I didn't sleep very well, despite every material reason why I should have. A comment from a reader about betraying my project by not sleeping outside got to me. It shouldn't have but it did. Maybe there was a part of myself who agreed. The larger part though, was happy to be out of the rain and the dreary woods. When I opened the curtains and saw the sun, my concerns dissolved. It had been the correct decision...
The Budget Host Inn, 3425 Atlanta Hwy, Athens, Georgia.
Considered a "two star hotel", It certainly fit the bill for me.
there were no issues and the manager/owner, Chinu Patel, and his wife
were very accommodating and friendly.
I bought another night with the last of my precious savings, and was for all intents and purposes, now out of funds. Yet, since I had a more fortified home base for the next twenty four hours, I could at least catch up the blog, take a shower, dry out all my things and reorganize. I also looked forward to finally getting down town to explore and do a laundry.
Fortunately, there was a bus stop for the Number 20 bus (which I had seen rumbling to and fro on the Atlanta Highway for the last two weeks) right in front of the motel. The fare was $1.75, and transfers good for one hour were free...
Since this stop was between listings, I didn't know exactly when the bus would there.
I waited about a half hour. Turns out, the bus gets there every quarter-after the hour.
I wasn't exactly sure where the best place would be to get off. So, I waited until we were pretty deep in the downtown, then pulled the cord when the announcement of "The Arch" came over the intercom. I recognized that area from the map. And, it should only be about a mile's walk to the Normal Town Laundry, in the north part of town...
The Number 20 heading toward the river.
I was right near the heart of the University of Georgia at Athens (UGA) campus. It was everything a northerner might expect from a southern school in beauty and grandeur. The buildings were often neoclassical architecture, white with fantastically ornate column capitals resting on thick solid bases, mixed in with federal style buildings, lecture halls and painted brick dorms. There was certainly a 19th Century feel about the place...
The sign directly across from College Avenue.
A panoramic view of the College Avenue Square (the intersection of College Avenue
and Broad Street). Who would expect anything less than
a Starbucks parked under the green awning to the right, on the corner.
My sister, Deb, had gone to school here for her freshman year. And, though I was mindful of our plan for me to find the bench she'd carved her initials in, I discovered the the task was much more formidable than I thought it would be. She said it was in a little park, but there were little parks all over the place. I'd need more specifics from her later if I was going to get serious about finding it. I also wanted to find her dorm, but both of these things would have to wait--probably until Thursday 12/31, when I'd have to be back to pick up my new tarp.
Some pictures from around the Holmes/Hunter Building...
Naturally, the green-awning gravity of Starbucks caught my planetary wanderings mid-orbit, and I crossed the street for my usual tall dark roast and ice water. I nursed them while getting online to make damn sure I took the right route to the laundromat. It was settled. I'd walk up College, take a left on Dougherty continuing straight as it turned into Prince and then look for the sign about half a mile afterwards. It was a nice walk...
The Grill. Looks like a classic in the Classic City.
At the top of the hill, I approached City Hall, a magnificent building...
Just past it, and on my way to Dougherty, I saw a strange site. A double barrelled cannon. According to the plaques it was a complete failure. The idea was that you load two balls connected by a chain, one into each barrel, and then fire them simultaneously, which would supposedly extend the chain and "mow down" the enemy as he approached. Yeah, not so much. They could never get the barrels to fire at the exact same instant, which snapped the chain and cause the balls to veer off in random directions. An amusing story, for sure...
The other side of the road--Athens Bank and Trust.
Outside the St. Joseph's Catholic Church, along Prince.
I'd end up passing by a bunch of white mansions in the deep South antebellum style (Latin for ante "before", bellum "war")...
Joseph Henry Lumpkin House.
The UGA President's House.
An unmarked house. One can see that it is only the addition of the wraparound porch,
flanked by thick columns that make these houses any different from
New England captain's houses built around the same period.
The sidewalk along Prince has hundreds of scratched-in messages.
The Delta Tau Delta Fraternity House.
I got to the Normal Town Laundromat and walked into to find a nice clean place with plenty of machines. I'd read the reviews of the business, and wasn't overly encouraged by some of them. The attendant (a young woman with shortish brown curly hair) was a bit infamous for her unfriendly and dismissive behavior there--apparently. Seeing her when I arrived, I wanted to observe this for myself; partly because I was just curious and had time to kill, but also so that I might leave a review to counter the others, if she turned out to be an angel or mercy.
I said hello. She did the same. Good so far. I got set up and went into the bathroom to change out of my hiking pants and into my bathing suit--a ghastly yellow thing, in order to wash the pants with everything else. I got the machine loaded and started it up. My clothes hadn't been washed since Mobile, so this was going to be a nice restart.
Firing up the laptop, I noticed that they required a password for Wi-fi. I went to the counter to ask this of the woman. She said nothing and just tapped the sign taped to the counter with her finger a few times. It was a ten digit number (probably the phone number). The young woman was a bit odd, I thought. It was as if she was completely unaware that niceties between people even existed. My impression was that she had not gotten in line when personalities were passed out.
Over the course of my washing and drying though, I noticed that what must have been "regulars" freely conversed with her and she was friendly to them. I chalked her attitude with me up to the appearance thing (I was wearing my bleached out Boston Red Sox shirt and those neon yellow bathing shorts, had carried a backpack in--basically my look screamed, "creepy transient guy". Which, perhaps I was.
When I finished, I packed up and set about retracing my steps back along Prince...
Art work on the business next to the laundromat.
Palms and prickly pears.
Didn't know what this referred to?
Possibly the artist, Harry Shokler, or maybe just some local dude.
When I'd returned to Broad Street (which is actually just the downtown end of the Atlanta Highway), I had no idea what time the bus might be coming by. I figured that since it took about a half hour to get into town, a bus should be there some sometime in the neighborhood of quarter to four. I sat on the little bench, then paced around after offering the bench to a couple of foreign students...
It was right in front of the Taste of India restaurant. Since Birmingham, in my search for some kind of ethnic food, I had been interested in getting to eat at an Indian place. This one was closed, but I made a mental note (and photographic one!) of the lunch buffet hours ($9.95), just incase I had some extra money on Thursday when I planned to return...
Bus 20 arrived at about 3:50 pm, and unlike the ride into town, the outgoing seats were nearly filled. I sat next to a guy who looked very much like my friend Glenn Romines (whom I'd met in Houston, Missouri--and whose hat I wear).
It was a relatively short trip back, and I pulled to cord right as the "MOTEL" sign came into view. The bus let me off across the street from it, and right next to an Aldi Food Market--a great discount chain that I'd been introduced to by my friend, Allyson, while staying with her near Minneapolis. If I was going to save enough for bus fare on Thursday, and not exhaust the last $10 on my Starbucks card, I'd have to buy enough food to make it through this night and the next day with only about $7 in cash.
I went into Aldi's and found a pound of bologna, a half pound of cheese, eight hamburger buns, and a bag of chips, for just over $7. Then I crossed the highway and let myself into Room 108.
After making a couple sandwiches, I got down to the task of catching up the blog, publishing two posts in about the next eight hours. This time, when I went to bed, I fell asleep easily and had a good rest overnight.
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