FDR'S Little White House

This morning we woke up to another cloudy and cool day, but at least it wasn’t raining! We had a big day planned; we were going to meet Gene & Judi in Warm Springs for lunch and then tour FDR’s The Little White House. I talked with Gene this morning to set up the meet time and location. We decided to meet around 11:47 am (Gene said we wouldn’t forget that time). We were meeting at The Bulloch House in Warm Springs, Ga. for lunch. Benjamin Bulloch, owner of the house that was built in 1893, was also a cofounder of Bullochville (now Warm Springs).
The house is a New South Cottage style of Queen Style home. This house is now a very popular restaurant. When we got there, Gene and Judi were already there, so we did our hugs and went on in to eat. We enjoyed the food but enjoyed the company even more.
We went from there to The Little White House, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s vacation home. Roosevelt first came to Warm Springs in search of relief from his polio in the springs’ naturally heated water. He fell in love with the area and built this vacation cottage. He spent many hours visiting people of the area and learning of their lives and struggles. It was from this involvement that helped him to develop the New Deal policies. On April 12, 1945, Roosevelt suffered a stroke and died at his vacation home here.
There is an 11,000 square-foot FDR Memorial Museum nestled in the woods before you get to his cottage. It gives a lot of history about the area and about FDR. There is a short film narrated by Walter Cronkite in the museum which includes a good bit of historic footage of Roosevelt visiting with friends and neighbors of Warm Springs.

On the way back to our campground, we stopped by Dowdell’s Knob, Roosevelt’s favorite picnic spot. It is located in FDR State Park, overlooking Pine Mountain Valley.
If you are in the area, I highly recommend this attraction. It is simple and quite pleasant and very historic.

We greatly enjoyed our time visiting with Gene & Judi and seeing FDR’s Little White House. Thanks Guys!

Busy, Busy

This has been a busy week. One of the reasons we returned to Pine Mountain when we did was to be able to complete some doctor’s appointments. So this week was THE week. It began Monday with some blood work for Mike and then on Tuesday I returned to the lady that used to cut my hair and had her cut and highlight it. This is a treat because she knows me and knows what I like so I could just sit back, close my eyes and relax. Nice! Whenever I get my hair cut on the road I always ask several people that have styles I like and then go to the person they suggest. You don’t really sit back and relax with someone you don’t know. I usually watch carefully at what they are doing. So far I have had great experiences. But hey, the worse that can happen is you wait for the “grow out.”

That brings us to Wednesday. That was the day that I went to the doctor for my thyroid and cholesterol check which includes blood work. Mike saw his doctor for the annual physical which includes blood work. Gee, we have really given blood this week.
Wednesday evening brought some really rough weather. It began with just some heavy rains and a little wind. Then it progressed into some small hail with strong winds. At one time the wind and rain along with the hail blew against our slide out windows so hard Mike and I both thought it would surely blow the windows out. I grabbed each of our little Shih Tzus off the sofa just in case there was blowing glass. We both were pretty shook by this time. The thunder and lightning continued with the rain for several more hours and then just the rain throughout the night. Wow, what a night.

Thursday took me to visit our dentist in LaGrange. Our dentist is also a long time friend so we spent quite awhile just talking and catching up. Then he took care of one of my back molars….not a big deal and it didn’t even need Novocain but I didn’t want to chance a problem while on the road. With that said, I know that at some time there probably will be a need for a doctor on the road. We haven’t had to deal with that as of yet but it probably will happen. The beauty of this lifestyle is there are so many people willing to help you whenever you have a problem…..all you have to do is ask.

Friday we are suppose to meet Gene and Judi Curp in Warm Springs for lunch and then tour the FDR Little White House. When we checked the weather it calls for about a 60 to 90 percent chance of rain with thunderstorms. We will make a decision by 9:00 in the morning. Worse case scenario, we will postpone the trip until Monday. We are so looking forward to meeting up with the Curps again and just having a great day together. So we will see what tomorrow brings……stay tuned.

Deciding Domiciles

This will be a busy week. We have all of the doctor’s appointments scheduled for this week. In addition to these appointments I visited my hairdresser this morning for a cut and highlight. It is always nice to return to the person that has been doing your hair and you just sit down and relax.

The weather has been just beautiful. This is the way we like it. It has been sunny with temps ranging from lows of 45 to highs of 71. However, today we are expecting some rain.

