Kaolin and the South Georgia heat

Today we set out from Milledgeville, after a good night's sleep and a breakfast of oatmeal. It was cool this morning and it felt good to be out in it; we attached the trailers in front of our room as the bemused Indian innkeeper looked on. The road out of Milledgeville kept rising and falling, a maddening pattern after yesterday's labors; but I remind myself that any day on this trip is better than not taking it. I have learned to enjoy the scented breeze that follows the passing garbage truck on otherwise windless days. We paused briefly on the porch of the Deepstep City Hall/Library, where a pair of swallows was busy building a nest in a roof eave. We spooked them at first, and they would just circle, coming in close and then flying away. Eventually they decided it was OK to build their nest while we sat unobtrusively nearby. Near Deepstep, GA, is a major kaolin mining facility. Kaolin is a type of clay that is used in absorbent things, like kitty litter, spill absorbents, and, perhaps not surprisingly, Kaopectate. Hm. We stopped for lunch in Sandersville, and decided to eat at Puebla's, a mexican place. We were ably served by Katie, a Michigan transplant, who was at first perplexed by the amount of water we were consuming - until she saw me dumping a glassful into my water bottle. She filled that and our Camelbacks for us. She is from Battle Creek, the Cereal City, but said that the cereal companies had outsourced the jobs that were there to Mexico; she said it without a hint of irony that she was working in a Mexican restaurant. I wanted to say that Mexico was outsourcing their food to the US. :-) After Sandersville, the hills gradually became less onerous, and we made it to Davisboro in about an hour (about 12 miles). It took a bit longer to get to Louisville, our destination, but the terrain was flat. We started to see more pecan trees, indicators of the south Georgia environment. That was nice. The weather forecasts are calling for rain tomorrow, and we may elect to stay here another day. We'll see!