Forever A Hillbilly: Moving on South

Forever A Hillbilly: Moving on South:       At Andersonville, we spent some time at the Civil War POW Camp. That was a nightmare place. Not enough food, bad water, little cover...

Moving on South

      At Andersonville, we spent some time at the Civil War POW Camp. That was a nightmare place. Not enough food, bad water, little cover from the elements. Actually, It was just a big field with a palisade wall around it, teen age guards all around, trained to shoot to kill if anyone got within 10 feet of the wall. A creek running through it was the only source of water, and It was quickly contaminated with human waste. Thousands from the north died there.

     Our next stop was one of our inexpensive-type stops. My nephew Stan and Missy Arrington's  driveway. Stan had always been an outdoor, woodsy type guy. He was now a forester, and a dutch oven cooking expert. They had a fenced back yard, except at the back, which was bordering a bayou. They had a big, pretty white rabbit that had the run of the place. One day, Missy was at the kitchen window, and a large gator came up out of the bayou and gobbled the pretty white rabbit up. They have two children, Mandy and Thomas. Mandy was always all about horses, growing up, and she is now about to get a Masters degree in horse knowledge. I'm just not sure what that degree would be called. When we woke up the next morning, at daylight, Thomas, a small boy then, walked by our RV and disappeared from our vision. When we came out of the RV, later, he was just sitting up in top of a tall tree, just looking. Thomas went on to achieve, in college, membership in that group of nearly naked, painted young men that you might see at Mississippi State football games. He now seems to have matured, however, because he's about to travel to the Philippines and spend a good bit of time traveling up remote rivers, seeking unreached people for Christ. I would say he's being promoted, how about you? Missy is a big wig at Mississippi State.

     We toured Savanna, with its Forest Gump bench, where he sat with his box of chocolates on Chippewa  Square. But we forgot to bring our chocolates.

     Our next stop was at Mark Twain State Park, well out into the Okefenokee Swamp. The swamp was formed when the Swanee River spread out over a wide area, 50 miles across. It is a wild area that man was unable to successfully cross until well up into the 1900's. I had been here before, on one of my Pork and Beans Trips. Barbara had not. I wanted to give Barbara a real taste of the swamp, but before heading out in a small boat, I gave her the gator lecture. I told her it was wintertime here, the gators were cold, and would not try to come in our boat. But, we will be very close to many. If you come close to one, and jump up and run, you will swamp the boat, then we'll be right down in amongst' um'. Stay still. A ranger told of getting a report of a boat being swamped, people in the water. When they got there, they were still hanging onto the boat, surrounded by 40 gators. Just looking. I called up several foxes to a photo session with my predator call. Then it was time to head on down the road.

     We went down the west coast of Florida, and saw so many different birds and other animals at reserves along the way, I wouldn't even try to tell you about all of them. Sea Cows stood out. Very large swimming mammals, about the size of a walrus, but they had a habit of swimming just under the surface, and many got cut up by outboards.

     We left our RV at Miami, then drove on down to the south most point of the USA at Key West. The sunset was one of a kind, and everyone turned out for a big party at sunset. We spent the night in a B&B, then back to Miami.

     We toured the Everglades. A foreign guy was taking a little trail ahead of us, and he ran back, pointing, saying, “chicken! Chicken!” It turned out to be one of those big footed little birds, that walks around on lily pads. I didn't know the name of it either, so I really don't know what the purpose of that little story was. Certainly not educational.

      Barbara and a large gator were looking at each other. Barbara asked a ranger what was keeping him from just coming and getting her. He said, “He's sizing you up. If  he decides he's bigger than you, he will.” Well, they were a pretty good match, and she didn't give him time to make his decision. She broke for the car. Barbara just has something that makes big animals make a run at her, tame or wild. Not the least of which was a small grizzly bear.  I have heard that a Gator can outrun a horse for 20 feet, and I never believed those slow-seeming animals could really do that, until I saw one make a run for a bird once. They can come up on their toes and just fly for a short distance.

     We had seen both of Florida's coasts before, so we decided to head back up the middle. We drove through endless acres of Sugar Cane to Lake Okeechobee. We camped very near the lake on the south end. It is Florida's largest lake, though shallow. I have heard of fishermen out in the middle of the lake, seeing almost no land, swamping the boat, then going into a panic, until they realize they can stand up.

