Atlanta Braves, which is clearly visible from the highway.

After leaving Atlanta, the scenery begins to change. Southern Georgia has few trees, just small stands, is much flatter than the northern part. It has broad fields where red clay is prevalent. There are many billboards, advertising hotels, restaurants, boiled peanuts, Georgia pecans and Georgia peaches (which happen to be in season). Ok, I have to ask, who has eaten boiled peanuts? I went in a gas station in Gainesville, FL (home to the University of Florida) and they had two crock pots of boiled peanuts, one plain and one Cajun. They had ladles in them and you could scoop out a cup for yourself - I did not indulge, but I was curious.

We passed by the Chickamauga Civil War Battlefield, the Andersonville National Historic Site (the home of the infamous Confederate Civil War prison camp), and Jimmy Carter's home town. I would someday like to visit Andersonville. Years ago I read the novel "Andersonville", written by MacKinley Kantor and I have never been able to forget it.

We had intended to stop and travel the last few hours tomorrow, but once we were four hours away, everyone was eager to push through and finish up the trip. The rain has stopped and we are enjoying the steamy summer Florida evening. We are all pretty tired at this point, more later.