I am going.
As much as being together is wonderful, so is being alone. I had not had a serious long distance ride by myself for over a year and I was ready to go and Vicki was ready for me to go. Never mind that winter was coming on and who knows what the weather will be.
No offense to those I truly enjoy riding with like Scott and Bill and Walt, but I love riding by myself most. And since I have not had a good solo ride in long time I am off. Maybe not the best time to ride a Vespa to the hills of North Carolina but I have done it in the past. The good part is I have a few destinations to visit friends and family, but nothing that I must do. So, if things don't go good I will just go somewhere else.
I looked for a couple of good poems and sayings to put in this part of the blog. Most of the poems about traveling alone were long-winded and more than I wanted to make you suffer through. So I picked out a couple of anonymous quotes and here they are.Alone
"From Middle English allone, from earlier all oon (“alone”, literally “all one”), contracted from the Old English phrase eall ān (“entirely alone, solitary, single”), equivalent to al- (“all”) + one. Cognate with Scots alane (“alone”), Saterland Frisian alleene (“alone”), West Frisian allinne (“alone”), Dutch alleen (“alone”), Low German alleen (“alone”), German allein (“alone”), Danish alene (“alone”), Swedish allena (“alone”). More at all and one. Regarding the different phonological development of alone and one, see the note in one."
"To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the most pleasant sensations in the world.”"You never really travel alone. The world is full of friends waiting to get to know you.”
"I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.”
I sold my last 300cc, the no name scooter. Just felt as though two are enough and Scoot and Big Red are my favorites. Big Red has had an exciting and hard life. Four or five trips across the US and several even longer trips north and south. We put a new low time engine him a while back. I felt it was time for an expert to look at him. I look inside a scooter maybe every six months. I can do all the routine maintenance but I felt it was time for expert to have a look. Peter, the owner and mechanic at Vespa Clearwater has been doing that for years so I took it to him and told him to "do everything" and he did. The bill was $1,080 and felt it was worth every penny. "Everything" was more than I would ever do. It was extensive including new air into the new tire. It is ready for the journey.
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| Back home ready to go. |
Day 1 Nov 23Let us begin We are off for Cedar Key for our Thanksgiving do with Deb. For those of who don't know Deb, she's my future divorce attorney. There are a few problems with that statement. Not only is she retired she's Vicki's best friend.We rented one of several small cottages that are on the water font in town. They were built in the 1920's as rentals and 100 years later they are rentals and still owned by the Hodges family. We have been coming here for years. I first came in 1971 and it has not changed much since then. The fact that to get here it's a 24-mile ride from the main highway with nothing on that stretch may be why. And in fact, there is nothing on the main highway that you turn off of, US19, for miles. Usually, we just rent for three nights but this year we went for four because we missed last year due to my shoulder surgery. Vicki called to cancel last year and JD said "Honey, can't you just leave him home?" I get no respect.The weather has been perfect despite the original forecast of cool temperatures. I saw 82 on Big Red's temperature gauge when I did a 50-mile loop of nothing Friday. We ate turkey and dressing every day. Well Deb didn't as she is a vegetarian. Oh yea, there was also pie and cookies and fancy drinks.Our favorite place in town is 1842 Daily Grind. It was established by to great guys who happen to be gay. We all watched to see how it would be received in the community as it's pretty red here. Glad to say they had a booming business until covid. They demanded masks and that did set well with a lot of people, but they didn't give in and put a sign on the door stating their health nor the health of their customers was worth the price of a cup coffee and take your business elsewhere if you did not like it. The stress of COVID and the fact they had already retired once lead them to retire again. The new owners are nice but without Terry and Martin, it gave us permission to move across the street to the Prickly Palm. Hannah is the proprietor and I nice person. She told us she asked Martin if he had objections to her opening a coffee shop across the street. Martin, who still owned 1842 at that time, told her please open as they were getting overrun. So, we have a new home for coffee.There was not a lot of action. We walked, went to the Christmas tree lighting and that was it. Other than the coffee shop visits, both the Prickly Pear and 1842 both, we did not eat out. It was a wonderful calm holiday.
