Got Beer?

A bright and clear day greeted us when we arose. This morning we drove through the main part of Macon trying to find the highway out of town toward Milledgeville, the Civil War era capital of Georgia. We finally saw a road sign to make a turn onto the highway that we wanted and we turned at what we thought was the appropriate place. Turns out the sign was right next to a street BEFORE the highway. Anyway, just as we made the turn, a guy carrying two twelve packs of beer went running across the road right in front of us. Right behind him a police car roared after him from one side of the street to the other. Chasing after both of them was the clerk from a liquor store. This parade then went through the parking lot of an abandoned store and down another side street. The cop then stopped his car and started running after the beer bandit who by this time was running behind the abandoned store and back toward the street that we had just turned onto. Not wanting to risk the possibility of having the fleeing felon impolitely request the use of our car to make a hasty getaway, we made a somewhat speedy u-turn and beat a hasty retreat. We then had an uneventful trip to Milledgeville.

Tromp tromp tromping through Georgia.

General William Tecumseh Sherman and 65000 of his closest friends marched through Milledgeville on their way to Savannah in November of 1864. Seems like they had something they wanted to discuss with the rebel government there. Well, by the time they arrived, the city Welcome Wagon was nowhere to be seen, having skedaddled out of town with what was left of the State officialdom to seek more friendly environs. Today it’s a quaint town with a couple of colleges, one being a military college that now occupies the grounds of the old state capital building. The museum inside was closed but the building is used as the headquarters of the school and we were able to walk through the building and even see the renovated Senate and House chambers.

Most of the students on the campus were in uniform but the uniforms were anything but uniform. Anyone who has spent any time in the real military would laugh at the way a lot of the uniforms were being worn. One guy had his shirt tail out and many hats were perched on heads in positions that would make a drill sergeant cringe. And that’s just the people that were wearing hats; many students had no hat. Again, not very uniform.

If you are a Laurel and Hardy fan, you might like to know that Oliver Hardy lived in Milledgeville. His mother ran a hotel in there and he spent many hours in a movie house across the street. It was this early introduction to the glamour of Hollywood that caused him to vow that he too would someday be a movie star. A leisurely afternoon drive then took us to Lake City, Florida, for the night. Photo’s in the gallery.