Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Moving into Georgia

Monday saw us travelling up the I 75 to Macon in Georgia. Another first - we saw cotton growing by the side of the road - Georgia is still a big cotton area. We found a Camping World shop which had a replacement electric tongue jack and made a detour to buy it. We tried a campsite just across the road but it was closed so we pulled under a canopy over the turning circle to phone another campsite. When we moved off there was a graunching noise - guess what - the air-conditioning unit had hit the canopy!!!! Disaster. Terry climbed up onto the roof to assess the damage. The shroud was in pieces and the unit bent. We made it safe before driving to the campsite. What a find as our pitch is right on the edge of beautiful lake Juliette. We had a magnificent sunset to watch as Terry put a tarp. over the aircon.
Tuesday
Tuesday was spent trying to work out whether the air con was repairable or not and contacting the insurance company. While we were waiting for the assessor to phone we decided to eat lunch at the Whistle Stop Cafe, of Fried Green Tomato fame. Yes, this is the cafe in Juliette, Georgia, where they filmed the actual film, even though the book, on which the film is based , is set in Alabama. The food was great and we did have fried green tomatoes - they were quite delicious. Kathryn - eat your heart out!!!!
A very kind camper came to look at the air con - he used to work repairing air con units and declared the unit would have to be replaced. We spent a hot afternoon and night trying to keep cool, despite two electric fans bought from Walmart, working flat out.
Wednesday
At 7.45 this morning, we discovered that fire ants were marching in droves into our trailer. Now, fire ants are not to be played with. They are small, but ferocious. They have a habit of quietly marching up your legs and then they all bite at once, leaving you jumping around the place trying to dislodge the little blighters.The bites turn septic with little pus filled heads and are very uncomfortable. We hastily got the Raid and started squirting them. They had come up the electricity cable, in through the cupboard, turned left into the bathroom, one column marching round to the bedroom and another round the shower unit. Raid kills them instantly, but after we had sprayed everywhere, the trailer looked like a war zone with everything flung out from the corners and underneath lockers and dead ants littering the place. Victory - we won!! Terry was mortified as he normally srays bug spray round the trailer tyres etc when we pitch camp, but because of the problems with the air con unit the night before, he had forgotten to do it.
After breakfast, we packed up and brought the trailer to the Camping World place. They are replacing the air con unit after the insurers gave the go- ahead. At the moment we are sitting in the truck outside a laundrette, filling in time doing the washing, while the repairs are being done. Why do things conspire against you? We have had fine weather up till today, but today the heavens opened and it's rained. When it rains in the South, it really rains. Terry got soaked while packing up . Then we drove through torrential rain till we got to Camping World, when it eased off. Great we thought, until we had to disconnect the trailer and it started pouring again.
Perhaps, when we get the trailer fixed, we can do what we came here to do. We want to go into historic Macon tomorrow.It's claim to fame is that Otis Reading and Little Richard hail from here. So get ready to rock and roll!!!!

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