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| Crossing the HOward Franklin / I275 |
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| The 24 mile stretch |
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| Christmas in Cedar Key |
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| They say this is my fault |
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| See all the arms sticking out of the bag. That's an octopus. Vicki wanted it for the Christmas tree, so while she and Deb where having breakfast across the street I went in and bought for her. |
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Hannah our new barista |
Day 5 Nov 27
Well it is time to start the trip in earnest. We loaded the cars and stuffed the cats in before they knew what had happened. Kisses and hugs all around and we were all off in our different directions. Vicki and Deb headed home.
I headed to the Dillahunty Plantation in Newberry FL for the evening. It is a short, almost straight ride. Just a little over an hour. Despite predictions of rain, none happened and I arrived in time for lunch. Dave gave me his home, a large fifth wheel, and he was going to sleep in Larry's trailer. That is where he stayed for many many years until he bought the fifth wheel and parked it on the property under the pole barn. I always feel bad about this arrangement but he will have it no other way.
Lunch was in downtown Newberry at 1906 , a nice cafe. There have been many restaurants over the years in this location and this is the latest attempt. Dinner was much better as Larry cooked for us.
Catfish, rice and broccoli. We dined on the deck in the dark. They forced apple pie on me for desert.
It is now time to quit eating!!!
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| The morning view out of the back of the cottage |
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| The straight FL24 |
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| Traveling through Bronson I always stop in to say hello to BO |
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| The two chefs |
Day 6 Nov 28
Larry and David left before sunup to head back to St. Pete. I only had four hours of riding so I waited for it to warm up and hit the road around 10. Navigating was easy. Just up the road at Lake Butler I got on FL121 which turned into GA121 and ran just about all the way to today's destination of Statesboro GA. The weather was great all day and the long stretches of straight roads with not much to see did not make me go to sleep.
Bill rode over from Jax to meet for lunch at Simply Southern in McClenny FL. We had a nice lunch talking about scooters and future trips. I had a salad but Simple Southern has an open counter type kitchen. The owner pulled a tray of biscuits out of the oven and set them in full view. Bill and I talked but I kept staring over his shoulder at the biscuits. Eventually I gave in and went up and bought one. I split it in half and shared it with Bill. We put a little butter and honey on it and made a great dessert.
Back on the road I continued under the sunny skies. I passed a few interesting places but I had fallen behind on the schedule a little bit and did not stop to investigate. One of the rare scheduled events on this trip was meeting my nephew and his family for dinner.
I checked into the Holiday Inn in Statesboro GA just before five.
I walked down the street to Del Sur to meet them for dinner. Hal and Georgia and the three kids arrived at the same time. Hal is a professor of Kinesiology and she works for Chick-Fil-A in charge of children meal development. For 16 years she was with their sports marketing department and had to go to every sport event they sponsored from Kyle Petty’s cross country charity motorcycle ride to holiday football games meaning she was not home for 16 thanksgivings.
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| The Dilahunty Estate |
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| Inside Dave's fifth wheel |
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| Scene of the biscuit event |
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| The temperature is 77 |
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| I did make a few stops |
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| See, someone likes me! |
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Slow departure today waiting for the day to warm up. It hit 60 about 10 so I loaded up and away I went.
First stop is Ace Hardware. A bolt holding the windscreen had fallen out and needed to see if I could rig something to work. There was only one other customer there. An older gentleman looking for an American flag made in the USA. The salesman had to disappoint him. They had none made in the USA. A fine redhead young lady helped me to the bolt section. She knew her bolts. Promptly I had what I needed. A bolt, a garment and a washer. Back in the parking lot I tried my parts and It did the job.
That job done I was on my way to Newberry. The day was fine. Deep blue skies and mild temperature. I moved from pine forest to cotton mixed with peaches.
