Since the leaves in Florida change only to brown, we headed north to see the color in Georgia. We were not disappointed. Here is the story of our trip.
2025 11/3 Monday to Ponderosa RV Park
Ponderosa RV Park, our first stop to get to Georgia, is a small, very noisy place to stay overnight No real services and nothing much to say. It is directly off the highway. We walked around the campground looking for a lending library to fill Stu’s junk fiction habit and found a locked, dark recreation center.
One of the campers noticed Joan and asked if we needed anything. The result was two brand new looking books for Stu to read as we traveled.
2025 11/4 Visit to Holly Bluffs Marina and the Southern Belle
We stopped by Holly Bluffs Marina on the St. John River on the way from Ponderosa to Stephen Foster. Nice marina with lots of parking and several larger houseboats to rent for use on the St. John River.
The boat was high off the water with a nice boarding platform off the starboard aft corner, but we were given a 4-step ladder to board.
2025 11/4-11/5 Tuesday and Wednesday at Stephen Foster State Park
We arrived at our lovely, quiet and semi-isolated campground late afternoon in time for the afternoon carillon ringing. We had all day Wednesday free. Stu explored the park and the nearby town, and Joan worked on this website. It was off season so there were only a few campers, no open activities, and nothing happening on the waterfront.
The water level was several feet below normal even after a week of heavy rain. River banks were exposed and it appeared that water activities were curtailed.
Looking for a restaurant, Stu bicycled around town and Joan searched Yelp. Same result, both found the only real restaurant in White Springs, Fat Belly’s.
The place served excellent Catfish, very good Cole Slaw and tasty Hush Puppies. Stu awarded it 5 stars. Joan picked over her smoked chicken and pronounced it overcooked and dried out. The salad that came with the chicken was equally poor, aging iceberg lettuce. Fortunately, Joan recognized how much Stu was enjoying the meal.
2025 11/6-11/7 Cordele KOA Journey Campground
We crossed the line into Georgia, and arrived at a nice KOA in early afternoon after a provisioning stop at Publix. Planning on Salmon for dinner tonight. Not much to say about the KOA – dirt, some trees, fairly quiet with a nice, but closed, pool.
2025 11/8 Cordele Railroad Museum
The Cordele Railroad Park and Museum is associated with the Cordele Railway Park and SAM Shortline Excursion Train.
On Saturday, 11/8, the Cordele Railroad Museum had a special train trip for visitors. We took a 1 hour trip to and from nowhere – but it was fun to walk the train, look out the window, and speak with the other train fans.
Stu even captured a nice movie out the window as we passed a cemetery.
2025 11/9-`1`1/10 Seeing the sights at FDR State Park
Several days in the bitter cold. The beautiful FDR Campground on Pine Mountain, GA, set a cold record for this time of the year. It hit 24 degrees at night causing both a rapid drop in the beautiful foliage and the potential freezing of Josephine’s (and ours, I suppose) water pipes.
FDR State Park is in Pine Mountain, GA. The town is smaller than the name. There are several nice places to eat in town, but most are closed on Sunday, several are closed on Monday, and many are closed after 3:00 pm. We always enjoy the local food when we travel and camp – and we found a nice place in Eatz on the Corner.
There isn’t much to see, but we did find a lovely church with stained glass windows. Usually these buildings are open for prayer, enjoyment, or visitors. Unfortunately, we have found that this, and many other places of worship. are now locked.
The town is decorated with murals. Joan found a striking mural around the corner from Eatz. We walked around the shopping district – it took only five minutes.
The cold weather created some striking visuals.
We decided to let the water drip overnight to prevent freeze damage. While there was no damage, we did find a strange manufacturing “choice” on our RV.
Water in the RV generally comes from a food grade hose connected to the camp water supply. In freezing weather we could use a heated hose if we had one, but as you might expect, freezes are relatively rare in South Florida. So, the alternative is to drain the hose and use our internal water supply or just let the camp water run slowly – maybe 5 gallons a day – to keep the hose warm.
We decided to let our bathroom sink drip slowly into our used water collection tank that was left open to drop slowly on the grass. No problem.
We woke to the sound of water dripping on the floor. Turns out the Thor wizards who built Josephine connected the bathroom sink to the toilet – and the slowly dripping faucet in the bathroom caused the toilet holding tank to flood, causing a potential flood. We found the problem shortly into the flood and were able to mop it up with no damage.
Owning an RV is like a kit with no instructions – it is constantly under construction or repair. Part of the adventure.
FDR Campground and Scenic Overlooks
During our time at FDR campground we visited several vistas in search of the perfect view. Along the way Joan found a new boyfriend – Stu was happy to share in this fun. FDR campground was Roosevelt’s favorite place to visit. He came to Warm Springs, GA, right down the road in search of relief from the post-polio paralysis in his legs.
