Carter Peanut Country

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Cafe Harika

When we left I-75 in Cordele, we noticed a middle eastern cafe and decided to eat dinner there. This little cafe is in the middle of southern Georgia and out of place in this highway exit kind of town. To our surprise, they had belly dancers and houkas when we walked in. A couple had turned this little strip mall into a middle eastern oasis and their teenage sons did the serving and cooking.

Several of the local girls were belly dancing and hootin and hollerin and havin a good time. They were teaching a 12 year old boy how to dance as well. They were pretty good dancers too and could move their hips in very provocative rhythms.

We ordered the combo kebab platter and one glass of wine each. The chicken, beef and hamburger kebab were plenty of food and the one wine glass had the most generous pour I'd ever seen. Grace ended up talking to the owner about portion control. The owner dreamed of one day putting an billboard ad up on one of the signs that hover over I-75. Then he thought he'd have more business.

Grace's First and Worst

Place

We stayed in southern Georgia because this is where Grace went to study English in the early 90s. She was 20 years old when she had some money burning a hole in her pocket, so she decided to come to America to improve her English. She didn't like it much in Americus and didn't have a car to get around. She said she was like a mute there because she couldn't talk much and was going through culture shock. While it was probably a fairly backward town back then, Americus was rather prosperous now and the home of Habitat for Humanity. This is the result of Jimmy Carter living just 10 miles away in Plains, GA.

Carter Peanut Country

Plains, GA was just a few miles away from Americus, so we decided to visit the peanut capital of Georgia.

We went to his Jimmy's boyhood home where he grew up tending the family store and plowing fields. As we toured through his home and farm, I pushed buttons and Jimmy talked to us about growing up there. In the barn, he said he felt the proudest in his life after the first day that he plowed a field by hand with a mule. I guess those childhood memories are often the most powerful things we feel in our life - even after we do much bigger things like help create peace between Egypt and Israel.

I know many people didn't like Jimmy as president, but you need to admit that he's a nice guy and has helped many people after his presidency. We should just be more prudent when giving normal people an incredibly powerful position like being president. Can anyone think of other down-home country folk that were (or aspire to be) poor presidents?

I hope we learn from our mistakes.

Next time - some Thanksgiving Day pictures.

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Photos

Belly Dancer
Cafe Herika had a few girls dancing while we ate. Herika means wonderful or beautiful.

Owner Talk
Grace talked to the owner of the cafe about getting skimpier costumes for the dancers. She actually talked more about portion control because they served us a glass of wine filled to the top. I didn't complain.

Turkeys at the Carters
As we approached the Carter farm, these turkeys were wandering the yard.

Sugar Cane Juicer
A mule powered this sugar cane juicer. The grinder shredded the cane and juice poured into a container.

Unfiltered Juice
They gave us samples of the sugar cane syrup in little dixie cups. They filtered it through burlap so quite a few particles got through.

Brewing Cane
The National Park Service employees ran the Carter home and high school in Plains, GA. These govt. employees were very nice and reduced the cane to syrup.

Hornets Nest
This hornets nest was mounted in one of the Carter barns.

Peacocks and Peanuts
Peacocks and guinea hens wandered in the yard like they used to.

Grace's First College
We stayed near Americus, GA because Grace studied English there in 1992. She only lasted a semester there because she thought it was boring. Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter went here.

Grace's Dorm Rooms
This is the dorm room were Grace suffered like a refugee. She said she faked being sick and went to the medical center to get out of class.

Windsor Hotel
This big hotel is a mainstay of Americus. It was shut down for a private party, so we didn't get to go in.

Jim's Zinnias
Jim's garden is growing wild with these zinnia.

Cotton Picker
This field is right behind Jim's house and is ready to be picked.

Marilyn and Shagwell
Jim's little dog is a spoiled brat and has the napoleanic tendencies of small dogs like this.

Yahtzee!
Here's a Yahtzee game being played at Jim's.

Cancerous Cinnamon Rolls
Marilyn made her famous cinnamon rolls, but let them expand too much.

Comments

[aunt kathy]

2 trucks
scott- why in the picture at uncle jim's house with your rv, does it look like you have 2 trucks pulling it? that picture of you in the cotton field is cool. we'll be leaving to come and visit you all pretty quick. see you then.

[seasi]

americus
hi there glad you are out and having great adventures! we all miss you here. love the updates and am so impressed with your computer savy skills seasi

[The RV Guy]

Dual Trucks
The panoramic photo is the result of my camera stitching 3 photos together. I didn't align the camera correctly for the third photo, so it extended the RV with two windows in the front and what looks like two trucks. This made my RV look even longer and cooler than it is. This isn't a photoshop trick, just a goofy camera.