All too soon, it was time to leave Florida and Disney behind, along with its oppressive
heat/humidity, and drive north to cooler weather, as well as our
son’s home, in TN. Before you ask, my
attire for this portion part of the trip was stirrup pants, pantyhose and a
turtleneck blouse, with a sweater.
Enroute, keeping with our tradition of sightseeing, we
stopped off in Plains, Georgia to visit the home town of former US President
Jimmy Carter and his family. While we
didn’t have much time to spend there, we were able to at least visit most of the
historic sites: campaign headquarters in
the railroad station, his boyhood home, the church where he worshipped (and
still does), the high school (which is a visitor center) and brother Billy’s
garage. It was a brief but fascinating glimpse into the man who rose from peanut farmer (and relative obscurity) to
governor and then President of the United States.
When checking into our motel in a nearby town, at dinner,
and while shopping at the big box store in nearby Americus, GA, we were treated
as two ladies. That’s the way it should
be, even though I wasn't wearing a dress.
It was unfortunate that we didn’t have time to attend the
Maranatha Baptist Church the next day (Sunday) to hear Mr. Carter, who still
makes appearances and teaches Sunday school at the church. Due to the extremely early arrival (4:30 AM
required for a 10AM service) in order to comply with security regulations, we
chose not to attempt that. However, it
would have made for an interesting morning.
Maybe on another trip…
Downtown Plains, with railroad station foreground left, and business district on the right. Very small!
Campaign headquarters downtown, from the park across the street.
Campaign Slogan in train station.
Another display in the train station.
Side view of train station.
The Smiling Peanut
When we looked over the maps from the visitor center we saw references to "The Smiling Peanut." Curious to see more about it, and expecting it to be a sleazy biker bar or something like that, we were both shocked to find this huge caricature. A really good likeness of Jimmy's smile, don't you think? And Jimmy and Rosalyn still live in town...obviously they are fine with it. Whether you liked (or can't even remember) his politics from "away back in the day", presentation of all this casts a fairly good light on the 39th President of the US and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize (for his work to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts.)
More later…
The "Peanut Man" seemed like a nice enough guy but a total phony. He would always be seen carrying a bag to and from the plane. The travel bag was empty and just carried for show. His policies were terrible and around the world he was a laughing stock and he had no respect from anyone. His undermining of the Shah of Iran brought us decades of heartache. At least he gave the country reason to vote for Reagan.
ReplyDeleteI do like the smiling peanut. Seems like a great trip.
Whether one likes a president's politics or not, it is truly fascinating to learn more about them, their background, and the place they lived. That town is SMALL!
DeleteWe were surprised at the "smiling peanut!"
Mandy