Georgia Veterans State Park, Cordele, Georgia
Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe His commands, His laws and His decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God. . . . You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth. ~ Deuteronomy 8:11-14, 17-18
I’ve been workin’ on the rail—road, all the live-long day!
Chug-chug. Woo! Woo! Off they go!
Yes. The lines are from two different songs. 😊
Can you guess how we spent our day today?
The S A M Shortline Excursion Railroad (Savannah/Americus/Montgomery)! And Blaine bought us seats in the most exclusive car – for $10 more. This train, though in some ways similar, is still nothing like the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad in Ohio – at least not in the car we were in.
Its eight cars plus the engine, traveled 33 miles from Veteran’s State Park to Plains, Georgia in 6 hours and 45 minutes, including a 1 ½ hour stop in Plains. During our time on the train, we were given Chex Mix to snack on and a Chick-fil-a sandwich, chips and drink. We’re sure eating well today!
It’s here they keep the Chick-fil-a sandwiches!
And sell a bunch of other stuff. . . . : )
We were glad we weren’t sitting here – they kept it absolutely freezing in here all day!
We’re in the back which was supposed to be more exclusive,
but these people had much more cushy seats.
We wondered if we’d see them today, but we didn’t.
It’s between the cars.
I didn’t take a picture of the other one,
because by the time we made our way up there, it was full of people.
Let’s talk about the food first. Well, on second thought, let’s talk about the Volunteers. Each car is assigned two volunteers. These people volunteer for the Georgia State Parks. The couple we had were very hospitable and shared stories about their lives and times both personal and as volunteers. They love their work on the train and are responsible for riding it Friday and/or Saturday, depending on the schedule. They also come back on Monday or Tuesday to thoroughly clean their car. The volunteers rotate which cars they work. And for that, they get free camping with full hook-ups for as long as they’re volunteering. Our couple stays here 3 or 4 months for the past 3 years. And they’ve personally met President Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter several times. I’ll talk more about this later under ‘missed opportunity’.
So now we can talk about food.
All the reserved tables had bowls of Chex Mix. Unfortunately, ours only had a couple of those rye crisps that are our favorite, so once we discovered that the couple next to us was going to be a no-show, and our hostess was about to take their snacks away, I snatched one from the bowl. She took our bowls and came back with a fresh one for us – – with lots of rye crisps in it! How’s that for being the hostess with the mostest?
Shortly after we left the station, they announced that they had a limited number of Chick-fil-a sandwiches available, and they were first-come-first-served. They repeated this announcement a couple of times, and we got concerned that we might not get one, so we ate our lunch at 10:30am. Yes. Those sandwiches were that important to us. Remember, we paid $10 extra for a nice view and a good lunch. Seems like they could’ve asked and set aside the chicken for those who paid the extra, but that’s not what they did. But here’s the funny part – – after all those announcements about them running out, when we were about halfway home, they announced that they had some left and were selling them for ½ price! Can you believe that? Reminded me of scripture, albeit a little late. . . . So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ . . . for the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. . . ~ Matthew 6:31-32
It was a really nice ride today and we learned some things about the history of the train. The car we were in is the oldest on the train and built in 1939. The rest are from 1949. The cars were acquired from Stone Mountain State Park in 2000-something, when they chose to switch to wider tracks – a difference of about 12 inches (if memory serves).
We passed through what, until recently, was the largest pecan grove in the world. China realized that the demand for pecans outweighed the supply, so they built a multi-million dollar facility, and now they have the largest.
So – – how do YOU pronounce it?
pee-CAN, PEE-can, or pa-CAUN?
Or something else entirely?
Every once in a while, it got a little rocky! : )
They also taught us about speed limits for trains, and the fact that this train can only reach a top speed of 30 mph. this is based on the rating for the tracks, and since these are quite old, lower speeds are necessary. For trestles, crossings and towns, the speed drops to 5-10mph – which was most of the time. There were a lot of crossings – some of which were only a skinny dirt road.
