Sunday, November 1, 2020 - Odessa to FDR State Park, Georgia

Well, I've consulted my IT specialist and now I'm able to actually post!  Just pretend you're reading this as it happens, instead of a week out of sync!!  (Thanks, Stu!))

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Like a well-oiled machine, Connie and I are up, dressed, packed, and ready to hit the road to Marilyn’s house.  We’re taking both cars because I’m nervous about Connie’s car having a close encounter of the rodent kind!

We get to Marilyn’s and unload everything that needs to come with us.  Then the fun begins!  It’s a good thing Marilyn’s car is bigger than either one of ours!  It was a giant game of Tetris!  But we are women and we know how to pack!  And it’s a certainty that we won’t starve up there!! We sure do have a lot of food!

The adventure begins!

The drive is pretty easy (Easy for me to say, as all I did was navigate!) as there wasn’t a lot of traffic on I-75.  We took a lunch break around noon and ate at Subway.  There were only two other occupied tables, there was a ton of room between us and them, and all the staff was masked, so we felt very comfortable eating at a table instead of in the car.

It's an electric test vehicle!  Sure can spot it on the interstate!

Shades of the '60s!!

After 331 miles I actually started earning my keep, as we got of the interstate and followed the WAZE lady’s instructions.  I tried three times to share our route with Ginger and for whatever reason it never worked!  I shared it with Marilyn’s phone just to be sure I wasn’t a total idiot and that worked fine!  Of course she didn’t need it, she knew exactly where we were!  ☺

As it got later we decided to see what time the park office closed and realized that we weren’t going to be there in time to get our cabin key!  I called and was told that there is a lock box on the office door that would have our key and a map inside.  When Ginger texted that she would arrive before us, I passed the code along to her as well and the warning the office lady gave me that the lock box could be tricky but that there was a phone number posted for the park ranger and he would be happy to help!

I don't know why there's a big machine blocking our only view of sunset!
But aren't the colors pretty!

We arrived just after sunset and got wonderful welcoming hugs from Ginger.  With four pairs of hands it was quick work to unpack the car and stash all the food and other paraphernalia in our spacious two-bedroom cabin complete with fireplace and cell service!  (yay!)  There’s no WiFi but at least we aren’t completely cut off from civilization.

Marilyn had had rosemary chicken soup before we left and frozen it so that it would also act as ice for the cooler!  Once we figured out that the microwave really would go for longer than sixty seconds, it was just a matter of thaw and eat!  She noticed that the light for the minutes was not functioning, so you just had to be careful to remember what you had entered!

Ginger "Fire Starter"

Meanwhile Ginger was getting the fire started outside so we could pretend we were really camping!!  The fire wasn’t exactly a blazing success and after we’d eaten we came back inside and sat around the table that can accommodate eight diners!  There was a great deal of laughter and story telling and I recall an assortment of beverages.  Before midnight we were all safely tucked into our beds.  There are three queen-sized beds and a very comfortable sleeper sofa, so no one had to share.  I took the sofa since I am the shortest and always wake up before everyone else.  It worked out perfectly and we’re going to be ready for the new day, happy and well rested!

What a lovely way to start our experience!