Georgia Veterans State Park

Looks like our timing on the weather was pretty good.  Last night it got down to 35 degrees, making us even more glad to be headed south.  Being a Saturday and expecting the golf course would be popular (they are usually more crowded on weekends), we made a tee time for 11am at Lake Blackshear Resort in Cordele, GA.  And being that it was 3 hours away, we were up too early this morning to depart.  

We spent yesterday packing up Sprinty with all but a couple of things - so no major loading in the cold and dark - we just got to do it in the rain.  Being all packed up meant we were headed out just after 6am.  Being that early, traffic to and through Atlanta was light.  We had a nice sunrise south of Atlanta.  As we got closer to Cordele, we saw many billboards damaged, or stripped of their signs.  Around Cordele, we saw damaged roofs, remains of downed trees, cotton fields stripped of cotton, and other evidence of the recent hurricane.  

We arrived at the golf course about 9:15.  As expected, there were a number of cars in the parking lot and golfers getting ready.  When we checked in, we learned that they had no record of our tee time reservation (thank goodness for keeping the confirmation email) and advised the 11am tee time was not available.  Hmm - seems like an on-line tee time system ought to communicate with the pro shop.  The nice young lady checking us in offered several alternative tee times to start earlier.

We started about 10:05, following a four-some.  By the second hole, they could see we were there to play, and waved us though on the second hole, a par 3.  Always an awkward situation to be waved through, and having four people watching you hit.  Both of us hit well and putted well despite the audience.  

We went back and forth for a few holes, and were tied after 8 holes.  Kris played the 9th hole better, and was up by two strokes at the turn.  Darrell started hitting better, and got ahead after two holes.  For the next three holes, we stayed even, with Kris tying the score on the 15th hole.  We both parred 16 & 17, so it came down to the last hole.  Darrell finished one stroke ahead.

A check of the Starbucks app found no Starbucks nearby.  The closest was in Albany, GA, about 45 minutes away.  Since we finished much earlier than expected (just over 3 hours), we decided to get checked into the campground, Georgia Veterans State Park (adjacent to Lake Blackshear Resort).  We were also surprised that the veteran discount on the campsite and parking fee saved us about $10 over what we thought the night would cost.

We then headed for Albany for Darrell to pay up.  Taking back roads, we saw more storm damage - downed trees, broken limbs (especially on the pecan trees), roofs covered in tarps, etc.  Upon returning to the campground, we got settled in the campground about 4pm, a nice pull-through site.  We had stayed here once before on our way back from Florida.  The sites are well spaced out in the forest loop, and all are pull-throughs.  The lake loops have a mix of pull-through a and back-in sites, and the campsite fee is a few dollars more.