Georgia on my…Magnus? Day 5

 Sunday February 15 

Our drive for the day was headed to “Little Tallapoosa” county park. Man, these Georgia places have weird names!

We had rain for the whole trip as we cruised up and down through little mountains. It was mostly light rain but there was one smart shower. It didn’t slow us down, and it stopped raining when we arrived. Yippee!

I was surprised to discover it was a full hookup site.  (I really need to start writing down these details at  the time of making the reservation instead of waiting until months later when I do trip details planning. It’s strangely hard sometimes to find out that information months after the fact. But in this case, I think Georgia’s park reservation system was just flaky. Actually it's a county park.)

Molly and I went for a long meander on the little park trails, mostly concentrating on wide, paved bike trail. We got lost, but I suspected we’d been traveling in a big oval. And I was right!  We ended up back at the RV campground. Sweet.

And shortly after returning it came a serious shower. Didn’t see that coming!

 

There was a good bit of traffic noise in the distance. But the campground itself was very quiet. No radios or traffic or stuff like that. See my review later for details. Nothing much else happened, but I did a bit of work for Brock.

Review: Little Tallapoosa Park

Sweet campground! And bring the kids

This seemed like an itty bitty little campground until I went walking around. The full-hookup area where we were had a couple of loops and plenty of lovely, large sites. I’d been told to “check in and choose any yellow site,” and that worked fine. I’d reserved a site and paid a deposit, asking for a full hookup site for a 35’ RV. And that’s exactly what the yellow sites were. The green ones were for smaller RVs and there were some  tent sites mixed in, too.  All this was explained by the nice lady at the front gate who gave us our tags.

There were two other camping loops, one with RV and smaller trailer sites, water/electric only, and one for tent campers. It would be a lovely place to tent camp—the sites were large and pretty private, under huge pine trees for  shade.

We chose pull-thru site 6. The pad was asphalt, it was easy to get in and out, and the utilities worked just fine. It was more than long enough for us. The utilities were at the back of the site, so we unhooked our toad and parked it in front, which let us put the motorhome at the very back where it would be close to the sewer outlet.

There is a lovely, long bike trail next to the campground, plus lots of little walking paths winding in and out through the woods. All perfectly maintained. And there’s a basketball area, a splash pad and a couple of playgrounds for the kiddies. Plus a tiny little pond, containing a lone blue-winged teal.  They had signs displaying local children’s poetry posted on the walking path around it. Nice!

If it had only had a dog park I’d have called it perfect.

Georgia on my…Magnus? Day 4

Saturday February 14

This was our second day at Forkland. I made notes that the place was extremely quiet and peaceful except for maybe a few dogs barking across the river. And campers. And birds. And a few gunshots now and then. Palmettos.

There were lots of huge trees to enjoy and along with that, tons of squirrels for Molly to chase.  The only trails were the tiny network I mentioned before, starting just beside the park entrance station. Best I could tell, Molly and walked them all in well under an hour. But there were nice and had lots of lake views, so I won’t complain.

We ended the day on a bad note. The entrees we had at the restaurant (River City Soul) were good but the sides were awful and I couldn’t communicate with the waitress.  The menu clearly stated that my entrée came with a side and a salad, but for some reason she thought that I didn’t want the salad. Even though I specifically requested honey-mustard dressing. But when she brought out Ed’s salad, I saw that I didn’t like the looks of it enough to ask for mine. The food took 25 or more minutes to come. And even though it had “soul” in the name, the food was pure American crap. A shame. Another time, when we come here, we’ll do The Red Barn--it was packed.

Apparently someone likes carving statues.

 

Georgia on my…Magnus? Day 3

Friday, February 13

Leaving Askew Landing:

We had a lovely boring drive. Jackson sucked—it was very rough going through there—but it didn't last long.  Then I made a note, “Getting awful hilly here at Meridian,  Mississippi.” I’m not sure why but I suspect I thought that Mississippi was universally flat.

We arrived at Forkland Campground (see review below.) I jogged for 45 minutes but stopped in the middle to walk a trail.  It was supposed to be .7 mile but there were at least 11 benches along the route. So does that mean there was a bench every 1/20 of a mile?  I don’t know, but it was nice. There were lots of offshoots, too, that I may get to take.

