Americus is about 10 miles from our campground. Like so many small cities we’ve seen it has a very old downtown surrounded by wonderful Victorian homes, but the sprawl goes in all directions from there. No big box stores except Wal-Mart, but lots of chain fast food. We stopped at the library and they have 20 computers that you can sign up to use for up to 2 hours. With a very fast Internet connection John and I enjoyed having our own computers to surf for awhile. Then we drove about 10 miles to Plains, Georgia, home of President Jimmy Carter.
The school that Jimmy and Rosalynn both attended is now a Visitor’s Center. (Rosalynn was valedictorian in 1944.) Since 1980, all students go to school in Americus. This small town of 600 people has a business district one block long, on one side of the street. They are working very hard to make it tourist friendly with a café in the old bank, and a 10 room hotel above the antique store. The hotel’s rooms are decorated in the theme of various decades. We ate lunch at the Café in the Old Bank.
Evidently President Carter comes into town frequently. He is very involved in the economic development effort and two people told us he had been in town earlier today for a meeting. He’s also quite involved in Habitat for Humanity. Their headquarters are in Americus.
We drove by the Carters’ home, surrounded by a fence and guarded by Secret Service, the Methodist Church where the Carters were married, the Baptist Church where they are members now, and went 3 miles out of town to the farm where he grew up that is now a National Historic Site.
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