Hartwell Lakeside KOA, Hartwell
Sunday, 16 April 2023
Dext and I had just barely started our first walk of the day when it started raining. Just a little bit at first, but then more and more until it was actually pouring. We got really wet of course and cut our walk short, but it wasn't fair to Dext to have such a short exercise period (though he hates getting wet). He's not as active these days as he used to be, but he still needs exercise (as do I).
I wanted to take a side trip to Athens today, so we got on the road soon after 8:00.
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| today's route |
I passed a road going to the town of Lincolnton and was just wondering whether they'd honored George Washington too when I came to the town of Washington, established 1780. "City of Excellence," they said. (Which instantly reminded me of a big sign that used to sit on I-35 south of Dallas - I think paid for by Ross Perot - that said "Welcome to Dallas - City of Excellence.")
A place more than 200 years old of course had a historic district, and it was the county seat.
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| Wilkes County Courthouse built 1904 - it looks pretty neat, doesn't it? This is an online photo, but it's what I saw. |
I passed a second-hand store called "God's Marketplace, Inc."
I passed the Callaway Plantation - open for tours, per their sign - then a string of unincorporated towns. At one of them, Oglethorpe Community, I saw cows grazing next to a vineyard and wondered about fertilizer and such.
I passed the Oglethorpe County Courthouse in Lexington, and then the turn for Watson Mill Bridge State Park. I wish I'd known then that the park was created, in part, to preserve the Watson Mill Bridge which, at 229', is Georgia's longest original-site covered bridge. I'd've liked to have seen it.
Near Athens I passed the office of a veterinarian that had this sign: "In a world where you can be anything, be kind." And I found the meeting place for the "Athens Friends (Quakers)," per their sign.
In Athens (again no identifying sign), I'd found online a recycling dropoff center and I stopped there first. Athens accepts almost everything to be recycled, to my relief, but they go an extra step. Online I found a list of the specific destination of each type of item to be recycled - where the stuff goes and what's done with it. Take a look at this link. https://www.accgov.com/Recycling-Facility It was a relief to see that maybe my plastic bottles weren't going to end up floating around on the world's oceans, and I was impressed that Mohawk Carpet (one of Georgia's biggest industries) was recycling #1 plastics into carpet. Certainly something to keep in mind if I ever get a house that needs carpets.
I stopped at a grocery store and a liquor store and then drove around town a bit, passing through the campus of the University of Georgia. Nice-looking school.
Because I wanted to drive through the campus and not skirt it, Google got upset because I wasn't taking their idea of the fastest route someplace and sent me on a convoluted route on small residential streets, where I got lost again. But after driving around a bit, I found a familiar street name and got back on track again.
I passed a liquor store with this sign: "I just stopped drinking for good. Now I drink for fun." Note that this is a college town.
Back on the road I passed my 2nd pecan orchard of the day.
I crossed several more rivers - including Georgia's version of the Hudson River - and came to the town of Franklin Springs, "Home of Emmanuel College." Online I learned this school, founded in the early 1900s, is "a community of Christ-centered higher learning that integrates faith, learning and living within a biblical worldview."
This town is close to Royston, "Home of Ty Cobb," they're proud to say. Ty Cobb is still well-known as an excellent baseball player, but he's also known for being assaultive and pugnacious toward just about everybody. Wikipedia explained that Cobb's father was convinced his wife (the mother) was having an affair, and he was sneaking past his bedroom window to catch her at it when she saw his shadow, thought he was an intruder, and killed him with a gun he'd given her. She was acquitted at her murder trial. Cobb said later he played baseball in such a rough manner in memory of his father. If that's true, I'd say he couldn't have picked a wronger lesson from that incident if he'd tried.
After great diligence, I'd found online that GA-29, the road from Royston, was blocked by bridge construction, and I came up with 2 possible alternate routes. But the highway department had other ideas and rerouted me on their chosen route before I came to the turns I'd expected. That's the reason for that final dogleg on the route map above.
That detour took me past the unincorporated town of Vanna, as well as someplace called Hoot Owl Hollow.
As I drove into Hartwell, I found road construction on that end of GA-29 also. I guess that explained why the highway department had routed me many miles out of the way, instead of just getting me get off before the bridge construction and back on after it.
Because I wasn't coming from Google's directions, it took a few more wrong turns for me to find the Hartwell Dog Park, which I'd found online. Even once I'd found the people part of the park, I had to ask folks where the dog park was, because they'd tucked it into a far corner and then not bothered to post signs (because this is Georgia, after all).
But once there, we found a doggie birthday party, with maybe a half dozen assorted dogs and their owners and kids. There was so much going on that I was a little skeptical, but Dext did really well with that crowd. He sniffed a lot of places and ran around a little bit and generally had some fun. As we were about to leave, the folks wanted to give Dext a bag of party favors, and when I declined (we'd crashed the party, after all) they gave him some treats. Of course, he then decided he should stick right beside the treat doler-out and I had a hard time prying him away.
And then another couple of miles to tonight's campground.
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