Warm Springs, GA

Feb 19, 2008
Yesterday we continued driving south, without any certainty as to where we would end up. It seemed that Florida was just too far—I was getting cranky with all the driving. So Joey suggested we simply find a nice state park and stop there. Luckily we’d stopped at a Georgia rest area/information center as we crossed into the state, and I’d picked up a brochure of all the state parks and historic sites. On our way was a park called FD Roosevelt, between the towns of Warm Springs and Pine Mountain, Georgia. We decided to stop there and spend the rest of the afternoon, and then see how we felt about continuing on further south.

FDR State Park turned out to be lovely. The campground is a good size, the sites are large, there is a nice lake, and the place is 90% empty. We were able to have a choice of campsites, and we are up on a little rise overlooking the lake. We set up and I spent some time just relaxing and reading, which I felt I really needed. It was a very good way to end the day, and we really liked the site. Much to our surprise, in the evening Joey realized that we had an Internet connection! We suspect that it is coming from the site of the camp hosts, who have a good sized Class A rv with a satellite receiver on the roof. They are not far from us, and we have been collecting our mail and using the internet ever since we realized our computer had connected somehow!

Last night we decided NOT to go further south. It is still about 6 hours from here to Destin, FL, and Topsail Beach State Park. That means another 12 hours driving, and we would have almost no time actually down there. We decided it wasn’t worth it, and we’d rather take our time and be less rushed and less tied to the interstate. So we decided to stay here for the extra day.

This morning we dawdled and read our books until around lunchtime, when we decided to go into Warm Springs to visit the Little White House, the southern home of Franklin D Roosevelt. He came to Warm Springs in search of improvement of his polio symptoms, and apparently really loved the town. The museum here is very good, and we enjoyed it a lot. The Little White House itself is also nice—it is very modest, and I think that FDR probably liked it for the same reason we like Mo—it is so much simpler than the rest of our life, we are totally comfortable without being crowded by all our “stuff”, and we are mostly away from the pressures of daily life, without being totally out of touch.

FDR's car with specially-designed controls

One of the museum exhibits describing the beginning of FDR'sRural Electrification Administration

Anyway, we really enjoyed visiting the Little White House and learning a lot more about FDR and his life down here in Georgia. The town of Warm Springs, however, was a disappointment—it seemed very run down, and almost all the shops were closed. Of course, it IS February and it IS the middle of the week. I suspect it is a lot more fun here during the spring and summer months.
We came back to the state park for another night, and to try to figure out what to do next. We want to go home via Miracle Farm so we can see Eddie and Karen, and that is about 9 hours from here. My first idea was to meander into Alabama, which is only about 30 miles away. I’ve never even set foot in that state! But other than being in the state itself, there wasn’t very much really “on the way” (in fact, the whole state is OUT of the way if we aren’t going further south.) Then I had the idea of going north via Great Smoky Mtn National Park, but I checked the weather and it is NOT supposed to be good in the mountains for the rest of the week.

Now our plan is to go via Atlanta, and stop to see the Center for Puppetry Arts. Joey and I would both really love that. Our problem is Mo—we aren’t really sure we can find parking to accommodate an RV. I posted a request for help to RV.net, and everyone seems to agree that we need to park outside of the city and take the MARTA downtown. So I have spent a while on the internet, looking at the MARTA site and trying to decide what would be the best approach. Tomorrow we will give it a try—it will either work or not! And if not…. Once again, I have no idea where we will end up!