I am back ITP for the foreseeable future. Woo! Hoo!
In And Out
I landed at Hartsfield on Friday, and returned home to grab my mail and pack another bag with t-shirts and underwear for the weekend. Three hours later (no, it didn’t take that long to pack) I was back on the road. The destinations for the weekend were Cordele, GA (for a hotel room) and Vienna, GA (to attend the Big Pig Jig).
The drive to Cordele was circuitous to say the least. I set Jill The GPS on “Avoid Highways” mode and she did a fine job of following orders. If fact, she did too fine job. When I realized that near Perry, GA I was crossing I-75 for at least the second time I decided to take control away from Jill. It was at this time I found the Georgia National Fair (when did our state become a nation?) and saw that jumping back on to US 41 would take me all the way to Cordele.
The gloomy skies that I landed in cleared on the way down and hopes for a decent weekend started.
My Head Wasn’t Cloudy, But The Sky Sure Was
Upon waking Saturday I was disappointed to see that the clear night sky had given way to clouds in the morning.
Around 11am I headed to the Big Pig Jig fair grounds. I was astonished to see that the grounds were covered with semi-permanent structures. I talked to one of the teams who were participating in the barbecue competition and they told me that they lease a plot of land from the county and then build their own structures. Most of the teams in competition return to Vienna year after year.
I walked around looking at everything and taking photos of the grounds (Sorry Ray, I don’t think that I will be an accomplished people photographer any time soon.) for about an hour. With the skies looking ominous and the realization that the line to eat “competition bbq” was going to take a long time to shrink, I decided to head out.
Being At The Right Place At The Wrong Time
My destination after the Big Pig Jig was Andersonville, GA. My hope was that I could outrun the drizzle and hike around the Civil War town. Unfortunately when I arrived I realized that there was a Civil War reenactment occurring (this may happen often) and that the sleepy little village was packed. At this point in my trip I couldn’t deal with another crowd, so I never left my car.
Damn, It Was Almost A Great Weekend
Oh sure my picking college winners sucked, but if the Florida Gators’ defense could have stepped up and won it for the team on Saturday night all would have been forgiven. Instead they collapsed, just like all of my teams have been doing this season. And to make matters worse (for me) I think that they have at least one more loss in them this season.
And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – harried, normality returns tomorrow
Current Music – Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Akron Family — “Ed Is A Portal”
Website Of The Day – Over the weekend I heard of a really cool blog called Lost and Found Photos.
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Monthly Mileage – 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work – My car
October Goal
1) Find happiness
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Oh yay! I’m glad you were still able to make it a-Jiggin’!
I’m sorry to hear how Andersonville turned out, though. I really think it was the weekend: I’ve been there a few times and it was never very crowded. Since they had their little fair this weekend, I bet that was the case. If you ever want to go another weekend, say the word! It can definitely be a day trip; the park, the cemetery and the cute little town (which has a run-down little po-dunk restraurant with really good bbq) are all things we can do in just one day.
Speaking of BBQ… I know it wasn’t a “tasting” festival or anything, but did you get to at least purchase some good eats?
I’d be up for another trip. I was bummed by the crowd, although it would have made for good photography.
I ate a bbq sandwich and a sausage. Both were excellent. I really wanted to try the competition bbq but I hate waiting in lines.
I learned yesterday at my Mom’s 91st birthday party (Happy Birthday, Mom) that my nephew was participating in the reenactment. Sorry I contributed to imparing your weekend.
And while we’re speaking of festivals, let me remind all you blog readers out there that the Stone Mountain Highland Games will be the weekend of the 20-21st of this month. Come get your Scottish on….
-FP
Happy Belated Birthday, Steve’s mom!
The reenactment didn’t really impair my weekend, my desire not to be around a lot of people did. If I was in the mood to be in a crowd it would have been a welcome surprise.
If the weather is nice on the 20th then I shall make a trek to Stone Mountain. On the 21st I have plans to watch a couple of good friends get hitched.