     That south end must sorta be like an elementary school for small gators, since they abound, and will crawl right up to the RV at night. One woman wanted to show Barbara how a gator would go right for her fishing lure. It did, she jerked it hard, and the lure flew back and slapped Barbara smack in the face. Barbara got away from that woman.

Forever A Hillbilly: The Sixty Year Promise Best Family story contest

Forever A Hillbilly: The Sixty Year Promise Best Family story contest: The deadline  is approaching! the Best family story contest ends Sept. 1.  The leader, based on the most reads in three days, along with t...

The Sixty Year Promise Best Family story contest

The deadline  is approaching! the Best family story contest ends Sept. 1.  The leader, based on the most reads in three days, along with the honerable mention stories are listed below. If you still wish to enter, I must recieve it at least three days before the deadline.

The leader - The Dog Days of Summer by Linda hatcher, 334 reads.  Honorable mention - Polio, by Jonnie Willis - 236;  My Story, by Cindy Buford - 184;  A Love Story, by Jackie Leffingwell, 149; Artie Mae and Dorothy Bell, 143. All of these stories were wonderful! You guys are so good!

     

Forever A Hillbilly: Multiple Troubles

Forever A Hillbilly: Multiple Troubles:      We drove through Maryland. The leaves were not quite at their peak yet, but we saw it a couple of years later, backtracking I must ...

Multiple Troubles

     We drove through Maryland. The leaves were not quite at their peak yet, but we saw it a couple of years later, backtracking I must admit, which we try to avoid. The second time around, Maryland was as glorious as New England was now. Moving into West Virginia, it was a hard trip. Even on this great interstate now through these mountains. Its hard to imagine the hardships of the pioneers, traveling here. We camped at Broken Wheel Campground, and the name seemed appropriate. West Virginia is a poor state, very rich in natural beauty – and coal.

     The old grist mill on a rushing brook at Babcock State Park, which of course we pictured, is a great photo attraction. We have seen photos of it, all over the country. The New River Gorge is actually very old, and the world's longest single arch steel bridge spans it, 867 feet above the river below. The coal seam is about three quarters of the way to the top, and it's easy to mine. Just drop the coal to the valley below, haul it off. Many sky divers gather at the New River Gorge bridge one day each year, to risk killing themselves. I just don't have that urge.

     This was a backward, isolated area for so long, before this high tech corridor we came down. Travel was hard for these friendly people, who speak so much like the Arkansas hill people of my youth. The slang is so similar, it is amazing. I know they never visited back and forth much, over these mountains. The New River is also a top white water river.

 Kentucky Troubles

      The RV would not start after a stop at Hawk‘s Nest, the first of a string of automobile troubles. It had to be towed 40 miles to have a new ignition switch put in. Thanks for the tow, Good Sam!

     Arriving at Beaver Dam, Kentucky, we were having battery problems. We spent the night. A large party seemed to be scheduled for tonight, so we went downtown. We were walking down the street, surrounded by hundreds of people. The music started to kick in. Every single person there, and I mean every one, stopped and started tapping a foot. Everybody except us. Now if that's not a bit weird. Then, the music really kicked in, and again, every single person, except us, just literally danced onto the street! Not together, really, just dancing. We looked around for the movie cameras. Surely we were on a movie set.  

     When we got back to the RV park, a track with small race cars roared to life. Naturally, we had to go look. These were kids driving these cars. But they were very loud and very fast! I knew these kids didn't even have a driver's license yet.

     On down the road a ways the next day, what we thought was battery problems turned bad. Alternator problems. It was Saturday, and new one was hard to find, but we did, and I was determined to do it myself. We pulled into a truck stop, and I got my tools out. I discovered a guy in the truck stop that used to be a mechanic, but now he was just working there at odd jobs. He started supervising me, and kept coming out at intervals to keep me on the right track, for a good part of the afternoon. He would not take pay, but we left some for him anyway, when we pulled out the next day. We have stayed in touch with him over the years. A good man.

Forever A Hillbilly: The Tall Ship Cory

Forever A Hillbilly: The Tall Ship Cory:      At St. Andrews, close to the Maine border, we booked a whale watching trip on the tall sailing ship Cory. We only saw two whales. Jus...