Day 22 - Milledgeville, GA To Daleville, VA

I'm late with this post because the Internet service at the motel was very unreliable. In fact, the entire experience at the motel was awful. When I came through here in 2010, my family and I stayed at the same motel.....it was a Hampton then, and very nice and good location. I arrived in Milledgeville late, and it was dark already. When I drove up, the place looked different. I inquired if it was still a Hampton, and seems Hampton made the owners take the sign down because the motel was in disrepair. Two floors were closed completely, but there were some rooms on the bottom floor still being rented. The price was ok, so I decided to stay.

As best I could tell from the number of cars in the lot, I was the only tenant that night. The Internet service was up and down, mostly down, so I gave up. In fact the experience caused me to shorten my trip, and head back to Virginia. Just too tired from all the travel, plus the frustration of this motel. So, this morning (Tue, Jan 1) I packed the car, and drove back to Daleville. There were still several people I wanted to visit, but will do it again sometime.

 

I arrived back in Daleville late afternoon, and it was good to be home. The trip was long (6,100 miles) and tiring, but it accomplished what I wanted......reconnect with people I met during the walk, and thank them for their kindness. Most seemed as happy to see me as I was them, so a good trip. As with my life, some of theirs have also changed. I guess that always happens.

If you've followed along, I hope you enjoyed reconnecting with some of these people. This will be my last post until I undertake another trip or adventure. I wish you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2013.

Day 21 - Montgomery To Milledgeville

 

I left the Hampton Eastchase in Montgomery (one of the nicest), and headed east on Hwy80. My first stop was at the McDonald's in Tuskeegee, in search of Lawrence McRae (day 112 of walk). The last time I saw him was at this McDonald's, so figured that would be a good place to start. He was there, sitting about where I remembered. Before I could introduce myself, he said, "that's the walkingman". We had a nice visit, he invited me to walk the short distance to his house to meet his wife, so we did. We talked a while longer, and I headed east.

 

I next stopped at the home of Sharon and Steve Torbert in Society Hill. I spent the night (day 112) on their property, and Sharon was kind enough to provide a hot meal. They were at home, we visited a while, and I went on the way. I passed through Crawford and found Davy and Cody Haden at their deep processing business. They dress deer 4 months of the year, and business was up this year. During the "off season" Davy is in construction (building his own home), and Cody is a student. He's studying to be a veterinarian. Nice young men, and it was good to see them again.

 

I soon crossed into Georgia, on the way to Macon. My first stop was in Upatoi at Rose's Mini Mart, to visit Rose and Brittani (day 114). Unfortunately Rose's was boarded up, been out of business for a while. I drove a short way up the road to find Monica at the Bar-B-Que Shack. The place was there, but Monica no longer worked there. I stopped on the west side of Macon to visit Robert Dennard (day 118), and his wife Edith. Robert and I have kept in touch since the walk, and had a good visit. He gave me directions for the best way to get through Macon, so I continued east toward Milledgeville.

 

My final visit for the day was in Gray, to find Brian Evans (day 119). Brian was the policeman who brought me a couple of those good Clinton Bar-B-Ques as I passed through town. He no longer works for the Jones County Sheriff's Department, and it took a while and some serious investigation to find him. But I did, and he invited me to his house to visit and meet his wife and new son. Brian is a nice guy and wonderful representative for law enforcement.

 

It was getting late and dark, so I drove to Milledgeville for the night.

 

Pictures:

Lawrence McRae, Tuskeegee, AL;

Antebellum home along Hwy80 in Society Hill, AL;

13th Street Bar-B-Que in Ladonia, AL. Of course it was closed;

Rose's Mimi Mart in Upatoi, GA....closed for business;

Waterfall at Fickling Mill, GA;

Robert and Edith Dennard, Macon, GA;

Brian, Natalie, and Hendrix Evans, Gray, GA.