Today it rained all morning. Overnight a large BEACON fifth wheel parked precariously close to us and blocked off any light or sights from our windows. We drew our awnings in. There was no point in keeping it open. Beacon is a luxury fifth wheel by the Tiffin motorhomes company. This one was driven by a woman and her 80 year old father. They had a large horse trailer behind with a couple of horse carriages on top. They didn’t even open their slide outs. They were obviously just stopping for the night on their way to a race somewhere.
Atlanta is the home of Coca Cola and it’s museum is a major tourist attraction. We were not keen on it having given up carbonated drinks a long time ago. Instead, we caught up on cooking for the next leg. Today I made vegetable rice pilaf with potatoes and frozen mixed vegetables. I also made a layered Mexican dip with avocados, guacamole mix, a can of refried beans, fresh salsa and grated jalapeno jack cheese. We had picked up a bag of store baked tortilla chips. Hussein grilled a trout for himself, using Cajun and creole spice mix, salt, pepper and fresh basil from the plant that we have brought along with us. It appears to be thriving in this heat.
When the rain subsided we headed to the High Falls State Park. We got talking to a couple sitting on a park bench. He was a black American and looked surprisingly young for his age. He was 78 and his wife was a big woman but also looked much younger than she was. She was 65! They knew a lot about Canada and had travelled a lot. We gave an overview of the places we were planning to visit and they showed some concern about safety. “Are you packing?” he asked. We looked shocked! And he lifts his shirt to reveal a silver Smith & Wesson. This took us by complete surprise. They went on to explain why he carries it and highly recommended it – if we are going to travel to the mid west USA. In these parts guns and ammunitions are advertised alongside gas, coffee and restrooms as washrooms are called here. Yes Restrooms are big advertising… Amusing ones like these.
The hike was short but nice. Being a Saturday a lot of people were out here fishing and picnicking. There was a huge high school graduation party in one of the shelters at the park and the swimming pool was packed with children and parents. There are mostly blacks in this town and I couldn’t help notice the women were unusually big.
The High Falls is a large man made dam. During our hike we saw a water snake and turtles in the water.
We stopped at a farm kiosk at a local gas station selling salted boiled Georgia peanuts and Georgia peaches. We also picked up local okra and some zucchini. I found out that black eyed peas used to be a staple here until large crops were destroyed during previous draughts and then farmers moved on to other crops. We are both big fans of black eyed peas. I made a note to buy some as soon as I can find an Indian grocery store.
Vidalia Onions is from a town called Vidalia in Georgia. We passed it on our way here.
Tomorrow we plan to go to the SUNDAY FEAST at the Atlanta Hare Krishna Temple. I am looking forward to my first temple visit on our trip.