Back North

We're back from Georgia and it wasn't much warmer there than it is here. The locals down there were saying it "never" is so cold for so long. They didn't set any new records for low temperatures but it was the longest cold stretch they have had for 25 or 30 years. Pipes were freezing and we heard laments everywhere we went about the terrible cold. "We get a day or two like this but it never is this cold for a week." Oh you poor souls! A whole week of winter! And we had the good fortune to be there right in the middle of it. I was reminded of the time we went to Canada in July expecting to have cooler weather and then it was 100. We heard the same story then, "It is never this hot." At least Kansas was kind to us last spring. May must be a better month to travel.

So much for the weather. This trip was basically a long weekend road trip. We left on Thursday and drove 800 miles to Dublin, GA, where we got a motel for the night. In the morning we drove down to Fitzgerald for my research day. After making a couple trips back and forth from the Evergreen Cemetery to the library and City Hall in town, I was finally able to nail down the death date of Louisa Powl Kilburn and find her burial place. Unfortunately, no markers exist for any of the six Kilburns buried in the Evergreen Cemetery. The cemetery record in City Hall is the only thing we have but it told me what I wanted to know. Louisa died on January 20, 1902 and was buried at Evergreen on January 22 in this spot.

Louisa was the daughter of Josiah and Barbara Powl, and a sister of my great-grandmother, Emaline Powl Burkholder. I was thrilled to finally be able to complete the record of the Josiah Powl family and able to go on to enjoy the rest of the trip.

We spent Friday night with my cousin at Albany and had a good visit. In the morning she took us to a little family restaurant owned by a man named Pearly Gates. No kidding! That's his name. They gave us a free bowl of grits. They don't really have much taste of their own but the melted butter overtop made them edible. The next day we told someone we went to the Pearly Gates for breakfast and had grits. She said she hopes we get something better than that inside the Pearly Gates. :-)

The main reason we went on this trip was to attend the wedding of nephew Keith Hurst and Jo Doutrich on Saturday, January 9, at Meigs, GA. They had a very nice wedding which I would say "went off without a hitch" but we witnessed a good tight hitch. Here is the happy couple, who are now enjoying warm weather in the Dominican Republic.

The balance of the time in Meigs was spent visiting with friends in their homes and at the Meigs Mennonite Church. We headed north Sunday afternoon and drove to the northeastern edge of Georgia where we got a motel for the night. Monday was a full day of driving in seven states. Even though there was no warm weather in the south, we were thankful for the clear dry weather and problem-free driving. Now that Christmas and the trip are both behind me, I must get down to business on my list of winter projects before the season slips by. I don't think there will be any time to be bored from now until spring.