Friday - we're in Georgia!!

Friday, January 27, 2012   
We're in Georgia, and will be at Laura and Derek's later today!  Can't
wait to squeeze those boys! 
Yesterday, we drove through heavy rain all day.  We managed to stay off I-75, took US-27 through the rest of Kentucky, all of Tennessee, and into Georgia.
Some observations from the road: 
This part of the country is beautiful, even in the rain!  The mountains with clouds hanging in the trees near the top; small and large streams running high with the rain; lovely homes; quaint churches and little
towns.
There are quite a few eyesores on the landscape:  yards with trash and broken-down, rusted out cars, collapsing porches, trailers (can't elevate them to be called 'mobile homes') that are rusting. 
There are LOTS of Baptist churches - I swear there is at least one every five miles!  In one 3 mile stretch, there were THREE Baptist churches!
We stopped for lunch at Lou's in Sunbright, Tennessee.  Talked with the locals.  One gentleman, age 68, said he worked for the railroad for 29 years, but never went to school much and never learned to read!  He said he lived on the farm, and when there was work to be done, there was no time for school.
And, oh, the accents!  In a previous life, I talked with quite an accent - without that, I'm not sure I could have understood everything that was said! Strangely, when I'm talking to these folks, my accent comes back a little bit...or maybe a lot - depends on the listener!
There is now no grocery store in town - they have to drive 12 miles to the Wortburg (no kidding) Save-a-lot grocery store, or 30 miles to the nearest Walmart. Most of the men in town, they said, drive long haul trucks, because there is no industry in town.  Lots of poor people in this rural area.  Talk about small town Americana - wow.