I had scheduled, in my mind, lunch in Augusta. I lived here for a short time in the last century between Vietnam and Germany for a special school. It would be one of the reasons my life took the path that it did. In downtown I did a U turn when I saw the James Brown Arena. I pulled on the sidewalk to take a picture and met the assistant manager of the arena. She I talked a while about how pretty Big Red is and about my travels.
Photo done I headed for lunch. The internet is a positive and a negative as we all know. Before the internet I would cruise into town and just pick a restaurant. With the internet I can look at the menus and choose what I like. Today I picked the Boll Weevil Cafe and Sweetry. Lunch was seafood bisque and southern gent sammich.
As the rest of the world moves away from cash we are going the other way After lunch I headed north again. Either madam Garmin or my fingers made a mistake and I ended up on US25, a four lane highway. It was a nice rural ride so I stuck with it. It was also SC121. I am thinking I should ride up FL121, GA121, and SC121 until 121 disappears.Well, there was one detour to get back on the two lane and it got a little crowded at the RR crossing.
I met these gentlemen at the gas station. They had moved from upstate NY to Aiken
because of their motorcycle club. They explained many of the rules of gang areas.
Like they could not go into Savannah with the gear they were wearing as that area
belongs to another club.
I rolled into the Hampton Inn in downtown Newberry right at check time of 3:00. Caught up on stuff and a zoom meeting and went to Feagura for a happy hour martini. Their drinks were reasonable but their bar food was not so I walked down to Cafe for dinner.
There were cats in the windows here. I think it is a shelter Nice walk about downtown and called it a day.
Day 8 Nov 30
A major front passed through Newberry this morning with heavy rain and thunderstorms but by noon it was all clear and I was on my way. I did not say it was warm however. The day started with heavy clouds overhead and I was afraid it was going to start to rain again. Luckily it did not and within a short period of time the sky parted as the sun came out. Because of the cold, today was just a ride to get to the destination of Swannanoa North Carolina and to my friend's house on top of the mountain at over 3,600 ft. I stopped for lunch at Lake Lure and had some chili to warm me up and then pressed on. Getting to the house on top of the mountain can be a challenge. It is a very very steep road and how my friends who helped her move got two U-Haul trucks up here is amazing. I was soon safely at the top and Diya came home shortly after I arrived. We had a great time catching up from our last visit though we talked fairly regularly and she made me a great vegetarian curry for dinner. It was wonderful to spend time with her in person again. We were so engrossed we forgot to take a picture.
Day 9 Dec 1
I did not sleep well last night because she started talking about ice on the road down the hill and I started looking at the weather and saw the rain coming though not for a day or two. This kept my mind working through the night and in the end I decided though I was supposed to spend two nights here I was going to get off the damn mountain before it turned worse. Daya went to work and called back and said that yes there was some ice on the road so be careful. The temperature last night was down to 25 in the valley, no idea what it was up here on top of the mountain. I visited with tiger the cat until high noon and the temperature had come up into the mid 40s and I felt comfortable to head down the mountain. The mountain is so steep that when I put the brakes on the scooter it does not come to an immediate stop. It takes a good distance for it to stop. The good news is it was only a few very small patches of ice at the most 6 in across so that was not a challenge. The object today, because it's damn cold, is not to be a sightseer but to get to the next destination of Greenville South Carolina. I didn't take the scenic route I got on the roads that I knew the sun would be on and that would be attended to if there had been ice in the lower parts but that was not a problem.
I heard many great things about downtown Greenville and they were all true. It's probably one of the nicest downtowns I've been to for a city this size and I don't know how long. Main Street is a very active street with lots of restaurants and a few bars and shops and very nicely decorated, very pedestrian friendly and lots of nice trees and vegetation. Had my Martini at The Lounge and a great visit with the bartender. We talked about how she had become a soccer fan and a formula one fan all because of documentaries or shows on Hulu or Netflix. She's a big fan of the queen also and even has a tattoo to prove it. A bowl of noodles and I retreated to the warmth of my room.
