Day 33 -- Lake City, Florida to Perry, Georgia -- 217 Miles (includes side trip to Fitzgerald, GA)

Believe or not, we just paid 3.01 for gas in Perry Georgia! That's the cheapest gas we've paid in the month since we left home. We could have gotten the gas cheaper if we agreed to pay cash. Pretty amazing

Today we left Lake City and said goodbye to the rampant humidity in Florida. But even though we were eager to plot a course northward to escape to cooler, dryer temperatures, we passed legions of RV rigs headed south for the winter. I guess if you're coming from Minnesota or Wisconsin or Illinois, Florida looks pretty good, but to us it's like trying to breathe underwater with all the water in the air.

As usual today, we had no definite destination for the afternoon and nothing in particular we wanted to stop and see. However, just before lunchtime we came upon one of the brown roadside signs annoucing CSA President Jefferson Davis had a memorial just fifteen miles off Interstate 75. Well, how could we resist that? We immediately took the offramp, made the necessary turn, and headed due east.

If you've been reading the blog for any length of time, you know that we have followed the life of Jefferson Davis for years. First we visted the White House of the Southern Confederacy and marveled at the wonderful museum there. Next we found our way to Appomatax Court House where the Southern Confederacy came to an end. Later we visited the retirement home of Jefferson Davis in Biloxi, Mississippi, which was by far our favorite of the three.

So today's visit to the Jefferson Davis Memorial in Georgia was just a natural succession in our quest for the history of Jeff Davis. The Memorial is located where it is in Fitzgerald, Georgia, because the site of the monument marks the location where President Davis was captured when the Southern Confederacy dissolved.

To quote the brochure that we picked up at the Memorial Museum, "When the Confederate President Jefferson Davis and a few remaining staff members crossed the Savannah River into Georgia on May 3, 1865, they were headed for the western theater of war where Davis planned to unite rebel forces and continue fighting for the lost cause."

"On May 9, 1865, they camped in this pine forest (where memorial now stands) not knowing that pursuit was so close behind. At dawn, they were surrounded by two independent groups of Union cavalry who were unaware of each other's presence. Gunfire ensued until the federal forces realized that had been shooting at friendly forces. Two Union cavalrymen died during the skirmish."

"President Davis was taken prisoner and held in Virginia for two years until released. Today a monument marks the spot where he was arrested. Also contained on the thirteen-acre site is a excellent museum, a short hiking trail, several picnic tables, and a group shelter."

After our visit to the museum and a long chat with the resident docent, John Hughes, we took a stroll over to the memorial. Photos were difficult in the museum because of the overhead lighting and equally difficult outside by the monument, part of which was in the sun and part in the shade. Being a thirteen-year docent at the museum, John was extreme knowledgeable on all things Southern Confederacy. He helped us put to bed the silly story that Jeffereson Davis had been caught in women's attire. Such was not the case, and basically was an early example of "fake news."

After our visit to the the memorial grounds, Concetta and I spent the next half hour having lunch in the rig before venturing out again onto the rural Georgia roads in the direction of Interstate 75 north. In the meantime we passed acres and acres of cotton fields, and I found myself wishing I could find a spot to snap a photo of the giant rolls of cotton that the growers wrap in yellow plastic before it's picked up by 18-wheelers for a trip to the processing mill.

We had only been on the two-lane rural road for a few minutes when we turned onto Rural Route 107 and almost immediately encountered a large number of the cotton rolls waiting for shipment. I immediately pulled off the pavement and onto the farmer's driveway and jumped out of the truck to grab a photo. Fortunately, no traffic was visible at the time, though some soon appeared. Still, I had my shot, and we pulled back onto the blacktop after the few cars and trucks had passed.

Our plan for the evening involved reaching Macon if possible before finding a camp. However, I told Concetta that we would stop for gas just as soon as we saw a station just off the Interstate. Just a few minutes later we saw such an offramp in the town of Perry just a half hour south of Macon, Georgia and we left the Interstate and rolled into the gas station.

While the gas was filling, I asked Concetta to see if Perry had any RV camps. The time was nearly three, and I thought perhaps that we could get off the highway a little early, and I could get a good start on the blog. When I collected my receipt and got back in cab, I asked about the potential for camps.

"You're not going to believe this," Concetta said, "but there is one just two minutes from here."

And that's how we ended up at the "Fair Harbor RV Camp" in Perry, Georgia. The park turned out to be big and had lots of empty spaces. I guess the folks headed for Florida somehow missed this one. Anyway, the internet sucked at first, but the camp is pretty and mostly quiet, though acorns keep thumping off the roof every few seconds.

And that's going to be it for today. Tomorrow we hope to visit an Indian Mound near Atlanta, and, if I'm lucky, perhaps we can visit a locomotive from the so called "Great Locomotive Chase" during the Civil War. If you're old enough to have watched Disney's version with Fess Parker, you know what I'm talking about. So Ciao for now, and we hope you have lots of adventures of your own.