Meanwhile, Back in Georgia…

The other day I actually introduced myself to a potential advertiser as Miss Sam. Figured it was time to get out of Alabama. As our good friend Jim Crowell observed, we’ve gone native, and “it’s not a pretty sight.” We drove back to Georgia to finish up Indian Springs State Park. Bad wreck on I-85 tied up traffic for about six miles. We weren’t too bothered, just ate our lunch in the front seats, but it was annoying, with rain coming.

We stopped early and stayed at Lake Pines Campground in Columbus, GA. This is a park we mapped last year where we spent time with Angelo and Theresa, who have since moved back to New Yawk and Connecticutt. We were greeted with hugs from the park owner and really enjoyed the visit. We gave this park to new reps who have a son in Columbus; it was a hard job for them, too, but they got it done.

Tornadoes in the area, a few hours of warnings and watches, but they missed us again.

We are in Georgia about a month later than we were last year and we are really getting a burst of the beautiful southern spring. All the dogwood and azaleas are blooming; no rhodys south of Atlanta, but still lots of color in the azaleas. This has been a cold spring for the south; frost has nipped at the budding pecan trees, threatening the crop for the second year in a row.

We are settled in Indian Springs State Park, probably the most beautiful state park we stay in, east or west. I’ll try to get pictures today. We are expecting a big storm so the pictures may have to wait. We worked this park while we were doing High Falls State Park, 20 miles away, last month, so we won’t be here long. We have one big advertiser who has built a ten store village since we were here last, and I met with her this morning, but probably can’t wrap up her ad for a month, so we will work hard in the nearby town of Jackson next week and move on down the road.

Our company just got a contract to do all the state parks in South Carolina and we expect to do one of them before we leave the east.

Jason is moving into a rental house on Monday, but there is still no word on the Logan business selling, so we don’t know when Jamie and the kids will move to join Jason. Most important, we don’t know when we will see them. They might as well wait now, until school is out, to move. We have to be back in New Mexico by the first of June, to do two parks. (We don’t have to, we could let someone else do them, but they are both parks we did very well with last year and we expect them to be better this year.)

While we were in Alabama we flew to Palm Springs for the company meeting. It was good to see our managers and other reps we have befriended, but kind of tiring. Flying isn’t fun anymore.

This weather is very interesting. When cold air from the north swirls down and meets warm air coming up from the gulf, it gets real exciting. It has been just beautiful, 80 degrees with a gentle breeze, sleep with a sheet and light blanket … you-know-who has been basking! But it can turn stormy very quickly, and there seems to be a lot of those cold-warm meetings this spring. The tornado activity that hit Texas last night is reportedly heading east. We don’t expect it to get to us, but we’ve spotted the cinder block bathhouse, just in case.

Love to all,