I left LaGrange this morning and started winding my way through the southwest corner of Georgia. The first stop was a place called Pine Mountain. I am not sure what the real draw is to this area. The Town of Pine Mountain is a small little tourist town. I think there may be a resort complex in the area golfing and such. Anyway, it was a nice little stop. There were a number of Antique shops there. I browsed through them but they proved to be more like collectible crafty shops or vintage but not real antique shops. If you wanted some kitchy stuff from the 1970’s there was plenty of that. Next to Pine Mountain is “warm springs” which is the place Theodore Roosevelt use to come as therapy for his crippled legs. The town makes a big deal about “ see President Roosevelt’s little white house” I followed the signs out figuring it might be interesting. When I got there there were all these tour busses and the little white house had a big wall around it so you could not actually see it without paying someone money. The whole thing pissed me off so I left. The countryside was fairly nice sometimes very nice sometimes so so. About an hour later I pulled into some town totally lost. I couldn’t find the road I though I should be on and I couldn’t even find this little town on the map. I finally figured I had to ask someone for directions. I go into this Pharmacy and it is run by, probably Laotians. The guy had a pretty good handle on English. I thought wow I can’t imagine how these guys deal with living way out in redneck Georgia or how they even got here. They were very nice, turns out I could not find the road I wanted because it was the one I drove in on and I could not find the town on the map because I wasn't anywhere where I thought. Well that bummed me out. Somehow I had got turned around and was driving north. Around noon I passed through Plains. This is where Jimmy Carter lives. They have bought the towns old high school and that now houses exhibits about the Carter’s and their life. Lots of photos, the Nobel peace prize is on display there is a film where Jimmy and Roselyn tour you through their home room by room. Jimmy has made all the furniture. It was kind of a homey little presentation. The town itself is a very nice quite little farm town. If you want to get really removed from city Plains would be a good place to do it. I tried to stop by and see Jimmy. Apparently no one told him I was coming. He lives right on main street. It’s the house you can’t see with the big Iron fence in front of it. On the left of the main gate is another house that holds the secret service with a guard booth with black glass in it so you can not see the guy in there. Can you imagine being trained as a secret service agent and then being assigned to the guard booth in Plains Georgia? Your job would literally be watching the grass grow in Jimmy’s yard. Eventually I made it down to Thomasville GA. This is a town of probably about 20,000 It was similar to La Grange. A pretty descent downtown well-kept. The people I met were all very friendly. I had to take my usual room at the highway, but came back into town for dinner. I stopped into this place I believe it was called the “Plaza” It was about 7pm when I arrived. I immediately heard a lot of noise coming from the bar room. The place was big like a banquet room at a hotel. A big bar on one side and a lot of tables in the center and a dance floor. When I opened the door initially I was thinking. Wow it is filled with old people. Then I realized they were my age. I’d say 40-60 was the average. Apparently you can smoke in bars in Georgia been a while since I have seen that. I ordered an absolute with a lime and as soon as I said lime. Some guy said. “Your not from around here” Turns out he grew up about ten miles from where I did. He moved down several years ago to help his families business out and liked the people so much he stayed. About half an hour later a band came in and setup. When they first started I thought they sucked. Around midnight I was thinking they were awesome, funny how that works. The night continued to get very skewed the later it got. People were like “you gotta stop your trip right now and move here” well it is nice to be wanted. I suspect they just don’t know me well enough to understand what I will be contributing to their town Well I don’t know what to tell you about the rest of the night. It seemed to morph into bizarre. I remember dancing with someone that could have been a transvestite and even stranger her mother was with us. I think that’s all I care to say. What happens in Georgia stays in Georgia.
