Oct 21, 2018 Adventures in the South 4 - Ocmulgee & Florida

Sunday morning, bright and early, we went off to Ocmulgee National Monument outside of Macon, GA.  This is a mound site, but much more. It was once home to Paleoindians who hunted Pleistocene megafauna such as mammoth, back when saber-toothed cats roamed the forests (17,000 years ago). We enjoyed talking with Ranger Jim at the Visitor Center, and touring the museum. They claim there are 2,000 objects on display. With an exhibit such as this one, with an open cabinet drawer overflowing with collections, it is easy to get the number of displayed artifacts up! [In museums, on average only 2% of collections are on exhibit at any one time.]

Bryn downslope from the Earth Lodge Mound

Exibit showing a museum storage cabinet
full of boxed and bagged artifacts.

The Great Temple Mound. 82 stairs.

Can you spot Randy? He's on the bridge, wearing a blue shirt, walking toward the Visitor Center.

How do you build a mound? One basketful of dirt at a time! The soil in this area contains a lot of clay. This is a contemporary basket of the type which would have been used (although this wasn't really addressed in the exhibit label). The mounds were built during the Mississippian Period (900CE-1600 CE).
 For more info:  nps.gov/ocmu

Lunch time! Some of the best
fried chicken Randy ever ate
came from BIG CHIC in
Reynolds, GA.

We drove through Alabama, we saw a lot of cotton fields. Then we crossed into Florida! Bryn's 49th state, and the Sportsmobile's 46th state, and a return visit for Randy.  After a quick stop at a grocery store, and a look at another cotton field, we returned to Alabama for the night.

Here's another spectacular Southern sunset.