The Terrible Catsafterme

When you last heard about the Georgia trip from this Summer, Bob, Ashleigh, and I were staying at the Plains Historic Inn. On Sunday morning, July 9, we got up early and headed just up the road about a mile to the Maranatha Baptist Church.

We got there about 7:15am and found there were only four or five people there before us. The Secret Service had not finished securing the building so they were casing the area with their bomb-sniffing dogs. Waiting in line is never too boring as Miss Jan will always come out and brief the crowd on what to expect (metal detectors, camera inspections) and not-to-expect (autographs, conversations with President Carter). There are always other visitors in line from out of town to strike up conversations with. Read the rest of this entry »

I used to make fun of Ronald Reagan at the time he was President, but what did I know at that time? I was young and I thought he was old, slow, and phony – what else could a former actor be? I just finished listening to the Audio CD version of his biographical An American Life last week and confirmed what I’d come to suspect later in life: Reagan was a great guy. Read the rest of this entry »

Again, this posting refers to the trip I took just last weekend with my Dad and Bill. We awoke in Americus, Georgia bright and early Sunday morning and headed out toward Plains (about 10 miles west) to the Maranatha Baptist Church. We arrived at around 7:30am, although I was hoping to get there about 15 minutes earlier.

After a brief wait of about 30 minutes, we were allowed entrance to the church. Security seemed a bit more lax than it had been during my other two visits. Neither Bill nor I were required to be scanned by the metal detector, but Dad was. I guess he just looked more like an assassin than we did. All that was required of me was that I turn on my camera so that they could see that it was actually a camera. We ended up in the fourth pew from the front, where a large floral display contributed by Sybil Carter commemorated the 18th anniversary of the death of her husband Billy. Read the rest of this entry »

Disclaimer: If you are reading my other postings about Ashleigh’s and my Georgia travels on our way to the Augusta Sons convention, do not get confused about this posting. Although in those other postings, we are also poised to attend Jimmy Carter’s Sunday School class in Plains – this posting is about a trip that I just took with my Dad and uncle this past weekend. Read the rest of this entry »

So, continuing with our Georgia trip: Bob, Ashleigh, and I drove the 10-minute jaunt over to Plains from Americus where we had enjoyed a sumptuous prime rib dinner. There we checked into our room at the Plains Historic Inn. Bob had been here before and had enticed me to check this place out. The last time I was in Plains was during their 2004 Peanut Festival, so this place was booked up for that weekend. It’s not surprising that it would be completely occupied – considering it only has seven rooms! Read the rest of this entry »