We finish emptying and cleaning the Tifton sister apartment, finished loading the trailer, had lunch with the Tifton elders at our favorite Japanese restaurant, Osaka Hibachi and Sushi, 1006 W 8th St in Tifton, Ga, and headed to Douglas and Hazlehurst to exchange broken down furniture for less broken down furniture. In making the exchanges, Elder Allmon, trying to load a recliner upside down on top of a couch, managed to fall into the couch with the recliner on top of himself:
While making the exchanges, I noticed that our jerry rigged vent had come undone and was missing. The vent was open to the sky and the rain. As we approached what was obviously a sizable storm, Sister Chadwick asked about whether I was worried about getting stuff in the trailer wet. I assured her that at speed and the small size of the hole, we were unlikely to get much rain into the trailer. I was less sure than I sounded but on inspection when we got back to Macon, my assumption turned out to be right. There was no sign that any significant rain getting into the trailer despite the heavy rain we drove through.
One of the things we found in the Tifton sister apartment was a Book of Mormon in Hindi. When we got to Douglas, one set of sisters asked, "Do you have a copy of the Book of Mormon in Hindi? We just meet a family that said they would read anything we brought them in Hindi."
Sister Chadwick's 75th birthday. Yesterday's hanging out along the Flint River was part of the celebration. Today's activity, visiting the Riverquarium in Albany, is also part of the celebration. Last week I got her a big fluffy towel as a birthday present.
The Riverquarium is unique in that it has an enormous pond
which includes Moonshine, an albino alligator:
There is also an aviary with, among other bird, herons and wood ducks:
Did some office stuff and then headed for Albany, GA. In Albany we walked along the Flint River and saw the Ray Charles Statue. It rotates and his music play around the park. Saw some lovely Lepiota procera.
 Bald cypress knees and a bridge over the Flint River. |
 Bald cypress trees and a bridge over the Flint River. |
 Rotating statue of Ray Charles. |
 Lepiota procera in a park in Albany, GA. |
On the way to Costco, we saw a Mary Kay truck:
A fourteen hour plus day: President Grayson asked us to take a missionary to the airport in Atlanta which was fine since we were planning a trip to Augusta to move the zone leaders. In addition, a car was available and he asked us to take it to the Forsyth elders on the way to Atlanta. The sister missionary stayed overnight. I texted the Forsyth elders at 6:30 to tell them we were bringing them a car at 7:15. They were surprised but gladly accepted.
We got to the airport about 8:45. Rather than drive through the departure morass, we thought we would park the pickup and trailer and walk into the terminal. I got in the wrong line and ended up in a garage. It would have been OK except for the vent on the top of the trailer and the sign hanging from the ceiling. I promptly torn the vent off.
We did get parked and had breakfast with the sister missionary before sending her off into security check.
We stopped in Thomson to leave a package for an elder. There were missing light bulbs in the overhead light. I replaced one but the other socket had the base of a broken bulb. After way too long trying to fix it, Sister Chadwick said, "Maybe we ought to wait to fix this."
We arrive to pick up the Augusta elders to assist at 1:30, head to the zone leader apartment, and load the trailer.
First task: Jerry rig the vent. Fortunately, Elder Glenn, the smallest missionary in Georgia is an Augusta zone leader. We put him on top of the trailer and he duct taped the vent cover on to at least keep out the rain:
At the new complex, it took nearly an half an hour to get all the paper work prepared and get the keys. The streets in the complex all end in dead ends and while the streets are wide, turning the pickup and trailer is tricky.
The first load includes the appliances and large furniture. We finish taking all of this up the 28 stairs into the apartment and by now it's 5 PM. We had promised Elder Valcin while he was in Forsyth to take him to Olive Garden so that's what we do.
Going back to the ZLs' apartment, we stop and purchase a new mattress for Elder Valcin. The second load is mostly boxes. We finish unloading and carrying everything up those 28 stair steps. It's now 9 PM. We take the Augusta elders home, take the mattress into a really clean, well-organized apartment. The last time we were in this apartment, we left a note admonishing the elders because it was so bad. These elders had a plate of cookies for us.
We get checked in the hotel and into our room. It's almost 10 PM.
We were back in Statesboro to take a key to the sisters to the empty Hinesville apartment so they can stay there while the floor in their kitchen is being repaired. On the road from I16 into Statesboro is Vinny's Bargain Bank. Vinny, the proprietor is from Queens, NY.
It's a great place to browse. It's looks like a junk pile but it's actually well organized and there are some real treasures among the junk:
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Vinny is a real talker. First he cornered Sister Chadwick and bent her ear Then as we were leaving both of us hear a litany of his marital problems and his genealogy of New York shop keepers.
We've been putting off taking a new dryer to a sister's apartment in Statesboro, GA just for lack of time to do so today we did it. It was an easy matter of dropping the dryer, a new mattress, a bike rack, and a crock pot and we were finished.
Southern Georgia University is in Statesboro and it has a museum of some reputation but when we got there, it was closed for renovation. All was not lost. The campus is exquisite. There was a large southern magnolia (See below.) and I got a couple of pictures:
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The southern magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora, also called the bull bay, is a large evergreen. It grows large enough to be used for timber—up to ninety feet tall. Unlike other magnolia that bloom briefly and then are done, this magnolia has been blooming for a couple of weeks and will continue well into summer.
It's used widely in landscaping because it's evergreen and is very distinctive with large dark green leaves. The flower is large, up to 12 inches across, and pedals are almost leather-like.
We saw the vehicle go by and followed it to get these pictures. Great piece of work and imagination:
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Notice that it has room for three passengers.
