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.