2013-34 Adel Georgia

hay stack art

2013-34

Albany Georgia
Moultrie
Adel

Campground:  Devencrest Travel park, 1833 Liberty Expressway S.E, Albany GA, 31705 (229) 431-1010
PA rate: $15.00, Normal Price: $30.00 Full hookups.  This is an old park.  About half full with old camper trailers.  Ok for a night or two.   Many sites look to be abandoned from non use.

Campground:  Reed Bingham St Pk, GA.  $22.40 w/senior 20% discount.  $5 entrance fee per stay.  I paid for the water/electric & cable tv site, many are pull-thru’s.  full hookup sites available.  You select what ever campsite is open.  Mini-golf, bikes, canoe and kayak rentals. Lake fishing and swimming.

Distance Traveled:  131 miles

I’m traveling along another great hwy within the State of Georgia.  Hwy 27/280/520.  Isn’t it amazing how some highways can have so many numbers.  In any case, this is another good example of Georgia’s many in-state highways that are four lane divided highways running through the countryside of Georgia.  Why anyone would travel the super highways like I-75 and I-95 when there are so many other options of less traveled, great roads especially through Georgia.

I get to pass by farms with acres of cotton not quite ready for harvest yet, but showing off their puffy white pods of cotton.  On the opposite side of the road are pecan orchards.  Those large stately trees with many farms adding more acres each year of those pecan trees. A little ways further on down the road, in between thick forests of hardwoods and pines are more farms.  Peanut farms of course as I’m heading through Jimmy Carter country don’t you know.   And they do harvest an awful lot of those pines trees, as I see huge trailers hauling out some of the largest pine trees I’ve seen.

I’m only in Albany for two nights so won’t have anything to report on this town.

these cute ducks followed me around as I walked through the campground

Distance Traveled:  53 miles.

Either I was wrong in the past, or Georgia State parks have reduced the senior discount to 20% off.  Which is still nice to get, but they now charge a one time fee per visit to enter the park.  $5.00  While I was up at the front office, I was told that Georgia recently turned over 5 state parks with lodges to a Florida company.  An odd arrangement, where they’ve taken over the parks in the  Georgia park system, no money was exchanged and the Fl company gets to operate the parks and take all the money by the sound of it.  The park ranger also mentioned that Georgia has no money to operate their remaining state parks.  Half of the state funding for parks was cut from the budget.  Unfortunately, the state employees have lost their jobs at the 5 state parks and if rehired by the Fl company will most likely be paid less and loose most of their benefits.  By the way, Georgia has done this in the past.  The previous companies running the parks ran them in the ground and Georgia had to take them back under their control.

view from my campsite 

There’s no doubt I’m in south Georgia as I begin to see a few native palm trees mixed in among the spreading oak trees and pines.  Spanish moss is draped in cascading sheets from the trees around the campsite giving another indication that I’m in the south.  Cotton fields fill the area as this is mainly flat land farming.  There are even grass farms.  Yup, farms that grow lawn grass that is then cut and sent across the country to provide instant lawns for homes.  The town of Moultrie has a magnificent county courthouse in the center of town.  As I drive around town there are also some wonderfully maintained southern homes with white pillars, porches and many homes built of red brick.  Large lawns with pine trees and oaks dotting the landscape.

Courthouse in Moultrie Georgia

This neat house has the original facade that once was on the second
story of a theatre in Atlanta Georgia

an old barn near Adel Georgia

Back at the campground, my neighbors are in an older travel trailer and are a good example of the friendly Georgia hospitality.  Though as with so many southerners, the older gentleman makes sure that I know what he thinks about us “Yankees”.  Using some colorful language, always in a humorous vein of course, but still letting me know that he thinks all Yankees should go back north where they came from.  The wife (wife number 2), as he is (husband number 2) though they don’t refer to each other that way.  She is much younger at 49 and he is 75.  After her bad marriage, he was always there to support and give her confidence.  She fell in love and they married.  He’s been in business for himself for years, being a slum lord as they say, owning a number rental properties as well as a backhoe, dump truck and excavator and stump grinding business.  He was in the septic tank cleaning business, but said he was tired of taking peoples sh_ _ t  and not getting paid for it.  They brought up a problem that I understand is across much of the country.  Here in rural areas as well as the big cities.  Crack and meth.  Both were concerned about leaving their property even for a few days to come to the campground and just get away.  They’ve been robbed in the recent past, a couple young male adults stole some aluminum framed windows.  They were caught and he was able to get $27 back from the junk yard that they were sold too.  Now in jail for a couple of years, all for stealing $27 worth of windows.  Anything to support their drug habit.

Adel Georgia

a southern gas station

And now for the big news in the world of Camper Doug.  I’m planning on being a camp host at Moss Park for the fall/winter months.  I have been working on the plan for a while.  A couple months ago, or maybe it was only a little over a month, when one is retired, it’s hard to discern time, I contacted Moss park about a camp host job.  As it turned out, they had recently let go all volunteers due to an accident or some such thing and the county freaked out over possible lawsuits or health costs.  So technically there was an opening.  After calling them back a while later letting them know I was still interested, I received a call and they said to fill out the camp host application forms and send them in.  I’ve filled out the application forms, e-mailed them to the Park manager and plan on arriving as of  November 1st.   At least I'm assuming I have the job.  Wish me luck as I start my new adventure and I’ll keep you posted on the how it all turns out.

I'll try and send out one more posting before I get to my winter destination and my camp host job.  So I guess this is getting to the end of trail partner, and as the song go, "Happy Trails to you, until we meet again...."

Looking forward to seeing all my former co-workers, friends and relatives once I get back into the Orlando area.