Jacksonville Beach to Columbus, GA
Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.
Psalm 62:5
We were on the road a lot today. Our first stop after leaving Jacksonville Beach was for lunch in Albany. We went to the visitors center and then walked down to Ray Charles Plaza for lunch. We didn’t really see much more of Albany than just this block. For some reason turtles are a big thing in Albany. The people at the visitors center said that they have painted turtles all over town and they had a turtle park in back of the visitor’s center. For some reason I envisioned this kinda like those fairy gardens that people make, only for turtles. I was quite surprised (and a tiny bit disappointed) to find that it was actually a park for CHILDREN decorated with a few painted turtles.
Ray Charles Plaza had a full size statue of … Ray Charles, of course. The side walk was also painted to look like piano keys. I think Ray and his piano statue were supposed to be spinning around, but they were stationary. We were serenaded by multiple Ray Charles songs from the speakers, while we ate. I didn’t get any pictures from our lunch, but we had a picnic of chicken pot pie, our last nod to the south, along with oranges and salad. I was so impressed with myself for finding precooked biscuits at Sam’s. They were delicious on top of the pot pie. I think the chicken pot pie was my favorite lunch so far. So far … haha … it’s Day 8! There are only 2 more lunches left.
A few hours later we arrived at the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, GA. So who remembers a fun fact about Columbus? I was born there 57 (ok almost 58) years ago and had not been back until last year on our coast to coast trip. And now here I am back again. This museum housed huge sections of 2 huge ships that had been used in the civil war on the rivers. I think that they were both part of the Confederate Navy. The Confederate Navy was the first to re-enforce their ships with this special armor, which I can’t remember what it’s called. But it was a game changer. Canon balls would basically bounce right off these ships. Plus they had ram rods on the front and so they would just ram the wooden ships. They were beasts!
Our next stop was just across the Chatahoochee River in Phenix, AL at a park along the river. We had bought a few bottles of wine at Belle Meade Plantation and thought that this would be a good place for a little wine and cheese. We brought cheese and crackers out on little plastic trays and poured the wine into clear plastic wine cups (aka the same ones we had used for fruit cups, pudding cups and snack cups – we bought a huge bag of them at Sam’s). It was a pretty place to walk along the river. They had a zipline along there which had been converted into a Zombie Zip line. Possibly it was only alive at night (get it? – haha, I’m so funny) because no one was using it. No one else was even in the park except us.
We all had dinner at a local restaurant called Ezell’s, recommended by the guy at the museum. It served lots of fried stuff and fish and Po Boys. Mary and I split an order of Grilled Shrimp because we had filled up on so much wine. Not really. We just didn’t want to be stuffed. Again. Saul got an order of Fried Alligator to share. It wasn’t bad. Tasted like chicken. I probably won’t ever crave it.
Once we dropped the passengers off at the hotel, we went to get groceries. We decided that Mary would clean the bus while I got the groceries at Piggly Wiggly & Saul went to get gas. I finished before them and sat outside to wait. The security guard who had sacked my groceries came out to make sure I was ok. I said I was waiting on a bus. Soon the teenage checker who was now the parking lot cart retriever (clearly not in the union) came over and asked if I was ok. I told him that my bus would be here soon. He was a little skeptical but went on about his business. Soon a random customer going into the store asked if I was ok and if I was waiting on a taxi. I said thanks, but I was fine. Just waiting on a bus. He too looked a little skeptical that a bus would indeed be stopping at the bench in front of the Piggly Wiggly. I think they were getting vague Delta Dawn vibes. But low and behold, my bus soon arrived. The security guard came out and said, ” Boy, you’re going in style!” I think I’m a celebrity now at the Piggly Wiggly. They are probably still talking about the lady waiting for a bus.