October 8 & 9, 2008

Wednesday 8~~~ We arrived at our campground late today, we were going to go the Georgia National Fair, but when we got the Dish Network set up, a tornado alert for our town came up on the screen. We decided to stay home and keep and eye on the weather and not be wondering around a fair grounds full of noise. Kent did the laundry and I cleaned house and made dinner, after dinner we watched TV and by 11 PM the alert was still on until 1 AM so we called it a night and went to bed. We had just turned off the light when the hardest rain storm struck, it rained so hard the sand around the trailer washed in little streams. Thursday 9~~~ The sky was really dark with rain clouds this morning as we left for Plains, Georgia to see the boyhood home of President Jimmy Carter. The town is so small and laid back, we drove out to his boyhood home to take the tour there, all the doors were open and there was not a soul around. The house is completely furnished with antique dishes and furniture. We did a self guided tour and we stayed behind the velvet ropes as if a guide was there. We also went to the Plains High School where Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter attended grammar and high school. The school is now the Jimmy Carter Historical Site, (picture) the Carters still live here in Plains in their home they built in 1960. (picture)There are living quarters for the Secret Service in front of their home giving them more privacy. (picture) We had a good lunch there (chicken-dumpling soup and potato soup) we finished it up with pecan pie for Sharon and peanut butter ice cream for Kent. By now the rain has returned and it really poured again, we are on our way home stopping at "Andersonville" Nat. Historic Site. Andersonville or Camp Sumter as it was officially known, was one of the largest of many Confederate prisons established during the Civil War in February of 1864. During the 14 months it existed, more than 45,000 Union soldiers were confined here. Some 13,000 died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding or exposure. The prison pen covered about 16 acres of land enclosed by a 15 foot high stockade and it was enlarged to 26 acres the following June. The Confederates didn't have enough food to feed their army, that is why the prisoners got so little food or care. They had very little shelter from the elements and the same for clothes or bedding. This is the worst case of abuse in any war I think because of so many deaths caused from these reasons. The National Parks has put white stakes around the original perimeters of the prisons acres. (picture) It is so large, it is hard to catch with a picture. They have a small building built on a very small scale of what the prison walls looked like. (picture)