Scooter and me vaulted out of Valdosta about 6:30. I had several cups of coffee with the owner of the B&B first and talked about various things. It took he and his wife 14 years to rebuild the house. They did a wonderful job and it is a great place to stay. Each room is perfect. http://www.fairviewinn.info/ His wife had recently given a kidney to her sister. What a great feeling it must be to give life to a loved one.
Valdosta was bustling at 6:30 and I headed for the gas station. I soon as I pulled in, an elderly gentleman walked up and told me he had bought a brand new Vespa in Valdosta in 1951 and had loved it. We visited a bit and I put in my 1.2 gal of gas and headed out of town. I was looking for a right turn to stay on US 221 and I was sure there would be a sign. I was mistaken. When we had gone what I thought was to far I spotted Don Thompson in a parking lot loading ice in his truck and I headed for him to ask directions. Though being born in Valdosta, he did not know US 221 so I dug out the map and said it went to Lakeland. He said, very strongly "you don't want nothing with that road. There ain't nothing on that road but rattlesnakes big enough to wreck that little scooter". He was not lying about the "nothing" part. It was a long straight road with nothing but pine forest on each side. No gas, no house, no nothing.
Passing through "downtown" Pearson, Ga I saw a confederate flag in front of the Court House at half staff. In this time of political correctness I found this interesting and did a u-turn to go back and check it out. It was part of a memorial to the Confederate war dead.
Mid morning I rolled into Douglas, Ga. At the entrance of to their airport there was an old U.S Air Force T-33 1950's era fighter. Being starved for something other than trees, we whipped into the airport. There where very few airplanes and many empty hangers, but across the ramp I saw an old 4 engine DC-6. We took off across the ramp to take a picture up close. There where three big hangers that I thought where abandoned but as we left I noticed one of the doors was cracked. I stuck my head in and found a hanger full of old WW II airplanes. I wandered around until I found Jason Cecil. What a nice guy. He showed me around and was glad to tell me all about the airplanes and what they were doing on the restorations. The owner is obviously very well to do, 'cause this ain't cheap work. I was very grateful to him after the tour and he said wonder around and take all the picots you want.
Jason with one fuselage of a F-82 mustang. One of 2 ever built.
The next stop was Vidalia, Ga home of the onion. Well, not really, my destination was Truax Veneer in the town Lyons next door. Do not know where the "Vidalia onion" comes from as I did not see a single field of them. Just more pine trees. Andy Kimbell owns Truax Veneer and his wife and I used to fly together at USAir. She was off in New Mexico learning how to be a gun toughting pilot to prevent the next 9/11. Andy and I are from opposite ends of the political scale, but I enjoy his company and respect his opinion as he does not get his information from Fox News. He actually reads papers and books of all variety. And, he is a successful small business owner and knows what he is talking about when we discuss government oversight and regulation because he lives it everyday. We toured the plant and he gave me an oversight of past problems and future plans. He is still above water but swimming real hard to stay there. We went off for an extended lunch with two great gentlemen. Wayne is also a business owner and the other gentleman is the local vet. Lunch was at Boxer BBQ (I think). When Wayne and the Vet order a stuffed potatoe I questioned the order of a stuffed potatoe at a BBQ joint. They explained that the potatoe not only had the usual stuff, butter, sour cream, bacon bites, cheese, jalapeno's, etc, but was also stuffed with BBQ. As interesting as it sounded I could not talk myself into one and ordered just a sandwich. True to their culture, a blessing was said before we ate. Conversation was about business, the economy and the indicator that the economy was bad. The main indicator being that Wayne no longer had a bank roll in his pocket so big you could "burn a wet mule". Andy's question was why would you want to. One topic is the new tuna canning plant that is being built in Vidalia. Get your map out. There ain't no tuna in a 100 miles. Go figure. It is all about tax relief and what I call government kick backs to the company. All of these gentlemen are very active in the community from the Board of Directors of the hospital to running the annual airshow. Guys like this are what America runs on. After lunch I told Andy so long and headed north on US 1.
US1 went from not busy to busy from time to time. For the first time on the road, someone other than myself tried to kill me. A double tractor trailer passed me in my lane, as there was a car coming from the other direction and he was in to big of a hurry. I was almost pushed off the road, but managed to survive by slowing way down and moving to the paved edge. About 5 miles down the road the Georgia Highway Patrol had the truck pulled over and giving him a ticket. Some times there is justice.
I got off of US 1 and back on to US 221 a much quieter and peaceful road. The 30% chance of rain was threatening but fortunately I just skirted the back side of it and the rain cooled of the 94 degree temperatures
I had planned to stay at the McCormack Inn in McCormack, SC. However, they had informed me last Monday that they had decided to close. I was greatly disappointed as there is just something about it that I really liked and it was the only place that I was repeating from last year. I booked a room further on down the road, but when I came by McCormack I swung into town just be sure it was closed. To my great surprised it was open and had one room left and so I checked in. It was perfect. However, this is their last night. Jeff and Amie are headed back to Seattle. I met the holder of the mortgage and the original owner that had restored the building. He was taking it back, but closing only because he lives in St. Mary Ga and this is not a business to run by and absentee owner. We discussed the business and why it was closing in the small pub downstairs (one of the other reasons I like this place). It is a going concern basically but Jeff was reaching out to the wrong crowd. The rural south well not pay $9 for a hamburger. There are many interested buyers, so Steve hopes that it is open and running again soon.
