Harvest Host venues enroute through Georgia

We arrived at Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park in Jacksonville, Florida area after Karen's orthopedic appointment on Tuesday, March 25 and relaxed for two days before we began our journey to our next RVICS project in Dahlonega, Georgia. Karen's hip replacement is doing great, but her x-ray showed her other hip is going to have to be addressed by next year. So, it looks like we will be back in Jacksonville 2026 for the other hip replacement surgery in April. Same doctor, same facility and we started looking into where we will be camping out for about a month during that time. We're looking at getting a camping site at either Jacksonville Naval Air Station or Mayport Naval Base, but can't book it until September 2025. Both locations are ideally located close to her doctor and possible physical therapy locations.

Next we transitioned to our journey to Camp Hope with the first stop scheduled an hour driving time at the Laural Island Links in Kingsland, Georgia. This would be the first of four different Harvest Host locations enroute.

Opened in 1996, Laurel Island Links has unique natural features that make it play like no other golf course in Southeast Georgia. Magnificent marsh views complement the 18-hole links-style course – a Davis Love III signature design. We arrived early enough on Friday, March 28 to park our rig and later play nine holes of golf. Bill in the pro shop gave us our parking instructions and we settled in next to a beautiful pond on the edge of the parking lot. Played a 9 hole round of golf and later enjoyed some drinks and a generous portion of onion rings as an appetizer. Sidney, our server was very friendly and we enjoyed our time at the restaurant. It was a great night sleeping here. We will be back for another visit in the future.

Saturday morning we departed and drove to 93 miles to Adamson Oaks Farm in Glennville, Georgia for one night. They have a very quaint Sheep & Alpaca Farm located in southeast Georgia where Ricki, the Harvest Host, grew up on the family's farm where they raised beef cattle & harvested pecans from their beautiful 100 year old Pecan Orchard. Ricki writes on the Harvest Host site, "Once my family got out of the cow business I decided it was too quiet and brought in sheep, alpacas & one goat! Our animals are like my children and are all incredibly spoiled. I absolutely love being able to work on our farm & create products for others to enjoy!"

We originally planned on staying two nights, but the weather forecasted heavy thunderstorms for the area on Sunday afternoon. We were parked on a grassy field and needed to exit on dirt roads, so my concern was about getting stuck in potentially rain soaked ground. After attending a local church service, we departed just ahead of the bad weather.

Our backup plan was to drive to a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Statesboro, Georgia, about 46 miles farther on our route. It was the right call because it poured down rain most of the way. We arrived around 3 PM in Statesboro and parked in a large parking lot between a movie theater complex and a Bruster's Real Ice Cream shop. My plan was to take a nap, get some ice cream and go to see "The Chosen, Last Supper, season 5 showing at the theater at 6 PM. After the movie, we moved to the Cracker Barrel parking lot for the night. Yeah, Baby!!!

After a restful night at the Cracker Barrel we again hit the road for our next Harvest Host location heading northwest. The Scott Family Farm is an official Georgia AgriTourism farm raising honey bees and Christmas trees. The farm is located just south of Augusta, GA between Highway 25 and Highway 56.

Stephanie and Randy Scott are the best; a very welcoming and lovely couple! They had all kinds of homemade goodies to purchase to support the farm. Homemade honey, cookies and gifts in their event barn. We stayed two nights on the property. It is a beautiful and peaceful venue; they even had water and 15 amp service available if needed.

130 miles and 2.5 hours on Wednesday, April 2 had us at the Costco in Athens, Georgia for the afternoon shopping and a quick bite to eat. A short 22 mile drive from there got us to our last Harvest Host in Jefferson, Georgia.

Shields Ethridge Heritage Farm has been in existence since 1799, and has remained agriculturally productive. Over the course of the two centuries, the Shields and Ethridge families adapted to larger trends in upcountry Georgia agriculture from the first crops of tobacco to the planting of cotton and grains, and then cattle grazing.

'The story of the farm begins when our nation was new at the end of the 18th century and continues today as we celebrate the history and heritage of agriculture in northeast Georgia. Two hundred years of working the land, family growth, and technological progress shape what you see before you. From about 1899 to 1909 Ira Washington Ethridge constructed these buildings, transforming the farm into a bustling center of social and economic activity in Jackson County, Georgia.

Today the farm complex is quiet and open for you exploration but take a moment to stop and imagine wagons rolling by, the smell of freshly plowed soil, and the hum of farm activity.'

From this historic site we only had a short 39 mile drive to Camp Hope ouside of Dahlonega, Georgia.

Camp Hope began in 1952 as a Summer Camp ministry to children and teenagers. As the program grew over the years the need was seen to expand the three-week schedule, being held at rented facilities, to accommodate more campers. In 1978 the current property was purchased and renovated to provide a facility for the camp ministry to grow.

The facility is located on over 100 acres in the foothills of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Activities include swimming, basketball, volleyball, softball, soccer, ping pong, boating, fishing, hiking, campfires, handcrafts, special outings, and great home-cooked meals. Camp Hope is operated by Christian Youth Camp, inc. which is overseen by a board of directors consisting of volunteers from independent, non-denominational churches. Finances for the camp are received from registration fees, which cover a portion of operating expenses, and gifts from the Lord’s people which cover the balance of operating expenses as well as capital expenditures for the facility.

We are here with three other couples and one single making up our RVICS team. On Friday, April 4 we will have our first official team meeting to discuss our work assignments for the next three weeks while we are on the property.