We have been busy getting our ducks in a row for claiming a domicile. As you know, most full-timers claim a state domicile which is where they are registered to vote, pay taxes, have a driver’s license and a mail forwarding service. The MOST popular choices seem to be Texas and South Dakota as well as Florida. There are many reasons for choosing a particular state but one thing these three have in common is no state income tax which means a little extra money at the end of the month. They also offer lower taxes on our vehicles. We had originally decided to go with S. Dakota simply because you don’t have the hassle of obtaining a Class B license to drive the motorhome. In Texas, if your motorhome GVWR is over 26,001 pounds you must obtain a Class B license. However, upon further investigation, we have decided that Texas is our choice. It’s all about the money actually. When we purchased our motorhome we bought from a private individual and in Georgia you don’t have to pay sales tax if you buy from an individual….so we didn’t. In S. Dakota we would have to pay that sales tax and that would mean an extra $2,560 dollars to pay out. We also like the umbrella of having the Escapees organization for support. We will use them for our mail forwarding service which will give us an actual physical address. Texas has been proven all the way to the Supreme Court as a legal domicile. So armed with this information Mike downloaded the DMV study booklet and is busy preparing for his big exam. I won’t have to take the test and drive the rig but Mike will. Neither of us is worried about the driving test….if he can’t drive the motorhome we are both in big trouble. So we have crossed another hurdle in this lifestyle. We have chosen Texas as our domicile and in a few weeks we should be “Real Texans”…… well that is unless jello happens.

Nothing earthshaking, nothing overly exciting just a day in the life……life is good.

WE FOUND IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today Gerri & I decided to relook at the geocache we couldn’t find yesterday. We went to the geocaching sight on the web and read all the clues and the responses of the people who had found it. There were quite a few that had not found the cache here. After thinking a little longer about possible spots for the cache, we decided to try this one again. The cache is titled “Where’s the Train?” We went back to where the coordinates led us yesterday (the red caboose)and rechecked them when we arrived. Yep, the coordinates still led us to the same place, so we must be in the right area. We looked for about 15 minutes and were about to give it a rest when EUREEKA!!!!!!!, we found it. The container the cache was in is very uniquely and cleverly done. No wonder it has been difficult to find. Gerri took the log out and signed it and then I returned the container to the proper sight it was in.

We enjoyed this cache, but I must say we were growing weary looking for it. It was truly well done and a cache we did not want to get beat with. We have grown very fond of geocaching and find it a lot of fun. It keeps you alert, getting out in fresh air and sometimes walking a good bit. In many caches, you will learn a lot of history.

A Geocaching Day

We went geocaching today. The weather is still a bit chilly but the beautiful sunshine just beckoned us to come out and play. We researched four caches hidden in the general vicinity of where we are camped, entered the coordinates into our trusty GPS, copied all the clues and set out on our hunt. Well, three out of four isn’t too bad especially since one of the caches is considered difficult and many seasoned geocachers have come up empty handed when looking for this one.

The first cache was hidden at a neighborhood ballpark. It was tagged “pine nut.” By following our coordinates and clues we were able to find it after a fashion. This was not a great scenic place but it gave us some experience in using our GPS and following the clues to find the cache. From here we journeyed to our second cache which was hidden in an obscure area beside a small business strip. The clue was important cause the coordinates had us going in all directions. Mike was about to head back to the laptop and get more information and then I remembered the title of the cache and that lead us right to the location. There is method to titles of chahes. Next we journeyed to the local cemetery but as the clue said….we didn’t have to go inside. It took a good deal of searching but we finally located this cache. Our last geocache of the day took us to a little red caboose sitting beside city hall in Pine Mountain. It is a neat area with a gazebo for relaxing and an authentic train caboose to explore. You just can’t go inside. This cache eluded us. We actually went back twice and we still haven’t been able to find it. Both of us hate for something to beat us so we just might return and search another day.
The caboose did lead us to a really neat art gallery right across the street. We met the gentleman that runs the gallery and he told us a little about the mural on the side of the building. It was painted by a local artist that lives in the Callaway Gardens Long Leaf area. It took him from March until August, about 300 hours, to complete this mural of the local trains that have been known to travel through the Pine Mountain area. I also found out that Pine Mountain has been called by three names - Hood, 1880, Chipley, 1882 and Pine Mountain in 1958. I knew about the name of Chipley but not Hood. I learned something new today.

Tonight is another cold night with temperatures dipping into the high 20’s. We’ll disconnect the hose again to be on the safe side. Tomorrow night should be our last cold evening for awhile and we should begin to warm up. It’s been a great day and we hope your day was great as well.

A Good Day to Sleep

The last few days have been spent getting settled in our spot for a few weeks. We needed to take care of everyday type chores. I did the laundry Monday. I am so glad we have the washer/dryer in our rig. It doesn’t have the large capacity of a regular household washer and dryer but it is more convenient….. especially on cold and rainy days. I may have to do more loads but it all comes out in the wash…..oooh good one!

