Cordele, GA 2009

We left home on March 10th headed for a Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) rally in Perry, GA. We also plan to do a Habitat for Humanity build in Preston, GA after the rally. Our 1st stop was in Veteran's Memorial State Park campground in Cordele, GA. Cordele is a small town of about 11,000. There we met up with several friends from our Fredericksburg Good Sam Club, who were also en route to the FMCA rally. Also, our friends from Florida, Jerry and Elaine met us there too. Then we got a surprise call from our friends from Hagerstown, MD who were returning to MD after trying to see the space shuttle mission. The mission got scrapped and they had a deadline to get home to MD before the next mission could get scheduled. They decided to join us for a couple of nights before returning to MD. We all had a campground happy hour our first night with everyone and then the Klaubers, and Ric and Vic and us had a cookout for dinner. The next day the Klaubers, Ric and Vic and Jim and I took a train ride from Cordele to Americus and Plains, GA. The train runs from the campground - and it was staffed with volunteer camp workers who were serving as conductors and entertainers. It was a really fun trip. Our first stop was in Americus. This is the city that the Habitat Headquarters is located. Jimmy Carter kind of put Habitat on the map after he joined and got actively involved. We took a trolley from the train station to downtown. We had lunch in Americus and did a short walking tour of downtown Americus and its famous Windsor Hotel. Next train stop was in Plains,
GA. I'm sure everyone knows this is the home of Jimmy Carter. Plains has a whopping population of about 637. The big thing here is the Jimmy Carter Warehouse store. They offer peanuts and peanut ice cream along with other Carter stuff. Of course we had to try some ice cream. We saw Billy Carters gas station that is now a museum for Billy's gas station. That evening, we all went to State Park Restaurant which was very nice and overlooking the water. Overall, we had a very enjoyable stay in Cordele.