It's a rainy day in Georgia, perfect for catching up on e-mail and blog posts. But yesterday was glorious! Beautiful weather, and a fun outing. Okay, there was that little mishap on the way home, but I'll talk about that later.
We are still camping in Greensboro, but yesterday we traveled about 40 miles north to Watson Mill Bridge State Park. They say Georgia used to have over 200 covered bridges, but only about 20 remain. This is the oldest and largest one that is still in its original location. And it's built right over a small waterfall! I am loving the waterfalls on this trip.
Here's several different views of the bridge and the falls. Cowboy took the last three pictures.
We would have loved to hike down some of the trails, but we were hungry, and the nearest food was in Athens, about 1/2 hour away. So after a couple of overpriced (but yummy!) burgers at Five Guys Burger and Fries in Athens, we filled the tank with diesel then we headed back to the trailer. We had one more stop to make though.
Last week when we drove down Hwy. 15, we had seen a sign that said simply, "Elder Covered Bridge." We were in a hurry and didn't stop that day, but this was such a great day, and we'd be driving right by there, so, why not check it out?
And it really was great. On a narrow little road with surprisingly heavy traffic. The bridge is still very much in use, although the speed limit is a very slow 5 miles an hour on either side and through the bridge.
The historical marker said that Elder Mill Covered Bridge was erected in 1897, but moved to the present location in 1924. The bridge is 90 feet long and it is held together with "trunnels" or pegs, at each joint. You can see them in the second photo below.
While Cowboy hunted for a geocache, I checked out the local flora and fauna. The little white flowers were about as big as my little fingernail. Can you see the little lizard sitting on the leaf? He was about 3 inches long. He posed long enough for me to take 5 or 6 pics, even with Charlie Chihuahua growling at him.
So, now we come to the catastrophe part of the day. We stopped at another little park a few miles down the road, and Tim got out his GPS to hunt for another cache. And that's when he realized...he couldn't find our Verizon wifi/mifi card!!!! Ya'll - this is tragic! Do you know how much time I spend on the internet every day????? I didn't scream, and I didn't cry. I think I was in shock.
We made a very thorough and systematic search of the pickup right then and there, then we hightailed it back to the Elder Mill Bridge, the last place he had it. We searched and searched, but still no wifi. Still numb, we climbed back into the pickup, turned around, and headed back through the bridge.
And then we saw it. On the other side of the bridge, in the middle of the road, with the cover flung towards the side of the road. There it was. Did I mention this was a pretty heavily traveled little road?
Evidently, Tim had laid it on the back of the pick up while he put his other equipment up, and then forgotten it. It rode there on the side of the pickup bed while we drove down the road, turned around and drove back through the bridge, then fell off when we speeded back up.
Do you believe in miracles? I do. I had been praying, though without any real hope, ever since we realized it was lost.
And there it was. Scratched and dented and battered. With the back cover off and the battery exposed. And it was still turned on. Still working. Can I get a Halleleujah!
So, our catastrophe turned into a victory, and what started as a great day, ended even better!
Some of you may think I've over dramatized this story, but, honestly, without my wifi, I wouldn't be able to post my blogs, and then what would you do for entertainment!?
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