Home Base: Red Top Mountain State Park, Cartersville, Georgia

The road from Clemson to Cartersville was a hair-raising one. The traffic on I-85 was as heavy as the rain. I had the scariest road event I’ve had in all my travels. The traffic came to an abrupt stop. I pressed down hard on the brake pedal, kept my hands on the wheel, kept my eyes open and took a deep breath. Luckily, I managed to stop, although it was closer than I would have liked. I wonder how many miles worth of tread I took off my tires?

I always keep what I think is an adequate amount of space between me and the vehicle in front of me and drive at a speed that I think is reasonable. This time, my good driving habits really saved me.

I followed the signs and the voice in my phone and made my way to the park office. Now, Georgia has an interesting method of reserving camp sites. You don’t pick your site when you reserve and pay. Once you get there, they assign you a site.

After my hair-raising trip, I looked hopefully at the ranger and asked if they had any pull-through sites. They did!

It was a great camp site. Electricity, water and cable! The cable wasn’t functioning properly at all sites, according to the ranger, but the HD broadcast reception was great, so I didn’t even bother to see if it worked where I was. The restroom and showers were great, too! At $32 a night, the price wasn’t too bad.

The only thing that wasn’t great was the weather. I think it had been raining non-stop for more than two weeks.

One day I went into the nearest town, Cartersville, Georgia. Laundry was on the agenda, as well as getting some food.

I got my washing taking care of and then checked my phone for places to eat. Appalachian Grill got some excellent reviews, so I decided to head there. I put the address in the phone and followed the twists and turns. I was on an overpass when the voice in the phone told me that I had arrived. Uh, the road was a good ways up in the air, so I knew that there was something wrong.

When I got off the overpass, I turned a corner and put in the address again. It directed me to a vacant lot. I figured that this wasn’t meant to be, and thought I’d pull up a bit and pick someplace else.

I got up to the corner, looked to the right, and there it was! It even had plenty of parking. It helps if you stop by on a weekday between meal periods.

And you can see the overpass. The restaurant was right where the voice in the phone told me it was. I just couldn’t get there from where I was. The first step is a lulu!

The restaurant was located in an historic building.

I was about the only person in the restaurant, which I guess happens when you show up between meal periods on a weekday. The service was great, and the atmosphere was a very classy rustic with old-time mountain music recorded by modern musicians playing in the background. It was very relaxing.

I started off my meal with a house salad. It was outstanding. I ate every bit of it. My main course was a Monte Cristo sandwich. The way it was described in the menu made me think it would be as good as the ones I used to get at Great Gritzby’s Flying Food Circus in Chicago back in the 1970’s when I lived there.

For those of you unfamiliar with this sandwich, it is definitely not a heart healthy choice. It is a ham, turkey and swiss sandwich dipped in batter and then deep-fried. It is dusted with confectioners sugar and served with raspberry jam. Oh, my!

I couldn’t finish the sandwich and I only ate about three of the fries.

I also met up with a Facebook friend in Marietta. It took a bit of maneuvering, but we finally got a time that would work. She was in the middle of selling her house. I remember all to well the stress of that adventure.

We met at Kiosco Restaurant, an establishment featuring Columbian food. We had just barely met, chatted a bit and placed our orders when her phone rang. She had just accepted an offer on their house the day before. The phone call was to tell her that she had a plumbing problem. Something had sprung a leak!

She jumped up, and threw some money on the table. She apologized, but I assured her that I understood completely.

I summoned the waiter and explained the situation. I stayed and had my lunch, which was delicious. I didn’t take any food photos this time. Stop in and I assure you that it will be delicious.

After I finished lunch, I set out to explore a bit. I headed for the town square.

It had the requisite fountain in the center.

A statute of a local politician, Alexander Stephens Clay. He served in the Georgia legislature and then in the United States Senate. As a U.S. senator, Clay served as chair of the Committee on War Claims and as a member of the Committee on Woman Suffrage. I found out those nuggets in my research on line. He died in 1910 while in office.

There were workers in the park getting ready for the holidays. They were erecting a skating rink! It looks like they are planning to have some fun there in Marietta.

Another memorial that I found particularly touching was the tribute to the teachers of the years from Cobb County and Marietta Schools. They had handprints of the honorees because they had touch so many lives.

I strolled around the square.  It was just marvelous to have a day without rain.

One point of local pride is their theater.

And then I moseyed back to my truck. I parked a few blocks away to make maneuvering in and out of the spot easy. Since it was free parking on the street, I had no complaints.

On the drive back, my HISTORY Here app pinged that I was near something. I was stopped, so I stole a glance at my phone. The General was in Kennesaw. The General was a locomotive that played a roll in a train chase in the Civil War.

I was particularly interested in visiting, as Buster Keaton made a silent movie back in 1926 about the event. At the time, it had some some of the most expensive effects ever used in a film. Although it wasn’t well-received at the time, it is now considered one of the greatest films ever made. We studied the film as an integrated arts units in my class back in the day.

The museum is filled with artifacts from the war, with an emphasis on the manufacturing behind the war effort.

There were also some samples of the different kinds of rails that were in use.

This display reminded me of the iron works I had seen in Scranton, Pennsylvania a few months earlier.

They really did an outstanding job of refurbishing The General.

When I got back to the campground, I noticed that what I thought was rain on the outside of the Flo’s windows was really moisture built up on the inside. All those weeks of rain had taken their toll. I decided to do some maintenance. I cleaned all the windows and the mildewed ledges inside. When I finished, I took care of packing up for the next day’s travels.

And then I did some research on how to control moisture inside the trailer.

And, since I would be staying at my brother’s house for a couple of weeks, I could have it delivered.

Thank you, Amazon!