driving across the state...

... to get to a rural church in east Georgia. I spent the night on Friday in Decatur and got up on Saturday to travel on to join with lots of previously un-met cousins for an unusual event planned to honor one of our forebears. An ancestor who was a revolutionary, in the best sense of the word. A man who came from Virginia, and settled in north east Georgia, lived in a log cabin that is (amazingly) still inhabited by family members.  Descendants of this soldier who marched off with the militia to defend his home and family from the British redcoats met on a hot Saturday in May at Phillips Mill Baptist Church where Owen and Sarah were charter members..

It was a beauty-full day, with lots of colorful wildflowers along the right of way as I traveled.Driving along the interstate towards Augusta,  though I turned off before getting near the state line. The ancestor, who received a land grant for his service, lived near Washington GA.Possibly so long ago, there was not much to the town, maybe just a livery, inn, general store.  It is beautiful countryside, with rolling hills and what appears to be good fertile farm land.

Daisies, growing prolifically along the highway, were bright and white, waving in the passing breeze of vehicles on tall slender stems. Queen Anne's lace was just starting to bloom and will be beautiful in the coming weeks if we get a little rain. Some type of low growing purple flower, that I have thought of as a form of wild/native verbena was brilliant in color in large swaths along the embankments in the highway. Red clover has started to fade, due to heat, but will likely reseed and come back with brilliant scarlet blooms next spring, after the DOT tractors mow it down. All those colors: red, white and blue were so appropriate for the day, looking very patriotic as I motored across the hills and valleys, river bridges and over creeks making my way to the land of the forebears.

I enjoyed visiting with some cousins I have met at annual pilgrimages to a state park on the Little River impoundment in recent years. Though I have not done enough research to attest to the reliability of the claim, I was lead to believe we have very distinctive ears, with long lobes. The event was held near Wilkes County, where my dad was born, and there are many relatives still in residence. Plus all those recently discovered cousins that appeared, heretofore unknown, ready to eat their weight in bar-be-que.