Welcome to Hinesville, Ga.....

Our Location: Coastal Solar Parking Lot, Hinesville, GA

A nice night for sleeping, a bit cooler than the previous couple of nights but still very nice. The day has been sunny and blue with some wispy white clouds high in the sky with temps running around the mid 60's F/18's C. 

Christmas Decorations in the many small towns

We were outside finishing the last of the packing up by 8 am this morning. With some help to watch the fenders I managed to get kitty corner into the spot and hook up the Igloo. Some helping hands to direct me around the electric pole/water/sewer on the left and the picnic table/cement pad on the right, I had the Dogsled pushing the Igloo backwards out of our spot thanks to the guy in spot 2 that we couldn't get around. Hugs and goodbyes with Steve, and Roger, we were on the road at 8:35 am. I was extremely happy about this great shove off time. 

We meandered around the country side following more or less a pretty straight line to Hinesville, GA, about 150 miles away. I will say that my new RV Garmin GPS worked very well. We call her Phoebe. She takes into consideration our length, height, and weight to determine which roads are safe for us to travel. I have an 'auto' GPS that we call Bella, she is good only in the USA. Then there is Taz, strictly a Canadian girl, showing nothing south of the border. Phoebe has dual citizenship and can be used in either country.

 

Look at the palm trees behind. Not natural for us.

We drove along some amazing country side today. Scenes from cotton fields to hardy green winter crops, bright light green/yellow winter canola crop, empty farm fields, a wrecking yard that went on for at least mile with every conceivable kind of 'motorized' vehicle being represented. We passed thru numerous small towns that gave us a small glimpse into small town USA living. Many places still had these cute Xmas decorations attached to the light standards. It was odd to see these decorations and realize it's Jan 4 when everything is green, bright, cheery and palm trees swaying in the background.

Hard to call him Frosty in this weather.

 With no rest stops because it wasn't an interstate we managed to pull off safely so Riley could grab a ready made sandwich and some snacks for herself. We also managed to use the ladies room as mine is available even with the slides in. Always important to have access to the bathroom, fridge, stove and dishes. 

Small town decorations still up.

The temps stayed pretty consistent as the afternoon approached and we were happy that the wind wasn't blowing too hard. We moseyed along about 50 -55 mph/ 80 - 85 kph for the entire trip. A nice speed with the stop and go possibilities due to traffic lights in the small towns.  The speed limits were always going up and down so it was hard to use cruise today.

Handsome, isn't he?

Fuel wise we filled up before we left Albany and arrived here in Hinesville with just over a third of a tank of fuel. Not bad for the kind of driving we did. 

We passed thru towns such as Pearson, Jesop, Ludowici, Wilacoochee, Enigma, Alapaha, Tifton, Sylvester, Blackshear, Waycross, Offerman, Screven, Doctortown, and Walthourville. Each with a stop light or two, a railroad track every other town, and of course the requisite Advanced Auto Parts, Piggly Wiggly, Family Dollar and General Dollar. Package stores (liquor) were in abundance as well. Pick up trucks with spot lights on the roof, gun racks in the back window, grill guards and huge tires were the norm, while old beater cars with multi coloured fenders, doors, hoods, trunks and missing hubcaps were also seen in large numbers.

For sale.....want the number?

  Some towns were very busy while others were very quiet. Some had run down, messy, needing repairs and paint store fronts and houses, while others were well manicured, nicely landscaped, well maintained businesses and homes.

Cotton waiting for shipment.

We noticed fewer pecan orchards that around Albany, but the ones we seen were better tended. We seen only agricultural farms, no livestock, no big bales of hay or barns anywhere. Although we did see a tractor trailer full of pine straw bales.

Canola crop

We noticed a few watering machines in some of the fields, huge tires, long arms and usually an irrigation pond near by. Numerous tractor dealerships just randomly sitting in a field in the middle of no where. Although the towns are pretty close together, so maybe middle of no where isn't quite accurate. ~laugh~  

Of course some form of Walmart was present in some of the bigger towns but not all of them had a super center, some were only markets (groceries only) and some looked like they had seen better days and were in need a face lift on the outside at least. 

Irrigation pond with the house in background

Grocery stores ranged from Piggly Wiggly to Harvey's (a chain here in Georgia) with the odd Kroger thrown in and often times a small local mom and pop kind of store. The regular fast food chains such as MacDonald's, Hardee's, Burger King, Subway, and Sonic could be seen in the bigger towns along with Chick-fil-a, Church's Fried Chicken, and KFC also in attendance. 

Snow in Georgia. Naw, just cotton.

We've seen very few police in our travels, but those that we did see were usually busy with customers and weren't interested in us. Although I tried to convince Riley they might be looking for her. She wasn't buying it. ~laugh~ 

We arrived in Hinesville to be greeted by this fella on the left. Not sure if he was bowing or jumping, he seemed pretty intense though. ~laugh~ 

Arrival time was just after 1 pm. We pulled into the lot with some doubt as to our proper location. Coastal Solar was tucked into the far corner with the U-Haul sign. Our tech Jason wasn't available but a nice fella whose name escapes me, was more than happy to inform Jason of our arrival. We explained we were early and would just go to the Igloo and have lunch while waiting for Jason to arrive. I had intended only to find out where to park and leave the man alone as our appointment is for TOMORROW. We were informed by no less than 3 people that we are safe in the parking lot as the owner of U-Haul/Coastal Solar owns the parking lot and his brother is the sheriff, who followed in pa's footsteps and grandpa's footsteps, as they had both been sheriff before him. I think we're safe here. ~laugh~

Jason rode with us to our parking spot behind the building, climbed on top of the roof and with the help of a nice young man from the business next door took the panels up to lay them out how he wants them. Back down the ladder, looking at the battery compartment, the inside closet for running wires and offered to find us any information we wanted regarding things to see and do in the area.

We thanked him, met the folks in the office and then proceeded to level up the Igloo so we could unhook and get things settled for the cat. Before we had a chance another fella came out and started chatting. Wanted to buy the truck. ~laugh~ 

Leveled up the Igloo, unhooked the Dogsled and took off to find some groceries that we realized we needed. Still looking for a fuel stop before I hook back up though. We stopped at Ollie's Bargain Barn after our grocery run but before we got back home again. He's in the mall next to this one. Also a Verizon Wireless across the street from Ollie, which I want to pop into tomorrow for some Internet information. Back home to the Igloo and set about getting ready to make dinner. As we are not plugged into any shore power we are once again dry camping, no problem for us but after tonight it will be much easier to manage on these longer dark nights with more battery capabilities. 

Found some free wifi and am able to do my post. It's been a good day. Dinner tonight was a garden salad with some chopped up oregano thyme chicken breast. I put the chicken on after I took the picture. ~laugh~ 

 

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed the trip. Feel free to comment. Until next time...be safe....take care......