In early December, we decided to take a trip to Georgia—a state where we still had a lot of counties to collect.
Our trip started when we
landed in Atlanta on Saturday morning. We picked up our Kia K5 and headed
to Savannah. Naturally, we didn’t take the direct route. A little
south of Atlanta, we got off I-75 and took a somewhat parallel route to the
northeast. After stopping for KFC in Locust Grove, we got onto HWY 16, crossed
over the Ocmulgee River and entered Jasper County, our first new county of the
trip. We immediately pulled over to stop at the Sac-O-Suds gas station, a
filming location from My Cousin Vinny. We bought a candy bar to
have a reason to go inside. From there, we kept a mostly southeastern
path, weaving our way through Putnam, Baldwin, Hancock, Washington, Glascock,
Jefferson, Johnson, Burke, Jenkins, and Screven Counties. We then headed to our
hotel, the Andaz Savannah. We were happy to find that we were upgraded to an
Andaz Deluxe Loft suite. It was a great room in a great location, only
a block from the Savannah River. We walked to River House Seafood for
dinner.
The next morning, we
walked a few blocks from our hotel to Chippewa Square, which is where the
famous Forrest Gump park bench scenes were filmed. The
bench was a movie prop that is now in the Savannah History Museum, but the
location is still quite clear. After heading back to the hotel, we checked out
and headed west. Our destination was Columbus, on the other side of the state.
We started out on I-16, but eventually got off and ran a parallel course to the
south. After stopping in Ellabell to pick up some Arby’s for lunch, we drove
through Tattnall, Toombs, Appling, Montgomery, Wheeler, and Telfair Counties. At
Lumber City, we headed southeast a few blocks, crossed the Ocmulgee River
again, and entered Jeff Davis County. We then picked up Coffee County, before
heading farther west, passing over an area where we had already been.
After entering Lee County,
just north of Albany, we headed into the city and also picked up Dougherty
County. From there, we ventured north, picking up Terrell, Webster, and Sumter
Counties. We stopped in the tiny city of Plaines, home of President Jimmy
Carter. Roslyn Carter had passed away the week before we arrived, so there were
memorials set up in town. We also tried to drive past Carter’s home, but the
entire street (from both directions) is blocked off from traffic.
After leaving Plaines, we
continued north for a while, then west, picking up Schley, Macon, Taylor,
Marion, Talbot, and Muscogee Counties. We arrived in Columbus just in time
to grab a quick meal at Burger King and check into the Hyatt Place Columbus
before seeing Dream Scenario at the AMC Classic movie theater.
After the film, we headed back to our hotel for the night.
On Monday, we worked our
way back to Savannah. We started out heading south, picking up Chattahoochee,
Stewart, and Quitman Counties. We then headed farther south on HWY 86 out of
the small city of Morris. A few miles later, we crossed into Randolph County.
Then, we immediately turned right onto Garnersville Road. (I use the word road loosely!)
We only had to drive a few yards to enter Clay County. There was no county
sign, but we were there. We then turned around, found some real roads, and
continued southeast. We got onto HWY 37 and drove through Calhoun, Baker, and
Mitchell Counties.
At that point, we had
finished the area in southwest Georgia that we needed to get. We continued
east, passing through areas we had previously visited. We stopped in Moultrie
to pick up some Bojangles chicken for lunch. We then continued east on HWY 37 and
eventually drove into Lanier County. At the city of Lakeland, we started
northeast on HWY 122 and picked up Clinch County. Once we reached the city of
Cogdell, we had to turn north to reach Atkinson County. We were only on
the road for a mile, but it was a lot like driving on a sandy beach. After a
few harrowing moments, we crossed over the county line and then immediately
turned back. No county left behind!
On Tuesday morning, we took a short walk around our hotel area. Afterward, we had to
drive back to Atlanta. We had a late flight, so we had plenty of time to pick
up new counties on our way to the airport. We worked our way up the east side
of the state, near the South Carolina border. We stopped at the Dairy Queen in
Metter and Checkers in Thomson, and we were on our way. Our first new county of
the day was Lincoln. We then crossed the Savannah River and picked up McCormick
County in South Carolina. Crossing back into Georgia, we went north on HWY 79,
and picked up Wilkes and Elbert Counties. We then crossed the Savannah River
once again and picked up Abbeville County in South Carolina.
The rest of our route was heading west toward Atlanta. We started on HWY 72 and crossed into Madison County. We had to get off the main road to pick up Oglethorpe County to the south, then we continued farther west and picked up Clarke and Oconee Counties, the last two new counties of our trip. We arrived at the airport a little early and relaxed while waiting for our flight home.