The view from the kitchen window
The bridge before the ski run down the hill
In real life that road is very very very steep
She really loves the queen
Good, but should have had the ramen
Not sure why he is in the cemetry
Some place to get my bitcoin out Dec 2 Day 10
Very chilling again this morning. I walked down the main Street to a cafe that served lattes and full breakfast. Didn't want a full breakfast but wanted to have a latte. I also added a everything bagel with cream cheese and butter. I also order a side of grits with or without cheese. Here we are in the middle of the South on a Friday morning and they are out of grits. Who would be out of grits in the South serving breakfast!? Enjoyed the breakfast and had a nice walk back to the hotel via the cemetery.
Staying in the hotel was a soccer team I believe in high School from New Jersey. I sat and listened to their team briefing as the coach was telling them to take shots. Don't hesitate just shoot the ball. They all seem to be from various ethnic backgrounds which I found interesting but they are probably the better soccer players since they know the difference between soccer and football. They were playing real football.
Loaded the scooter and off I went. Usually I'll plan my route in great detail to take me on the back roads but today I just told Miss Garmin to take me to Milledgeville. I must say she did a wonderful job. Just about 90% of the route was lonely back roads and I enjoyed it very much. Especially as the day warmed up. There were quite a few old worn abandoned wooden houses and a church. Other than one old mansion that was in excellent shape it wasn't much else to see but it was an enjoyable ride. The map does not indicate how many different roads we took as we made our way across Georgia. I think that is because I had the phone in the metal glove box and it did not keep a good signal.
There getting to be fewer and fewer shots like these on the back roads I got a room at the Inn on Jefferson. A four room B&B right downtown. All the brand name hotels were ways out of town or at least out of downtown and I wanted to be able to walk around after I had my libation in the evening.
About 5:30 I went for a walk downtown and looked for dinner. The city had closed off a block in preparation for Christmas events this evening but it was not very crowded.
I came upon the Velvet Elvis restaurant and bar. How could I not eat there? The place was packed but I found a spot at the bar. Like most bars everybody was friendly and here the bartenders were cute with short skirts. Or at least the blonde had a short short skirt. (Such a sexist statement.)
Done with dinner and a beer, I went back out into the Christmas festivities, listened to some music and then walked around to see what other shops were open and what was in downtown and then went home.
All in all it was a great day.
Dec 3 Day 11
The breakfast part of this B&B is served at the Local Yolkal, a cafe on the Main Street, owned by the same people. Around 8:00 I walked down for breakfast. You can have anything on the menu. I ordered the Hemingway. An egg Benedict's dish with lox and spinach. It was the opportunity to order a half order so I asked the waitress how big it was. She says it's just a normal English muffin so I told her to give me the whole thing. That was not necessary. Half was more than enough.
After a short visit with Cliff the owner I was going to go for a short walk and then back to the hotel to load up and hit the road. But on my walk, the town was so nice I turned right around and went back to tell Cliff I'd like to stay another night.
Then I went back out and walked around town. Milledgeville was the second capital of the state of Georgia until 1864 at the end of the war when it was moved to Atlanta. It still has a lot of old stately buildings and several colleges. Georgia College has beautiful old buildings and a lovely campus. Georgia Military Academy which was the original college for the civil war is also with beautiful buildings and a lovely campus. The governor's mansion is now under restoration and I found out that you can actually stay in it if you wish. I really like the Inn on Jefferson but I may have to explore staying in the governor's mansion.
Governors Mansion
The Georgia Lunatic Asylum had the largest commercial kitchen at that time.
My father was offered the job of running it but declined. Now all the cracy's are
stored in political positions.
One of my favorite monuments
At the Catholic church. More babies more money for the pope. Back in the room I was going to take a lay day reading my book and walking around doing nothing as I usually do on at least one day a week during my rides. But I got the urge to go see the Old Uncle Remus museum and back through Sparta where I saw the big courthouse. So I mounted up and off I went.
