Day 5: November 8, 2020 Trains Go Better With Coke Comment via blog Check Granny's letters of the day

A nice surprise was spotting Gadsden's Spirit of American Citizenship as I drove back to my route from my motel. There's supposed to be some audio available, but either it was broken or not yet turned on for the day or my hearing has degraded more than I knew. Bummer, 'cause I'd like to have heard that message from George Washington.

Sam's Burger-Deli is a short distance north of Rome, GA. I only learned of it shortly before starting this trip and began yesterday with thoughts of having dinner there. It didn't work out, however, but I still figured traipsing a few miles off route to take a look was worth while. The day's opening was more than two hours away when I stopped so I missed out on looking inside.

About ten miles east of Rome, I picked up an old alignment -- some canopied, some not -- and followed it to Kingston.

In Cartersville, I snapped a picture of the Bartow County courthouse before stopping downtown at Friendship Plaza. It did not start as something to honor friendship in general but as a business owner's thank-you to friends who bailed him out financially in the mid-nineteenth century. While snapping pictures in the plaza, I heard a train whistle and managed to snag the locomotive as it passed the Coca-Cola sign across the street. That's not just any Coke sign, but the very first one ever painted on a building. That was in 1894. It got a nice touch-up for its 100th birthday after twenty-five layers of paint were removed. By the way, having a train block traffic provides a safe way to cross the street to get a straight on view of the sign.

Here's a newer Coca-Cola sign in its home city. Granny thought Atlanta was "just about as nice as Cincinnati" but didn't care for its overpriced 15¢ sandwiches. They were "glad to get out" and I was too. I actually like Atlanta but not Atlanta's traffic which takes a long time to get out of.

I like the looks of the old buildings in Hampton and have photographed them before as a Dixie Highway traveler. Today they looked even better than normal as the town is prepared to observe Veterans Day.

Back in 2001, somewhere along this stretch of Old Griffin Road, Chris and I took a selfie the old fashioned way. I put the camera on a short tripod, set the timer, and ran to the car. It looks like I was wrong when I predicted that the road "will not be unpaved for long".

I ended my day in Forsyth shortly after taking this picture of the Monroe County courthouse. Rain hit as I was checking into the motel and I fear the wonderful weather might be ending as tropical storm Eta and I both head for Florida.

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