March 11, 2008 - Cordele, GA

We have arrived in Cordele and not without some difficulty. If anyone knows anyone in the GA Department of Transportation, please ask them to mark their roads. Mike and I decided not to take the interstate for most of our trip from McCormick, SC to Cordele, GA. We had the road atlas and directions from mapquest, but they don't do you a lot of good when the road signs are not there. We got on the wrong roads three times on the way to Macon, GA where we got on I75. Then we got off I75 where we were told by mapquest, but we could not find our road. So, Mike took a road heading South. Thank goodness for the compass in our truck. We ended up in Cordele (we were not suppose to go through Cordele). We were suppose to come out on a road really close to the entrance to the state park. But what the heck, we got to see downtown Cordele. It is a nice little town.

Veteran Memorial State Park is a great state park. It has a golf course, marina, old World War I and II tanks and planes with information and memorials. The lake is big and beautiful. There are condos and cabins here and you can rent boats. The campground is super nice. The sites are large and many are on the lake. Each site is spacious so we don't feel like we are crammed in like sardines. The roads are nice - good for walking or biking. We've met some nice people from NC. They have told us about a RV club they belong to and we are going to check it out. We'd like to find others in NC with whom we can camp. The lady is a quilter, so I know they are good people.

Mike played golf today with some other campers from CT who spend their winters in GA going from one state park with a golf course to another. The have been doing this for several years and say the other state parks here are great. We plan to find out next winter.

I did not want to cook tonight, so I checked the Yahoo Yellow Pages for restaurants in Cordele. I found one call Daphne Lodge that had great ratings. Their speciality is catfish. So, we decided to give it a try. We were shocked to find the restaurant within walking distance of the park. It was just outside the gate and about a city block down the road toward Americus, GA. We pulled up and found this quaint little place with tons of huge azylas and a big front porch (I have pictures that I'll be posting as soon as I get to a place with better wireless service). The inside was really cute. It was like an old cottage. I also have pictures to post from the inside.

The food did not disappoint us. Mike and I ordered the Blue Cheese Chips as an appetizer. They were great. Who would guess that blue cheese on chips with tomatoes and green onions would be so good. Mike liked them and he does not like blue cheese. We both ordered the catfish. I wish one of us had ordered something else so we could have sampled, but the catfish was great. If you ever dine here and order the catfish, be sure you know how to debone your fish because these are not filets. They serve cheesy grits and coleslaw with the catfish as well as their homemade tarter sauce. The grits and coleslaw were great. Neither Mike or I had lunch, so we splurged on dessert. The dessert we selected was their special Apple Cresents with Ice Cream. These were apple wedges with suger and cinnamon. Each wedge was wrapped in a cresent roll and deep fried and then rolled in powdered sugar. WOW. These were great. I don't know if I will feel the same when I can't get my pants on, but for now, I'm glad we tried them.

Tomorrow we leave Cordele and travel to FL. We are staying at a state park on a pennisula in the gulf. I'll write more in a day or so. I'm so glad that you all are reading our blog and leaving me comments. They are great, keep them coming.