Uncle Remuss museum was not that much and only took a minute and I was back rolling down the highway towards Sparta. Just outside of Sparta up on the side of the road Big John was selling barbecue. I rode by but then thought the better of it and turned around and went back to buy some ribs. Well it was 12:40 and he was out of ribs. All he had left was lemon chicken. I only had interest in ribs. I Visited for a while mainly talking about Big Red and I saddled up to leave. Hit the starter and nothing happened. Did all the usual tricks things I know that keep it from starting. You have to pull one of the brake levers for the starter engaged so I worked all the brake leverage. Nothing. The US model has an emergency shut off button that often causes problems so I rolled it back and forth numerous times to see what would happen. Nothing. Sat there going through all the scenarios of what might be wrong, how the hell was I going to get out of here. And just a few minutes it fired right up and a way we went.
The people declined the chance to photographed Sparta is not much of a town now but it has some wonderful old stately homes. Some in good repair, some falling down.
Returning the Milledgeville I shut the scooter off and tried to see if it would start again. It would not. So I went up to the room and began planning an escape. Though I have great tow insurance, I really wasn't wanting to use it cuz it can be a pain. And they would take it to Atlanta. I didn't want to go to Atlanta. So I looked at U-Hauls. I can get a U-Haul for about 200 bucks to drive home and that seemed a better idea to me.
After the stress of all this I decided I needed a drink. On my way to the Velvet Elvis,I stuck a key and it started right up. I tried it a couple of times and it started right up. So, I still needed a martini and off I went.
Two martinis and some wings brightened my future and I went back to the scooter and again it started right up. I am not optimistic but I am headed for the house. I would almost like to gamble on continuing on the trip but… . I'm really not that brave anymore. So I plotted my escape for tomorrow assuming everything works. I'm headed for Newberry Florida. It's a little further than I want to ride but if I don't ride that far that'll be all right, I can stop someplace short. Good news is I can get home from Newberry. Then I can easily come pick up Big Red and take him home.
Had a zoom meeting with the European scooter people, watched what was supposed to be a football game, Georgia versus LSU, had a shot of Grappa and said goodnight.
Every Time I saw that dog my first thought was it was a real dog Dec 4 Day 12
I woke up this morning with a whole new plan. I decided since the scooter would at least start after a while, so far, that it would be safe and easiest to head to Wanda's which was 2 hours and 30 minutes away. So I walked downtown to the Local Yocal and had my breakfast, came back loaded up and headed in the direction of Wanda's. Had been hesitant to go to her house as she had a huge family reunion this weekend that filled all three of her houses. It was her mother's side of the family and approximately 20 people showed up. The ride over it was quite enjoyable by the time I got there everybody except for brother Ronnie had cleared out and cleaned up. There was some last-minute laundry to do but otherwise that was pretty much it. Wanda and Mavis insisted that I sit and visit with my brother under the patio why they finished up the few final chores. The family reunion evidently was a big success mainly because unlike most family reunions where you meet some face someplace ,stuff your face and then leave the people stayed two nights or at least one night to visit. They had not all been together in a long time and this extended stay gave them all time to reconnect and tell lies and stories that everyone enjoyed and reportedly drank a little bit of alcohol. They were also impressed when the Chief of Police called Wanda and wanted to know if he should stop at the liquor store and buy anything for them.
