Day 37:
We met my long lost (not really, just missed) niece met us for lunch in lovely little town of St. Mary's. We met in the old part of town by the ferry to Cumberland Island. The lunch was good but hanging with Leilani was great but far too short.
We met my long lost (not really, just missed) niece met us for lunch in lovely little town of St. Mary's. We met in the old part of town by the ferry to Cumberland Island. The lunch was good but hanging with Leilani was great but far too short.
We found a lovely campground at Crooked River State Park in St. Mary's. It was nice and with few fellow campers. There the ever-present RVs but we had an area to ourselves - except for the hoards of flying/biting insects from Hell. We did have a visit from the local fauna. A vicious foaming at the mouth beast stumbled into our camp looking for human flesh. Actually this was far from a Marlin Perkins moment as our "wild" beast sauntered up to our picnic and immediately went into the doe-eyed (really) long lashes winking mode of begging. Carrots not nearly as appealing as a chocolate chip cookie. This treat made her our best friend. This delicate little creature was so tame, she actually followed us on a walk. A fellow camper even asked us the name of our "puppy".
After a night of perpetually waking up to scratch our connect the dots nightmare of bug bug bites, we woke to a sunshine that was soon followed by a fairly steady deluge. An hour or so in the cab of the truck took us to the Land of the Wimps way of thinking. We decided to bail on camping another night. At the first gap in the storm, we quickly packed the tent and hit the road. After a quick blast of civilization (went to our first movie of the trip, Robin Hood) we landed in Statesboro for the night.
Day 38:
Finally off toward a specific Oddasee target -- the Laurel & Hardy Museum in Harlem, GA. Our route took us through the rolling and gorgeous hills (hadn't seen a hill for well over a week) of back roads Georgia. This museum is in this small town due to the fact that is was the birthplace (trivia: he weighed in at over 14 pounds) of Oliver Hardy. It was a treat to see all the memorabilia and ephemera from those long ago film days. One perfect example of our laid back Oddasee attitude is that we just sat and watched "The Music Box" from 1931. It was great to laugh at the pain and silly foibles of these two comedic marvels. The museum guide also informed us another must see site -- the automobiles and art of artist Gary Russeth.
A few blocks away we were met by the Russeths for a journey into their special garage/world/museum. We knew we were blissfully back in the Oddasee mode again when we got to see the amazing work of yet another outsider artist. Gary made medical equipment by trade and was a wood carver by passion. He started off small with figurines and wall reliefs. His most common thematic choices were automobiles and his film idols; Laurel and Hardy. Somewhere along the line, he jumped from small sculptures to doll houses to life size figure and incredibly, full size automobiles. Now let me explain -- life size cars accurate in every detail. Even the hardware and fittings are wood. The upholstery is sawdust and resin. Even the engines are made of wood. Awesome. The painted ones are so real that even when you touch them, it's hard to believe that they are not steel. He owns one "real" auto. You can see sitting next to the unpainted one. There are five or six full size vehicles in his museum with another in progress in the shop. Again, as cool as the objects were, the real treasures are Gary and his wife, Jean. They were so friendly and excited about Gary's creations. She was proud and he was modest. We loved it all.
More info: www.laurelandhardy.org/harlem.
Our Oddasee souls were rejuvenated and Georgia has already been a peach.
Love and deep sighs of re-found visions of wonder and gratitude,
Rodney and Susan
After a night of perpetually waking up to scratch our connect the dots nightmare of bug bug bites, we woke to a sunshine that was soon followed by a fairly steady deluge. An hour or so in the cab of the truck took us to the Land of the Wimps way of thinking. We decided to bail on camping another night. At the first gap in the storm, we quickly packed the tent and hit the road. After a quick blast of civilization (went to our first movie of the trip, Robin Hood) we landed in Statesboro for the night.
Day 38:
Finally off toward a specific Oddasee target -- the Laurel & Hardy Museum in Harlem, GA. Our route took us through the rolling and gorgeous hills (hadn't seen a hill for well over a week) of back roads Georgia. This museum is in this small town due to the fact that is was the birthplace (trivia: he weighed in at over 14 pounds) of Oliver Hardy. It was a treat to see all the memorabilia and ephemera from those long ago film days. One perfect example of our laid back Oddasee attitude is that we just sat and watched "The Music Box" from 1931. It was great to laugh at the pain and silly foibles of these two comedic marvels. The museum guide also informed us another must see site -- the automobiles and art of artist Gary Russeth.
A few blocks away we were met by the Russeths for a journey into their special garage/world/museum. We knew we were blissfully back in the Oddasee mode again when we got to see the amazing work of yet another outsider artist. Gary made medical equipment by trade and was a wood carver by passion. He started off small with figurines and wall reliefs. His most common thematic choices were automobiles and his film idols; Laurel and Hardy. Somewhere along the line, he jumped from small sculptures to doll houses to life size figure and incredibly, full size automobiles. Now let me explain -- life size cars accurate in every detail. Even the hardware and fittings are wood. The upholstery is sawdust and resin. Even the engines are made of wood. Awesome. The painted ones are so real that even when you touch them, it's hard to believe that they are not steel. He owns one "real" auto. You can see sitting next to the unpainted one. There are five or six full size vehicles in his museum with another in progress in the shop. Again, as cool as the objects were, the real treasures are Gary and his wife, Jean. They were so friendly and excited about Gary's creations. She was proud and he was modest. We loved it all.
More info: www.laurelandhardy.org/harlem.
Our Oddasee souls were rejuvenated and Georgia has already been a peach.
Love and deep sighs of re-found visions of wonder and gratitude,
Rodney and Susan
No comments:
Post a Comment