Today we finally got around to doing our grocery shopping. I typically do my “big” shopping at the beginning of the month after I have planned out my meals. That doesn’t mean we won’t go again to pick up items as needed but the bulk of the shopping is over. We have decided to get back into our “healthy” eating mode after spending two months eating large. That means grilled not fried items, lots of vegetables and what ever fruits I can find in season. Lots of water, cut way back on the diet soda, and walk, walk, walk. It’s a plan…now if only the weather will cooperate.

One of the reasons we came back as early as we did in March was to finish up a few doctor’s appointments. We will get that done next week. I also wanted to see my dentist about one of my back molars and take care of that and I will get that completed next Thursday. One of the things we are working toward is getting our doctor’s appointments scheduled while we are wintering at Rainbow Plantation each year. That is going to mean locating new doctors. I know we could continue with our current doctors and just arrange appointments when we are visiting our son but being young and mobile with his company we don’t expect him to always be in this area. We certainly don’t want to move doctors each time he moves with his career so we have decided to make Rainbow Plantation our winter destination.

We are also looking forward to meeting up with our good friends Gene and Judi Curp. They are visiting family in the Macon area and plan to visit the Little White House in Warm Springs and we will meet up with them there. We plan to eat lunch together and then proceed to the Little White House. That will be lots of fun and it will be great seeing the Curps again.

Tonight is going to be another frigid evening with temps going down to about 27 degrees. We will be disconnecting the water hose….. yet again. Even the dogs have grown weary of not being able to get outside to play. It will be so nice when this cold weather decides to go away and spring peeks around the corner. We can’t wait.

Reflections of Rainbow Plantation

Saturday night Darrell & Judy invited us over to their rig for dinner and fellowship. Randy & Terry, Mike & Peggy were there too. We had the joy of getting to know these fine folks in a special way. We visited a while and then had a grand dinner. Afterwards we just sat around, talked and laughed til we hurt. It was truly a grand time with such great friends. How blessed we are to have friends like these. Words can't do justice to how we feel about these friends.

Sunday was travel day!! We actually got up early in order to get everything packed and stowed safely. It has been an awesome adventure being at Rainbow Plantation for the last two months. We have met some of the nicest people and look forward to returning next winter for more fun, food and fellowship. Full-timers are just the best.

We finally got on the road around 10:00. Sunshine followed us all the way to our spot at Pine Mountain RV Resort. It was a beautiful day for travel and the trip was the best kind….uneventful. It took us about 5 hours with a short stop for lunch at a rest stop and then a little diesel fuel just before the Georgia line.

To say I am in culture shock today is an understatement. This is not a new to us campground, we stay here when we come to visit our son in LaGrange, but when I got up this morning and looked out the big front window and saw all the empty campsites it was a shocker.

We are aware of the lack of campers in this campground but for the last two months we have been surrounded by fellow Rvers. Folks walking by and stopping to chat. I just know there will not be a 4:00 social today and I can just forget the Sunday ice cream social and worse yet I will have to cook on Tuesday and Thursday evenings now. I wonder if there is a craft class being taught sometime this week, line dancing or music??? No, I bet not. Man, what a shock to the system.

We had a hard time getting the rig level on our site. We were a little tired when we arrived so we just let it be as it was until this morning. We worked a little on it and now it is finally level. As we were hooking and setting things up Mike could not get the cradlepoint router to reconnect after the power being off so he had to go online to “chat” with a rep from cradlepoint. He had some problems with his password and even though we were putting in the correct password it wouldn’t take it. The rep finally had to have Mike do another password. We feel pretty sure this has cleared things up. Mike has turned the cradlepoint off and on several times and we are able to get it connected each time. Oh the joy of technology!!!

I want to say a huge “thank you” to several people that Mike and I have had the joy of getting to know during our time at Rainbow Plantation. These people have become very special friends and for that we feel so blessed. You just won’t find finer people than Don and Gloria Martin and Norm and Linda Payne. They reached out to us “newbies” and shared their knowledge and stories of this lifestyle. We look forward to more wonderful times together. We met Gene and Judi Curp upon arrival at the Plantation and we shared many meals and a few “explorations” with them. Although we were together a short time we feel like we’ve known Gene and Judi for a long, long time. Thanks guys. Shortly after arriving we met Glenn and Sylvia Avery and what fun they are!! We sat together at almost every meal at the clubhouse. Then along came Darrell and Judy Patterson, Randy and Terry Guiler and Mike and Peggy Evringham. Wow! What can I say? We are like family. The best part is, we are looking forward to meeting up together in Maine this summer for a “Main Event.” We love you guys and miss you already and are looking forward to our next big adventure. Until then…travel safely and enjoy the journey.