Birds seen: Kingfisher. Hermit thrush, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker; butterbutts, chickadees. Some species of cormorant. Blue birds, titmice--do titmice sound different all over the place?!?  It sure seems like they do. Yellow-bellied sapsucker.
Barred owl on the ground--so cool. I apologized much for disturbing its hunting.
Pelicans, at least 45 or 50. Heading vaguely north.

I finished the day with an awesome star and planet display. I say a shooting star!

Review: Forkland Campground

One of the nicest little COE campgrounds I’ve ever seen

The place was smallish but very nice. The gate wasn’t manned (it was February) but a quick call to  the host on duty got me my paperwork and I was all set. There were no issues with checking in early at 2pm; the official check-in was 4pm but the website indicated you were allowed to check in early if your site was empty. Which is not true of all COE parks.

But on a Friday in February, Forkland was nearly empty. The row of sites we were in ran alongside the river (lake?), but there was another loop of sites away from the lake. There were a few campers grouped up near the front, where there were more pull-thru sites, and about six in the back-in sites near us. Some of the back-in sites were extremely long—room for an RV, a vehicle, and even a boat or two. Ours was plenty long for the 35’ motorhome and toad. We only unhooked because it was back-in and we were planning to go out to eat.

The pad was concrete; the living area fine pea gravel. Large  picnic table.  All very nice and surprisingly tidy.  Which is unusual for a COE park; even the boat ramp area was clean. Our utilities—water and 50-amp electricity---worked fine. The dump station on the way out was easy to use.  And the bathroom was immaculate—cleaner than mine at home.

Our site 177 backed up to the lake and had a decent view of it through the trees. That might not be true in the summer, though. Some of the others sites had more clear space on the lake side. In particular sites 11 and 20 were great. We had an easy walk down the steep bank to the lake; a few of the other sites had staircases in varying states of repair. A person could tie up their boat down there and camp on the hill overlooking it.

There was even a small group of walking trails by the entrance gate.  My dog and I walked about a mile on various trails. Since the park is small, that may be all there is, so don’t go there for major hiking adventures.  But it was enough for us.

 We ate at River City Soul in Demopolis. The steak and fried catfish were as good as everybody says; the bread was nice; but the side dishes were atrocious. The wait time for our food to come was really long--25 minutes, maybe. I was thinking there might have been some side dishes that weren’t on the online menu, like black-eye peas or greens or such, but no. I wished we’d chosen The Red Barn instead; there were a whole lot of cars there when we went by. Oh, well.

Georgia on my…Magnus? Day 2

Thursday, February 12

 I woke a half hour before sunrise at 7 am with the alarm set for 7:10. I was just about to get up when Ed got up first. Oh well—I didn’t get the longer version of the morning dog walk, but at least I didn’t have to make the coffee.

Funny sign at the campground:

Outside there was a very noisy pileated woodpecker drumming. Otherwise it was so very wonderfully quiet. Pine warblers dueling. Distant airplane. Sweet.

During our after breakfast dog walk, I saw a Pileated Woodpecker, a Red-bellied Woodpecker I think, a White-breasted Nuthatch, Pine Warbler, Chipping Sparrow; robins, bluejays, chickadees, titmice, and of course, yellow-rumped warblers.

Today we’ll be passing (and skipping) the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum. Where Bonnie and Clyde had their last meal. The ambush site is down the road. I wonder if my family went there when we took our trip to see Ma Etta in Marietta Oklahoma? I remember seeing a car with bullet holes and that was really cool.

LATER NOTES:
Horrible long day today. First, dumping took a while. We turned the wrong way getting out of the campground and it took a while to circle back. Then a long backup on Interstate 20. Then a slow pump at Love's.

But eventually we got there, to a private campground called Askew Landing.  I liked it pretty well. The dog park was great. All the big pine trees were soothing. But I didn’t spend any time sitting outside or walking around to  enjoy it. There were a lot of RVs in the back, lined up in front of the trees and I kept assuming they were owned by long-term residents who at any minute would arrive back from work and then let their dogs out for their evening poop. It never happened, though.

I would consider staying there again for an overnight stop-over. The office people were nice.

