Athens, Georgia
The next stop on this "Family and Friends" Vacation was Athens, Georgia to see Clarence. Normally he would have taken a few days off from work and gone to Florida with me but Fred and Leah's 45th wedding anniversary party was later that month and he needed the time off to go to that. I was hoping to go as well but the schedule just didn't work out.
When I got to Athens Clarence was still working so I visited with his friend Rick until he got home. When he got home the three of us went to Ted's a place that is always on our stop list when I go to Athens, good pizza. We didn't have pizza that time though just a drink and then we went back to the house where we toasted to almost 50 years of friendship and then Clarence grilled.
Because Clarence had to work I had a lot of free time and I used it to walk all over Athens to see some things I had seen before and wanted to see again and to see parts of Athens, UGA in particular, that I had not seen before. I spent two days walking, reading the tourist brochures and just hanging out. It was a good test for my surgically repaired knee because I hadn't done anything other than physical therapy since the surgery except some walking on the beach in Cocoa Beach. I wound up walking over 7 1/2 miles each day.
Three disappointments turned up on my wanderings. 1. NOLA, a restaurant and bar that was always our first stop in Athens when I visited was out of business after over 25 years. This was where Clarence was crowned Mardi Gras King a few years ago and Fred and Leah drove over for the coronation. 2. Jackson Street Bookstore was out of business. This was a cool old used book store that I just discovered on my last visit. And 3. I read about a donut shop in "Ampersand Magazine", Ike & Jane Cafe and Bakery. Their comment was, "Don't leave Athens without trying their donuts". I wlked right past Dunkin Donuts to get there and wish I hadn't. Nothing to write home about.
Shortly before leaving on my trip I had read a travel book and the author mentioned Athens and a landmark that I had not heard of so I walked and asked around until I found it. It is the tree that owns itself. It is off on a side street with no signs to it and no information until you actually get there. Just an interesting sidebar to my trip.
I left there and walked until I found the UGA track just because I wanted to see the facility. It was open so I was able to walk around. There was a shot putter throwing so I stopped and asked if he would mind if I watched for a while. He said sure. He was putting it out about 45 feet with no effort and I noticed something about his technique that if he had been one of my athletes I would have corrected. Thank God I didn't say anything because he was literally only warming up. We talked between throws and he said he was training to make a run at his age-group (40) record. I asked, "U.S." and he casually replied, "world". He said it was 70 feet and then he started doing some serious throws all between 66 and 68 feet. Needless to say the "flaw" I had noticed was gone. Man I'm glad I didn't say anything, it would have been humiliating. Turns out he was Olympic Gold Medalist Adam Nelson who I have watched throw on TV many times. I even saw him announcing for a track meet in Atlanta after I got home. Phew!!! He told me to be sure to say hello if I see him at the Olympic Trials in Eugene. I wonder if I'll have the courage to tell him that story.
In the evenings Clarence and I walked all over downtown and visited people he knew. Then we would go back and he would grill except the last night when we went to a Mexican restaurant before going to hear some musicians that he knew and used to manage play at a club.
The last day that I was in Athens was a full day. We drove to Tallulah Gorge in a mostly rainy but still beautiful day. Then we drove to a small German themed town for lunch before heading home to go to the club and see the band play. We wound up only watching them play one song because they spent so much time setting up. Fortunately there was a warm-up act who was really good and we listened to him. When he finished he came over and sat with us for a while and we had a lot of fun telling stories about the bands we used to see in southern California when we were growing up and would go to Hollywood most weekends before we went in the Navy.
The next morning I left to go to St. Louis. I was looking forward to seeing Stacie, Tom, Chase and Haley. Originally I was going to go to Philadelphia, Mississippi to connect with Joe and Judy Palmer but their motor home broke down on their way up from Florida and they were stuck in Tallahassee for a few days. The plan now is to get together in Eugene this summer.
The day got off to a rough start when I missed an exit and tried to get off at the last minute not seeing the median that was there. I hit it and blew out my right front tire and had to change it and put on the donut spare. That meant either hanging around for a couple of hours for things to open or driving 50 mph all the way to Atlanta. I chose the later and found a place to get a new tire and continue the trip to St. Louis. It was another beautiful drive.
It was fun reconnecting with these guys!
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