small towns – The Hermits' Rest

Worn Out in a Good Way

I’m a tired little teddy bear tonight, so don’t expect anything even moderately pithy. Not that pithy is an adjective I’d choose for my blogging.

I got up bright and early so I could look for birds and pollinators by the lake. I was more successful today than yesterday, and I had bonus sightings of deer, a desert cottontail, and a coyote that I didn’t get a photo of.

After that early fun I set up my outdoor office and got in most of a work day at the park. I got to watch the Green Jays, doves, and woodpeckers while I worked. It was a nice change of pace. I was joined by some friends.

We pulled out of Choke Canyon State Park before my last work call. I managed to take some pictures of the things one sees in the brushy oilfield land on our way home. I was asked for photos of towns, so I’ll give you Kenedy and Nixon. Yes, they are near each other. Enjoy views of deep in the heart of Texas.

So, that’s southern Texas. Now to have a normal day before I go somewhere else. I’m piling on the travel. Zzz.

Another Day Exploring: Swamp Edition

Today was another day exploring the southeastern USA. We went from Valdosta, Georgia to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was supposed to be a 6-hour drive, but we quickly tired of taking the big highways and diverted ourselves to more backroads and small towns. That made the drive a lot easier for Lee, even though it was rainy much of the time.

Valdosta, Georgia, Homerville, Georgia, and Walterboro, South Carolina. Examples of small towns.

To be honest, it was good to see rain, swamps, and wetness after the dry month we’ve had back in Texas. It was cool to see steam rising from the roofs of houses after the rain.

You may have heard that I love swamps and marshlands. It’s true. And today we drove through a very wet part of the US, the Okeefenokee swamp and its environs. There were so many canals, streams, rivers, and lakes today, which of course meant lots and lots of birds.

Did I get any good photos? No, but we did see a large group of Canada geese in one town we went through, and many, many cattle egrets and other herons in the waterways. I loved it.

Sample bird. Great blue heron on the side of the road.

One town we went through, Summerville, was particularly pretty. It reminded me of High Point, NC with its endless stream of patrician homes and well-tended gardens. No photos, due to being tired.

I got pretty worn out toward the end of the ride. I probably knitted too much, which made my eyes hurt. But, we eventually made it to the South Carolina shore area with its familiar sights.

After a bit of trouble checking in (we were a day late since I just couldn’t leave until Wednesday, due to my work schedule), we were happy to arrive to our room, which is even better than last year’s room. I do wish I’d remembered to book adjoining rooms, though.

We went down to the sports bar area to eat, only to find some guys being loud and obnoxious. The server was having to be very patient with them. It turned out that my friend Sarah, who had been working downstairs, had put the obnoxious guys up to it—to see if they could get the server in the sports bar to lose her cool. It all became quite funny when we realized we all sorta knew each other. In the end, all was well. The obnoxious guy, though, he was something else. I guess we will see more of him later.

I’m looking forward to some nature stuff and grocery shopping tomorrow. I did enjoy our drive through many small towns in southern states. It reminds me how beautiful it is in the USA, and makes me want to protect it even more.

Just one drink and I get all disoriented.

Through the Woods We Go

Today’s travel day took me and Lee from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Valdosta, Georgia. Before we left, I got in a walk to a park behind the hotel, where I saw a couple of interesting plants, many non-native. I also enjoyed watching dozens of high school baseball players getting ready for a national tournament. No wonder it was loud last night.

Much of the day featured interstate highways through commercial forests. It took longer than we expected, because there was construction and a big delay due to a horrible accident where a semi truck appeared to have slid sideways a long way off the road. Not a happy start.

Occasionally I got to see some non-forests, like in Mobile and other coastal places. Mostly it was trees. Good thing I like them.

I worked much of the day, including before and after the drive, but I got a lot of knitting done, too. This little jumping spider decided to join me and hop all over my project. I sure enjoyed watching it moving its eyes and mouth and checking things out with all those legs. I think it was a paradise jumping spider (Habronattus coecatus) but I’m not sure.

The trip got more interesting when the GPS took us off the interstate near Quincy, Florida. We then embarked on a magical hour or so traveling through small towns and beautiful rural properties of north Florida and South Georgia.

We went through long stretches of road where it seemed like the trees were reaching out toward us to envelop us in green. With the draping moss, the overgrown old homesteads being taken over by immense crape myrtles, and the wooden fences…I felt like I was in one of my dreams of being home. I was so entranced in the deep woods that I forgot I had a camera. It was so Gothic. There was even mist rising from bogs. This is some beautiful country.

It’s places like this, far from my everyday world, that remind me of why the Deep South is so beloved by people from there, despite the legacy of hardship for so many, despite societal changes. It’s so peaceful, quiet, and still. It engulfs you.

And here we are in small-town civilization (Valdosta)

Tomorrow we see more of Georgia before heading through South Carolina. Some of the trip will feature back roads. But today created plenty of moody memories to get me through boring highways and lookalike suburbs.

HGTV Tourism

Since we started the day in Montgomery and we’re taking back roads anyway, we decided it might be fun to see what the towns were the Napier family on HGTV do their renovations are actually like. Why not? So, we set out after the memorial visit for Wetumpka, Alabama, where Home Town Takeover is set. It’s only a few miles from Montgomery.

Other people had the same idea as us, it seems. There was no parking and dozens of people roaming the streets. Their downtown is most assuredly revitalized.

Here’s a bunch of people milling around the store that was desperate for customers in the first episode of the show.

It looks like lots of other places have opened since Ben and Erin swooped in, and it no longer matters that the locals all shop at the big box stores right outside of town. There are PLENTY of tourists.

I didn’t get great pictures, because Lee wasn’t about to stop in all the crowds, and he was hungry. So, I got car window photos.

This place disappointed us, because it was made out to be a struggling place, but there are all sorts of stores, banks, nice restaurants and stuff you don’t see. Oh well. They lucked out!

We finally ate in the next town. Lee wanted to relive his youth and eat at a Waffle House on this trip, anyway.

Next, we continued our tour of places touched by the Napier family, and headed to Laurel, Mississippi, where the Home Town show is filmed. There were lots of little towns on the way, though we cheated and took interstate highways for part of the trip.

I can see why Erin likes it there. Laurel is a beautiful town with many interesting homes, large and small. Lee and I enjoyed driving down the tree-lined residential streets and seeing the variety of houses, churches and schools.

The town is also nice, and wasn’t as crowded as Wetumpka. But there was LOTS of parking, so they are ready when throngs arrive.

And we even got to stop the car in Laurel! It was cool to see the shop where Ben does his woodworking on the show. And they park the blue truck outside the building. It’s not like they really drive it around, right?

The store was not overdone in a Magnolia way (Chip and Joanna Gaines). It was nice, had things that actually resemble stuff on the show, and was nicely done. Plus, there’s a window into the wood shop!

We had time to make it to the edge of Mississippi and stopped in Natchez. We lucked out, and our hotel room looks out on a memorial and the Mississippi River. It was lovely at sunset.

No more HGTV tourism for us. It was fun to see the small towns and what television can do to them! If I wasn’t so tired, this might have been more well written. Let me know if I totally botched a sentence like I did this morning! (Thanks to Barbara for letting me know.) Headed home in the morning.