Mississippi River pics

 Review: Askew Landing RV Campgound

Nice family-oriented campground with a fishing pond

I could imagine this being a great place to have a small family reunion or a few days get-together. There is a pavilion or two, a communal fire pit, a tiny playground and a very tiny swimming pool. Plus fishing in the pond, I guess. I assume they’d let  kids fish there; didn’t ask. The only thing I didn’t see that you might want is cabins for the non-campers. Possibly they had some or else RVs you could rent. They had a laundry and a little store in the office, too.

The pair of dog parks were wonderful. One for small  dogs; one for large. The large one was huge--my dog loved it.

 For me, though, it wasn’t ideal because the sites were close together (although no closer than usual) and the whole place was lit up at night like an amusement park. There were lights on the lake and street lights and a lot of outside lighting on the other campers, too. There was so much light that it was hard to take my dog for an evening stroll—too much glare to see where I was going. But we went down the entrance road and alongside the lake, which was dark and comfortable.

 We had originally reserved a back-in site but the nice people in the office moved us to “the field” so that we could keep our toad hooked up without sticking out into the drive. They were exceptionally friendly and helpful. Our site was FHU and all of it worked fine.  The site surface was grass and the entrance road was gravel. The road was a little narrow coming in—if RVs were both coming and going at the same time and one of them wasn’t looking ahead, someone would get stuck having to back up. That probably doesn’t happen very often, though.

It wasn’t very far off the interstate, but still very rustic and extremely quiet. We’d stay there again.

Georgia on my…Magnus?

Wednesday, February 11 2026
On the road. It's sunny and a bit chilly. Perfect jogging weather, but I’m not jogging. I’m sitting in a motorhome passenger seat, traveling to Lake Bisteneau in Louisiana.

We've been there before but I chose to return--I liked the place. It's old but well maintained, and so far out in the boonies that I wonder why the Louisiana parks department bothers. Maybe they like it too.

Molly and I saw armadillo on our walks and a couple of squirrels. A wren that was probably a winter wren, but I forgot to go back with binoculars and check it. When I tried later, it was gone. There was more water in the lake than last time; I suspect they were doing their annual “draw down” and had just started.

At dusk, which I was talking on the phone, an owl flew by and perched in a tree. Then it started making “monkey sounds” and hooting back and forth at an owl across the way. Barred Owls, of course.  Later, at the end of our nighttime walk, an armadillo so excited Molly that she jumped off the edge of the deck, thru the rails and three feet down. Silly dog.  It didn’t hurt her, of course, sense her leash was attached to her harness and not a collar. I had to tie up the leash and walk over and around the deck to release her. The armadillo had ducked and run—for a change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring here, sort of.

Review: Fly Girl

By Ann Hood

Memoir of the author’s years as a TWA stewardess. They didn’t call them “flight attendants” back then—they were stewardesses with all that implies: lovely, attentive ladies who filled up your coffee as nearly as they filled out the skirts in their cute little uniforms. She put up with the sexism, not to mention the horrible working hours, ridiculous weight checks, assignments to the smoking sections and more, all to achieve her goals—unlimited free flights and a kick-ass salary. Plus, she really enjoyed the status it gave her, to be the person responsible for getting her passengers safely on the airplane, responding to emergencies, and keeping them fed and comfortable. I admire her.

The most interesting part of the book for me was the description of how she gained confidence and freedom as her career advanced. She went from being a girl for whom eating a meal in a restaurant alone was a near-disastrous experience to a mature, capable woman who could travel to foreign countries alone and navigate their streets (and public transit, too.)

And the least interesting part was the history of how the stewardess role was invented and evolved and the story of TWA airlines. And that was still pretty interesting.

So I enjoyed. Much.

Review: Hiking is the Easy Part

by Julia Sheehan

I’ve read way too many books about thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail and I thought I was burned out on the subject. But this one tickled me. Just the right mix of suffering and humor; a healthy dose of appreciation for the beauty around her; and some internal struggles as she found herself kicked in the guts time and again by the trail. She got back up and tackled it again, every time, and that was cool to read.

I’m sure there was some of the endless naming that I’ve come to dislike about trail blogs: who she met, what their trail names were, what they ate, etc.,, but I don’t recall it getting tedious. Sometimes I think every thru-hiker feels they have to name every person they met along the trail so they won’t forget them all. Or hurt their feelings for leaving them out. That’s fine for he/she or them, but boring as heck to the rest of us.

But I don’t remember that here. Good, very good, trail blog.