On our way back to Illinois and Indiana, we stayed a week in Perry GA. The reason why we do this is so we don’t burn thru a lot of gas in a short period of time. Also the weather hasn’t been that great up North so it is good we are taking our time. We rode the motorcycle around Perry and it was great to ride within pine forests and see a lot of deer!

Note – while writing this, a military jet flow over at supersonic speeds and created a sonic boom! Very loud and shook our coach like it was a toy!

Fair Harbor RV

This is the RV park we are staying in Perry. Beautiful park with a lot of pine trees – feels like we are in a nice state park.

My wife reminded me that we met this great couple on the first day we were at Fair Harbor. Dan and Harriet St. Germain are from Indiana and we had a great chat! Dan had all of his stops plotted out with latitude and longitude information so his son could create a map. Dan also had this great 3 ring binder of pictures that they took out west. I was planning our trip out west and his information was very helpful in plotting out where we will go. They also have a Dutch Star! Their coach is a little bit older but runs well and he has had a great experience with Newmar. They had to leave the next day but we talked until it became dark, it was great meeting with them and we exchanged contact information to follow each other’s experience.

National Infantry  Museum

We rode to Fort Benning in Columbus GA to see the National Infantry Museum. I wasn’t in the infantry but attached to infantry divisions as a missile repair specialist. I was trained on many missile systems but the system I worked on most of the time was the TOW system. The TOW (Tubular launched, Optical tracked, Wire guided) missile system has been around a long time because it is so reliable. As a technician, I would not only troubleshoot and repair the system but also certify the systems for training. The latter was very important because if the systems weren’t certified, the infantry could not train on them. When I was stationed in Fort Ord, I was the only technician on post and had to certify all of the missile systems. Because of this, I was left alone and was never assigned any details or kitchen duty!! The post commander would come by once a week to make sure I was certifying the systems and more importantly, that I was happy with what I was doing. If I had any complaint, I could go to him directly (he was a Brigadier General). It was great duty!

Andersonville National Historic Site

This was the site where the Confederate army kept Union prisoners of war. If you know the story, this POW camp had horrible conditions and was very overcrowded. Many died due to the conditions alone. They had no barracks or fresh water. They made their own tents and dug their own wells and the food rations were very limited. You can imagine the types of diseases these men had to endure. There is a museum with exhibits about Andersonville and what POWs had to go thru in other wars as well. Very cool and informative. As you walk out behind the museum, you can walk in the field where the actual Andersonville prison stood. They had markers where wells or escape tunnels were dug. They also had statues from different states in honor of the Union soldiers who died there.

Perry was a cool stop and glad we could see these great museums!

Next stop – Nashville!!!!