Dec 5 Day 13
Wanda is an early riser just like I am and her daughter checks in with her every morning about 6:00. We had a nice three-way conversation until it was time for Wanda to go to work. After she left I went out and started to examine Big Red and found what I think was the problem. The negative wire to the starter was loose. I headed off to downtown Richland to Wanda's office at City Hall. Imagine a very very small train station, an old train station, which is,to get the key to the tool shed. On the way I came by the very small and one of the few businesses in town, a car parts place. They had the 8 mm socket that I needed so I bought the whole set for $12 and continued my walk to city hall. Wanda was quite upset that I had bought tools because she was sure she had them in the shed. Last time she was sure also, but what I was looking for was not in the shed and now I know I had it. A pleasant walk around town brought me back to the house and the. Took 8 mm in the long extension and tightened up the nut. Now everything seems to work wonderfully. Took it for a short test ride to get it all heated up again and see what happened when I got back. It started right up. So now I'm comfortable continuing on my journey to Montgomery. The only problem is Wanda said I can't leave until the leftovers are gone. My God, the lady has three full size refrigerators full of leftovers. I can't be here that long. My brother and sister-in-law drove back over from Columbus where they live and we visited through the afternoon till Wanda came home and then they returned home. She went to the next house and pulled out some of Bam's famous brisket and we had a little bit of that for dinner but I was so full of other stuff I didn't do it any damage. Some of the food was cooked by Joyce, a local lady in town who used to work at the cafeteria for Fort Benning but retired and then went to Baghdad and cooked for the troops and Saddam Hussein's Palace. She did the dressing, potato souffle, and the green bean casserole. All excellent but the green bean casserole was superior and I asked Wanda if she had put sugar. She checked with Joyce and she said no because she knew that white people don't like a whole lot of sugar in their vegetables like her family does but she had put cream cheese in it. That's an interesting addition and I think I'll try it.
Wanda and Tate Dec 6 Day 14
This morning I had to drive to the county seat of Lumpkin to present to them some papers for Wanda. Actually to the Superior Court clerk for a tax sale Richland was having this morning on City Hall steps. Keep in mind these are very very small towns and when I walked in the superior clerk said you're Wanda's uncle. I was impressed but seeing as there was nobody else in the building except for a few people to vote I didn't think it was a reach to figure out who I was with my riding jacket on. Mona, the superior clerk, is a Harley Rider and not one of those weekend riders. Her last bike had 62,000 miles on it when she sold it and her latest bike, I can't remember how many years old it is, but it has 8,000 miles on it. So she is a rider not a looker. She took me back into the records room to show me some of their old records, some dating back to 1812.
Lumpkin court house
Mona at the big desk Papers delivered I headed back to Richmond. I went to the house to start packing in time to make the sale on the City Hall step of the properties at 10:00. The sale was not a really big deal. There were maybe 10 people there after properties and there was no bidding against each other. None of these properties really had any value except to the person who bought it. Two of them bought properties adjacent to their land and their home so that they could clean them up. They were all trashed. The gentleman who bought the land next to his house had all kinds of bad things to say about it, however it was Wanda who let the cat out the bag and said it was his brother who owns the land.
Wanda reading the rules The ride to Montgomery. There is just about nothing on the roads until you get close. There was the small town of Hurtsboro. It’s three block downtown area was falling down but there was a hardware store. There was almost no stock but they did have the electrical tape I was looking for. I asked the owner if there was a restaurant in town and he said back a half block was the City Cafe. I walked back since it was the only thing for miles and miles.
the auctioneer selling the properties
The place was full. Not a woman in sight except those serving. The place was full of working men. It was a buffet style for the blue plate special. The food was behind glass and the server put your choses on your plate. I had cube steak, rice with gravy, blackeye peas and a cornbread muffin. With a glass of ice tea it came to $13. I enjoyed the meal and listening to the conversation. I could figure out if a man was waiting to go into the Army from college or got kicked out. The men next to me were talking fence lines and hoped to get to clean them up this afternoon.
The next stop was going to be the Air Force Enlisted Heritage Hall at Gunter Air Force annex. Unfortunately the way Ms Garmin brought me to the gate was closed. To get in I would have to circle the whole base and I was not that excited to get in. I headed into town.
