Location: White Oak Creek Campground (Corp of Engineers; Eufaula, Alabama. (On the Georgia/Alabama state line about 60 miles north of the Florida State Line)
Dang, I should have just posted a map instead of such a long description. It sure feel great being back in a COE campground. It is just a completely different feeling than private or state parks. This is a seven day stay because I had to scrabble to fill in some time when my reservations at another COE south of here got cancelled. The reason was staffing shortages. Surprisingly, a couple of weeks after I got notified of the closure, I received an email that things had changed, and they would remain open. Too late, I had already modified my reservation to seven days at this campground and I'm glad I did. This is a nice campground and is located close to the descent sized city of Eufaula.
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There is a lot more "pivot irrigation" around this part of the south than I expected. I'm used to seeing in other places around the country. |
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Typical two lane highway in southwester side of central Georgia |
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This is a rare view in such wooded countryside. It's common out west but not usually in the south. |
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When I modified my reservation, I had to give up a nice lake view site but I've been satisfied with this one. It is very shaded and the view out my back window is great for a |
There were two things I wanted to explore around here. The first was Providence Canyon, which is sometimes referred to as Georgia's Little Grand Canyon. This canyon was not created by nature. It was completely caused by man and his ignorance back in the early 1800's. Around 1830, men started farming the land where the canyon is now located. They foolishly and unknowingly plowed their fields up and down the hillside. It didn't take long or many rainy seasons before the erosion became apparent. By then, there wasn't anything to do except watch it. Well, I decided I wanted to watch it too or at least see it, so off I went to look at it. It cost $5.00 to see it and I felt like a kid at a traveling carnival paying to see the bearded lady or some other sideshow attractions. The younger readers may need to find a seasoned citizen and ask about such things. The $5.00 is paid to an "iron ranger" on the honor system so I could have cheated but I know my conscious well enough that if I had done it, in a month or so I would be mailing $5.00 back to the State of Georgia with an apology. I'm a believer that if you do something bad, you'll be punished 10 times over. Also, if you do something good, you'll be rewarded 10 times over.
You can spend the day and walk a trail down to the bottom of the washout canyon, but I chose not to do that. The reasons were mosquitoes, recent rains making the trail muddy and laziness. I was able to get some descent pictures from the trail along the rim. So, I got what I came for which was to see it.
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This is the breezeway at the Providence Canyon State Park Visitor Center. Nice "rocking benches". |
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One of two views I'll use to show the "canyon". |
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Second view. It's worth a stop if you're in the area, but don't go too far out of your way to see it. |
The second thing I wanted to see was the lock, dam and powerhouse that created this nice large lake that I can see from my campsite. The first thing I noticed when I arrived was a lot of siltation at the downstream end of the lock and about half-way across the dam. It was obvious that the lock and half of the dam gates hadn't been opened in a long time. Looking downstream, the river hadn't been maintained either. No commercial traffic had passed this way in a long time. Later, I searched online to find out what happened. Strangely, finding out was hard. It is like it is a big secret but apparently the lock has been closed since 2016 due a flood that over-ran the lock and control room. Apparently, navigation must not be important on this river because it sure appears that the COE has abandoned that portion of the dam. It also looked as though no electricity was being produced but I couldn't find a reason why not. I guess it's a mystery that is hiding in plain view. I was going to leave the conversation at that but, oh hell, I'll give my opinion. I think the navigational work by the Corps of Engineers along the Chattahoochee River should never have been done. The river is too unpredictable and the soils too erodible (note: the Little Grand Canyon). Someone had their head up their a$$ made an honest mistake and now the COE has realized it but wants to keep it quiet. A damaged navigation lock being closed for nine years. Come on, man!!!
The dam is close to Fort Gaines, Georgia and I thought about exploring a Pioneer Village but changed my mind just as I was about to turn into the place. The buildings were recreations, and you could easily tell they were modern. I've seen the real thing and didn't want to cloud my limited memory with cheap fakes. Plus, remember, I said I was recently self-diagnosed with a case of laziness and exploring this would have taken time and effort.
Something to keep my life exciting is my refrigerator is acting up. The freezer is working just fine, but the refrigerator is only getting down to about 50 degrees. I suspect the thermistor needs replacing. For those unfamiliar with RV refrigerators like mine, they have a temperature sensor (thermistor) that is attached to the cooling fins in the refrigerator. If you slide it up, the refrigerator gets colder, slide it down and it gets warmer. They are cheap and you can get them from Walmart or Amazon for about $10. Apparently, no stores carry them in stock. I checked with Walmart, Bass Pro, Home Depot, Lowes, Tractor Supply, etc. No joy. I tried to have it shipped to a store so I could pick it up down the road. I've done that before, but this time it didn't work. None of the stores could receive it until June 30th. Heck, I'll be back at home base on July 1st, so I'll just tough it out till then. I'll order it so it will be waiting on me. In fact, I'll order at least two because I plan to try replacing just the senor. If that works, it will save me the headache of replacing it in the back of the refrigerator where there is very limited working space. I'm hoping to prevent myself from learning new cuss words by doing it this way. We will see. I'm also ordering an electric ice chest. Does anyone have any experience with them?
Tomorrow is moving day, and I'll be heading to another COE campground. This one is about 20 minutes west of Montgomery, Alabama. It looks nice and I haven't been to it before.
Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe I'll Cya down the road.