OUR 39TH PRESIDENT…JIMMY CARTER LIBRARY

Tuesday, September 15 – We left Canton on Sunday morning. We had a one-night stop in Wytheville, VA, and are now staying at the Atlanta, GA Elks Lodge. We had a rain-filled drive from VA to GA. The temperature on Monday morning was only 38 degrees.

These signs were along the I-85 in GA. We have never seen prices like this.

At the Atlanta Elks, we are basically in a corner of of the parking lot with a single 30 amp electrical hookup. We ran our hose to the Lodge hose bib for water. Nothing fancy about this camp spot but only a $15 donation to the Lodge for each night. A motor home pulled in later in the day and had to park in the back of the lot without any hookups.

We had several sights we wanted to visit here in Atlanta, but only have one day to do them. First stop on Tuesday morning was the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. This is another well-done museum of the Carter Presidency. We've been to several Presidential Libraries and have enjoyed them all.

The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum houses U.S. President Jimmy Carter's papers and other material relating to the Carter administration and the Carter family's life. President Carter faced several challenges during his presidency, most infamous the Iran hostage incident and the Middle East Oil embargo. A few other of his accomplishments are Camp David Accords, Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty, Torrijos–Carter Treaties, National Energy Policy, Moral Equivalent of War speech, 1979 energy crisis, Diplomatic Relations with China, 1980 Summer Olympics boycott, SALT, etc.

He served in his young years in the Navy.

Who can forget…

His Oval Office.

Here is just a fraction of the list of honors he has received…Nobel Peace Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Philadelphia Liberty Medal, United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights, Grammy Award, etc.

Medal of Freedom for President and Mrs. Carter.

President Carter…Grammy? Really! Best Spoken Word Album-2006.

Jimmy Carter served as president from January 20, 1977 to January 20, 1981.

The Museum is filled with all his accomplishments in every area of the Presidency.

Mr. Carter is the author of twenty-nine books. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter volunteer one week a year for Habitat for Humanity. Since 2007, President Carter also has served as a member of The Elders, a group of independent global leaders. He teaches Sunday school and is a deacon in the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains. For recreation, he enjoys fly-fishing, woodworking, and swimming.

The grounds are gorgeous. It is a “park-like” setting. There is a Carter Presidential Center Rose Garden also.

He only served one term in office, but history has been fairly kind to his accomplishments. We learned a lot about Carter from this library and were reminded about his many, many accomplishments. Don’t miss this wonderful and well-organized Presidential Museum.

Our Tuesday was just beginning. Check back to see how we spent the rest of the day.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

 

LOOK WHO HAS HITCH ITCH

Thursday, September 10 – All set for departure on Sunday.

She is ready to roll.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

TIME TO RESUME OUR TRAVELS

Tuesday, September 8 - With the kids back in school, it's time to hit the road for our winter travels. We will be departing our summer home here in Canton, Ohio, after Labor Day and heading toward Augusta. GA. Paul's brother lives there and we usually like to spend several days visiting on our way south.

Karen, John, Paul, Marsha

We will then head to Florida to do a circular tour of the state. This will be our first complete RV trip to Florida. We have only been to the Amelia Island. We'll start in St. Augustine and then head down the Atlantic Coast visiting Daytona, Palm Beaches, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and other places before ending up in the Keys.

We will then head back North along the Gulf Coast stopping in Fort Myers, Clearwater/St. Petersburg, Tampa, Sarasota, Tallahassee and Pensacola. We'll be stopping at hundreds of places Marsha has mapped out along the way. As of today, she has an eight…that is 8…page itinerary. Those are just a few of the places she has planned on visiting. Yes, Paul will be exhausted. If you have any “must-see” adventures, please let us know.

From Florida, we will travel along the Gulf to Texas. We want to be in Texas by November. We always plan on Thanksgiving dinner at our daughter Carrie's place. The RV will remain in the Houston area through the Christmas holiday. We will again fly back to Ohio to spend Christmas with Kelly and Dave, Marsha's dad and the rest of the family. Carrie flies in from Houston to spend the holiday too!

Our plans after the New Years are a little unsettled at this point. Our thinking is to spend January in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. We may head to Big Bend National Park in Southwest Texas in early February, weather permitting. We will then relax the remaining days of winter in the Houston area before returning North for the summer.

So, that's “The Plan” for this winter. Things could possibly change but at least that's our thinking at this point in time. Of course, we will surely cross paths with several RV friends along the way and renew old friendships. If it appears your path will mesh with ours, be sure to get in touch.

We had a new adventure just a few weeks back…a humming bird in our garage. It wouldn’t leave.

Marsha ran to the computer to figure out how to get it out of the garage. Many articles said that the birds can’t find their way out and sometimes die of exhaustion from flying around looking for an exit. We definitely didn’t want that to happen. We did try to put a feeder close to the garage door, but it wasn’t interested. So we tried the next most popular solution…

Yes….a rake. The articles showed how to hold a rank close to where the bird lands. It will then land on it, and we were then to walk it slowly to the opening.

It landed many times over the next hour and a half but didn’t remain long enough on the rank for either of us to get it to the opening.

Finally! Success! Marsha was able to slowly walk it to the door and away it went.

What an ordeal. But glad to report we have a happy ending to our story.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!