[RC] part 2: Cindy's Longstreet's Charge 50 - Cindy Collins
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Tuesday we headed across the states…Brice’s Crossroads, New Albany, Columbus (where I worshipped at the birthplace of Tennessee Williams), Corinth, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and Chickamauga were some of our stops.I really do believe that the air and earth on those blood soaked battlefields is somehow rarified and forever different.I once saw a gravestone in a southern cemetery and the inscription read, “What hopes and dreams have died with you, my son!”The futility of war always stops me cold and makes me so sad that we humans are so limited in our ability to work out our problems without slaughtering our children.
Thursday we reached Lafayette, GA and called Angie, planning to head over to her house, but she was already heading over to the ride site.Time just slipped away from us.We were closer to the ride site than to her home, so we met her there.The BAD thing about this is that I didn’t ever get to see their home or meet Kaboot!
The ride camp is in a beautiful meadow surrounded by forest (jungle!) at the base of the mountain.The trail heads right out of the camp.When we got there, Angie’s husband, Bill, was trying to put up a brand new tent they’d ordered on eBay.So, Keith and I helped with that and once it was all up, it was really a very nice shelter for ride management!About the time we finished, Angie arrived.Timing is everything!She needed to go mark some trail turns and check on the vet check site, so we all piled into the jeep and headed up the mountain.We stopped at Hood’s Overlook, the spot where General Hood could look down on General Sherman’s army as Sherman headed for Atlanta.The vet check area was beautiful, too, with several porta-potties, plenty of grass, large shade trees and water containers.You could see little pieces of the trail from the main roads and it looked like fun.
Since we didn’t have ANYTHING with us for camping and felt like Angie had enough on her plate trying to run the ride, we decided to be wimps and get a room at the Day’s Inn in Lafayette just a 20 min. drive from the ride camp.I figured having a hot shower and restaurants would make it all easier for me and, especially, my husband.There were already a lot of people pulling into camp Thursday.I’m guessing there were at least thirty rigs there.
