Craig Elliott: July 2017

    I embarked on an 11 hour road trip last weekend with my good friend Sandy along some fifteen miles of gravel roads, miles of two lane blacktop, and through a few old towns. Our plan was to find a place he had visited 35 years ago, Pennville, Ga. We finally found it with the help of locals in the afternoon.

    Conversations went a good thirty minutes or more each time we met locals. Storytelling and reminiscing.

    We spent the day in a steady and sometimes heavy rain. I enjoy the sound of rain filtering through trees during the summer. Walking through a drenching shower is therapeutic for me, with raindrops peppering my hood like an umbrella wrapped around my head. It's a surreal world where the harshness of sunlight is gone along with its shadows and deep contrast, and what is left is an evenness to the world where everything can be calmly visualized, and sounds are diffused as well. For me it's calming.

Lots of treasures are out there, ready to be found before they are all taken over by nature. I spoke to someone recently about his experience riding dirt bikes and all terrain vehicles on forestry roads. He said just off trail, sometimes dipping into private property you find remnants of homes and cars with trees growing through them. Forgotten mementos that won't be around forever.

Here are some images from our eastern Georgia roadtrip-

The old Athens Highway route, with an outhouse thrown in for decor

Durham Apothecary Museum in Maxeys, Ga. A former doctor's office recently renovated and opened as a museum. Est, 1870. Free admission

Maxeys, Ga. Former garage and bank needing renovation

Scull Shoals Historic Site, between Athens and Greensboro on the Oconee River. Pictured is the ruins of the store and storage building from the former mill village