October 24, 2023 Day 17 Thomasville Georgia 135 miles
Today is partly cloudy but no rain is predicted. We are headed for the Albany Exchange Club Fair. This is the 100th anniversary of the fair.
The drive along the back roads is most enjoyable. More canopy roads and cotton fields. Some of the cotton has been harvested so those fields are bare. Others the plants still look green. Some of the fields look much whiter than others.
Well here is a first. We past the company Oil Dry. They make cat litter. We never thought about how or where that is made. The plant is very large and has several large piles of gray stuff. Not sure if that is the before, after or by product. A dust blows across the road so we are breathing in whatever that is. Lots of semi trailers are parked on one end of the plant. No cats were spotted.
Today we had a short coffee stop in the town of Pelham. I think they must have timed it with a modern car because we got there about the time we were to leave.
Then we came to some pecan orchards. At least that is what we think they are. The trees are in nice even rows quite some distance apart. They need to be because these trees are tall and wide. The ground under the trees is bare. In one orchard vehicles with big brushes are going down the rows. This is to clear the ground of debris before they bring in a tree shaker to make the pecans fall to the ground. Then another vehicle picks them up and takes them to the processing plant for the remaining steps in the process. A nut worthy job.
Next comes two extremely large areas of solar panels. The areas are on both sides of the road. Looks like someone’s cotton fields are now growing solar panels. Ironically a few miles down the road the local power company has a coal fired power plant. Competition is usually a good thing.
We stopped at the Flint Riverquarium. This has many very well done exhibits mostly for river dwellers in the area. Lots of different catfish, turtles and alligators. They had several interactive displays which would be especially wonderful for kids.
Then we were going across town to the fairgrounds. We actually got there early. I guess we didn’t visit the aquarium long enough. The fair isn’t to open officially until later this afternoon so nothing is running. Newspaper and television reporters were on the scene taking pictures and doing interviews. We may appear in the Albany Herald. The reporter was desperate and we were early targets. After lunch Patsy Cline came in and sang for about 40 minutes. We left after her concert rather than stay at the fair. Thankfully the drive to the hotel was uneventful. Supper was good and filling even without grits.
Spoffords Travel 