The golf course is actually part of the University of Georgia. You can get a degree in golf course management, etc! Did you know that?
During our trip to Plains, they also announced that the town was hosting a car show. At first we weren’t that interested; we wanted to visit the Carter stuff. But the more they talked about it, plus the fact that we only had an hour and a half stop, we had pretty much decided to check out the cars first, and maybe Billy Carter’s gas station because it was so close. And then, as we rolled into town, I knew it was a certainty. The cars would become the thing.
Plus the peanut butter ice cream. I know, more food, right?
But first, we watched them move the engine from the front of the train to the back.
I broke it up into several videos so you can watch as much or as little as you’d like.
Waiting for the lineman to move the track.
Making the switch
There’s one more . . .
I’m not a car freak. But these cars were incredible and there were so many!
How creative!
and I remember biting tiny holes along the leather just under the windows in the back seat. Yikes!
We did have time to visit the campaign headquarters, which was interesting, but very small-town done. Kinda funny considering he was our President for four years.
and then Jimmy’s campaign headquarters.
They were probably frozen to their bone marrow!
I’ll bet it was good though!
So was the church where he teaches.
Good for them!
And we stopped at the Billy Carter Museum. Wow! There was sooo much memorabilia here! We kinda remembered talk about Billy Carter and sometimes we heard that he was an embarrassment to the President, but we had no idea how popular he was, nor how he rose from a rinky-dink gas station owner to hobnobbing with the rich and famous! Unfortunately, he was also an alcoholic. But he eventually got help and sobriety for a number of years before his death.
Couldn’t resist. Sorry.
This is right beside Billy’s gas station.
What an incredibly quick turn his life took!
Must have been overwhelming . .
Here’s a sad commentary – – all of Jimmy’s family – – his parents and 3 siblings died of pancreatic cancer. They found tumors in Jimmy’s brain and liver in 2015, but treatment cured him.
See. This is why my posting takes so long!
I go looking just to see which brother was older,
and end up spending 20-30 minutes reading about other things in their lives,
like who they’re related to, their cancer history
and that Jimmy and Roselyn helped build over 3,500 homes for underprivileged people
all over the world through Habitat for Humanity . . .
distant relatives to the likes of Richard Nixon and Bill Gates.
Time to board the train! If you’re late, you find your own way home, or wait until next Friday when it returns.
This time, we were the first car instead of the last.
So on the way back, our hostess told us that our former President is still teaching Sunday School! We were excited at the prospect of sitting under him, and even more so when she told us that if you attend both his class and worship, you could get your picture taken with him and the former First Lady. And then the bomb dropped. In order to get a seat, you have to be there no later than 3:00AM! That means we’d have to leave home by 1:30AM, drive to Plains, get a ticket, and then wait – in our car – until 9:30am when they begin allowing people in for the 10:00am class. Honestly, we considered it. It would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But what would be the point? Would we be on honoring men or God? We knew our hearts would be fixed on the thrill of the man, rather than the thrill of being in the presence of the Father. Plus, it would be just down right uncomfortable waiting. We decided God had other plans for us this Sunday. And so we missed the opportunity. But consider this – – Jimmy began teaching as a teenager, and he’s now 94 years old. That’s a lot of lessons! How many other Presidents (or anyone in politics) can say they’ve taught God’s Word?
And once we arrived and left the parking lot. . . . traffic was stopped and we could hear chain saws. Turned out, a tree had fallen across the road! We had to wait for about 15-20 minutes for them to clear it enough for traffic to move through.
After sitting much of the day, we needed to get out and move about, so we walked over to the lake and discovered a wedding was going on. Congratulations to the bride and groom!
We felt sorry for the groom and groomsmen who were standing there in full tuxes.
We went back again to watch the sunset and saw something unexpected and fun to watch!
We’d first spotted these things a few years ago and that person was much more talented than this one, but it’s still pretty amazing! Bet it’s a blast, once you get the hang of it!
