It’s still too cold to go up east, so we’ve been passing a good time here in southeast Georgia. Our drive from Gainesville, FL to Hazlehurst, GA featured an odd array of major yard sales. They were all along our route, and most vendors covered their goods under portable shelters to keep out the rain and sun. And there weren’t just a few in towns here and there – we saw dozens of sellers and hundreds of cars parked along the highway, in every town. Sherlock Jackson and Agatha Kat deduced that something was up, and later the Google told us that we had seen but not visited Georgia’s Peaches to Beaches Yard Sale. It is held the second Friday and Saturday in March along 200 miles of Highway 341, from Culloden to Brunswick, GA. Kat hates clutter and wouldn’t let me stop. We have zero extra space anyway; it’s hard to save even the Tupperware-like packaging that lunch meat often comes in. Where would I put a brass lamp?

Nonetheless, it was an intriguing phenomenon. Google knew of a site offering ten tips on how to maximize one’s yard sale experience. First on the list was “Go early in the morning, because the good stuff goes fast.” Then “Bring lots of change and small bills; sellers don’t take checks and often pretend to have no change for a ten.” Last came this sage advice “Don’t buy something you don’t know how to use. It will become something you want to sell.”

Our destination was a county park outside Hazlehurst called Towns Bluff. It’s a bargain Sunday through Wednesday nights at the Passport rate of $12.50. For that you get large level gravel sites, reliable electricity, water, and a dump station. It’s located in a wildlife management area on the Altamaha River (the fourth largest source of fresh water to the Atlantic from the USA). The river was high from recent rains, so we didn’t try fishing. Then more rain came, and we couldn’t fish due to hordes of mosquitoes. These were as hungry and persistent as those we ran into in Minnesota two summers ago, but at least the deer flies aren’t out yet.

This wildlife management area is a bow hunting Mecca. Kat spied a moose way back in the woods, and upon further observation, determined that he was made of rubber. Then she saw a wildcat, a couple of bighorn sheep, a buffalo, and a family of white-tailed deer. All were of that peculiar sub-species, Goodyearicus. She had discovered an archery practice range complete with removable and replaceable prime kill zones, most of which were full of old arrow wounds. Turkey season opened yesterday, for bows and guns. I would hope anybody who’s fool enough to sit still for hours with all those skeeters on his ears and neck would have the sense to bring a gun.

But, as Mama used to say “It takes all kinds to make a world.” And an interesting world at that, don’t you think?