I am staying at the Embassy Suites right down town in front of the old Union Station. There are about five Hilton properties in downtown Montgomery ranging from $239 to $111, but they all wanted 30,000 points and since I was using points I chose the Embassy Suites. The room is a suite and they have a manager's happy hour and a cooked to order breakfast in the morning. The manager's happy hour was not the one I remember from the last century. First, there was a group of safety pipeline people having a convention so the line for the two free drinks was long. The appetizers were chips and salsa and trail mix. It was a lot more extensive in the old days. I took a seat and waited for the long line to dwindle down. I got two margaritas in a plastic cup and chips and salsa. The salsa was ok, but I had not interest so I threw it and one of the drinks away.
The line In Union Station was a Thai restaurant and I went there for dinner. I am happy to report I had a great Pad Thai.
After dinner I went out to walk around. They were having a Christmas party for the city including fireworks. I took it all in and called it a day.
Dec 7 Day 15
Beakfast, like happy hour, was “not like it used to be”. The omelet was excellent but who has a “full” buffet without grits in the south.From there I went to visit the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum. I had heard from a lot of people that this could be a very emotional experience. My words cannot tell you how emotional it was and still is in my heart. The museum documents the history of the black man in America and it is not pretty. From crossing the oceans, to slavery, to modern day injustices. It is something everyone should see. I spoke to many well spoken dosents in the museum and they all came back to the same theme. Education of why it is the way it is is the only way to move forward.
There are so many facts that most people don’t know. Few know that after the slaves were set free they were arrested on false charges and the sheriff leased them back to the same plantation. This practice continued into the 1920’s. When a sheriff and plantation owner were convicted of this illegal practice, none-other than President Woodrow Wilson gave them a presidential pardon. This is just one of tens of thousands of injustices the African American has suffered. These two places will open your eyes…..if you even care. I think most don’t. That is sad for us and sad for our country.
For some reason, pictures are not allowed inside the Legacy Museum. I think that is an error in judgment. People are unable to share the experience. These images are from the internet.
At the National Memorial for Peace, know as the hanging garden, there are rust colored square metal structures hanging from the ceiling representing every county in every state that a lynching took place with the name of the person and the date.
When I walked out and looked up the hill to where the hanging art was, I became very emotional and turned and walked back inside to gain my composure. I can tell you that it is one of the most moving experiences in my life and I have had a few.
This the view that took my breath away. I knew that those things hanging down
represented people being lynched.I can only say that I hope if you have the opportunity you will go and visit both with your eyes open.Mid-day I went to the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Tuskegee. On the way over I stopped in to see Hank. Here is the story of his strange death.
Another monument to racial injustice. They have video recordings of many of the airmen and it is just more detailing of the ugliness of segregation in the south. One tells of riding the train from the north but when it got to the south they added a car and told all the African Americans they had to go to the colored car. They are well done interviews with very well spoken men and women.
I will go back to both of these places soon. I want to take the time to see more of it all. Again I wish I could express it in more detail.
From Tuskegee I headed back to Richmond. I was looking for lunch but there were only fast food places in town. South of town I came to the “yellow store”. A battered and worn convenience store building painted all in yellow. I had read they had good food. I asked a gentleman in the parking lot and he said it was great. I walked in the small place that was packed with people waiting to pay and people waiting to order. They were all elbow to elbow, but I decided it would take longer than I wanted to stay and I was not really hungry. I later learned from Wanda it is one of the best places to eat in Alabama.
I rolled into Richmond late afternoon, unloaded, made a martini and sat with the dogs to contemplate what I had seen today. Wanda came home and we finished the last of the leftovers.
Dec 16 Day 17
The riding weather had been great. Foggy mornings and warm temperatures. Today was no different. I told the dogs goodbye and headed for Camp David in Newberry.
Lunch in Moultrie at the Three Bakers Dec 9 Day 17
Larry had cooked another great dinner last night and he, Kim, and I dinned on the porch under a full moon.I was on the road by 7:30 in the lifting fog and was home way before noon.A great trip. I really want to get back to central Georgia again soon. There is a lot to see. And, of course, make another visit to the Montgomery and the museum.Thanks for coming along.
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