I stood there thinking, “what would Roosevelt think about our present administration’s effort to reduce polio vaccinations?”
We drove to many of the overlooks surrounding Pine Mountain. Lovely scenery near the peak of the Fall color season.
2025 11/11 A Wonderful Day at the Callaway Gardens
Just around the corner from FDR park is the amazing Callaway Gardens. Founded by Cason and Virginia Callaway in 1952, the gardens have grown to encompass a large natural area, the Discovery Center, a Butterfly Center, golf course, beach and exhibit area. We started expecting a walk in the woods and found a beautiful stained-glass memorial chapel and a relaxing, enjoyable day.
The Ida Cason Callaway Memorial Chapel
The chapel was constructed as a non-denominational place of quiet reflections. The windows depicted natural settings of stylized trees, bushes, and gardens. The signs pointed to a quiet place of meditation and reflection. Please look at the photo carefully, the “altar” and support are quite different architecturally than the overall design of the building. The cross is the only reflection of a set of religious beliefs and does not reflect the overall design or signage of the rest of the building, area, and surrounding gardens.
The Butterfly Garden
The Callaway Gardens Butterfly Center later in the day presented a unique opportunity to watch the beauties as they prepared for a night’s rest.
The Festival of Lights
We has a real surprise at the end of our full day at Callaway Gardens. The facility was preparing their Christmas Festival of Lights display by installing creative lighting displays on the roads through the park. After our butterfly visit, we decided to drive through the park shortly after closing. They were testing the lighting display. It was far larger and more creative than similar displays we have seen in the past.
We left the FDR Park the next day and moved south to our next campground in warming weather.
2025 11/13 and 11/14 Georgia Veterans’ Memorial Park and Lake Blackshear Resort
Joan outdid herself with a pull thru near a waterfront site in the park that hosts Sam’s Short Line Railroad flag terminal and Lake Blackshear Resort. The campsite is uncrowded, the view is superior, the bicycling flat, quiet, and has very limited traffic. The only bugs we enchanted in large numbers were lady bugs.
This is the perfect campground to relax, enjoy the outdoors, and just remember why we enjoy camping so much.
The early morning view from the campground at Georgia Veterans’ Memorial Park was truly beautiful if you were awake to see it. See the mist moving in this video.
We relaxed, walk around the grounds, and visited the Memorial to the retired aircraft from WW-II and later conflicts.
We had salmon and a loaf of Stu’s fresh bread the evening we arrived. The second night we went to a local restaurant on the property, the Cypress Grill.
The Cypress Grill is located on Lake Blackshear with a beautiful view of the water, trees, and open spaces. The first impression would be the beauty – if it weren’t for the stale tobacco smoke.
We opted to sit outside to fully appreciate the view – then the host opened the door, Stu gagged from the tobacco smoke. We retreated inside where it was cleaner.
Every time the server opened the door we were hit by a wall of smoke from the people who had stepped just outside to enjoy the in-progress trivia game, the football on the big screen, and the ability to feed their smoke addiction. I think the place attracted every smoker in the area.
Joan enjoy the perfectly grilled shrimp, Stu’s catfish was OK. The meals were served on metal trays with paper covers – just dumped in place. The salad bar was quite fresh had had a normal good variety. We would give the food a 4 or even a 5, but the metal trays reduced score and the bagged forks were a kind of slum touch.
The service was excellent, responsive, and prompt.
There aren’t many choices in Cordele. If you are visiting the trains, I suppose you might be able to tolerate the tobacco smoke.
If breathing is part of your life, pick another place.
2025 11/15 Still at Blackshear – Train trip to Plains, GA on S.A.M. Shortline
We departed from the train depot right in the campground at 10am and headed for Plains, Georgia, eager to see the town where Jimmy Carter had lived all his life.
After our excursion to Plains, we headed to the Daphne Resort Restaurant near our campground. It was even better than the great reviews. We were delighted to enter and find it quiet and peaceful, after the rowdy and disorganized lunch at the Plains Buffalo Cafe. The food was outstanding and dinner was greatly enjoyed.
2025 11/16 Drive to Travelers Campground, just a stop on the way to the Blue Springs State Park.
The entire length of the back of the campground consisted of fenced areas to hold the many rescued animals who lived there, and were fed and cared for.
Upon our arrival and check-in, we were offered a bag of carrots to feed to the animals.
2025 11/17 and 11/18 Blue Springs State Park
It all has to start somewhere. Blue Springs starts in a “boil” at the top, where the warm water boils up at about 72 degrees to keep this part of the St. Johns river warm enough for the Manatees to winter over. A few hundred Manatees live in this area during the cold Winter months.
After our visit to Blue Springs, we headed home, pleased with our wonderful trip north to Georgia.