We left Chattahoochee Bend State Park around 9 am on Friday, October 10, 2025 and drove 5 1/2 hours to Evans County Public Fishing Area in Claxton, Georgia for a 10-night stay. We drove through a very heavy rainstorm about 90 minutes out from Evans which slowed our drive time, but thankfully there was no rain when we arrived and had to set up Nomad. It’s never fun setting up (or tearing down) in the rain.
Evans County Public Fishing Area
Evans County Public Fishing Area is a 372-acre recreation area containing 3 different lakes. The campground is adjacent to Bidd Sands Lake, which is the largest of the 3 lakes. I found it amusing that our campsite was described as “lakeview” but the only way you could see the lake from our campsite is if you were elevated 150 feet in the air or had x-ray vision. But it was OK, we were just a short hike away from the lake’s edge closest to the campground.
There are numerous recreational activities available including fishing, boating, hiking, bird and wildlife viewing, and archery. I saw Hawkeye and Green Arrow competing with each other to see who had the most trick arrows in their quiver.
The campground is one of the smaller and more compact we have stayed in. There are 14 RV sites with electricity and water, and 8 tent-only sites. The tent-only sites were the ones closest to, and in view of, the lake. It also looked like they might be expanding to add more RV sites as we saw some clearing of and upgrading of an additional section at the opposite end of our row.
Our site was dirt and gravel but fairly level with 50-amp electric and water. We were surrounded on 3 sides by pine trees (thankfully no oak with acorns, lol) and were at the end of the row so no neighbors on one side. The hosts came by after we were set up to give us info and introduce themselves. They have been RVing full-time for 2 years and this was their first hosting gig.
While we were setting up Cindy discovered that we had a leak from our shower skylight due to the heavy rain storms we drove through. That meant I would have to get up on the roof and see what the hell is going on. It’s always something.
We were very tired for some reason and were in bed shortly after 8:30, which is early for us. We had just drifted off to sleep when Amber texted/called. Then we dozed off and Ann texted. All within the first hour that we had laid down, lol. We didn’t mind. Our kids can call or text any hour of the day. And they know we’re usually up later than when they reached out that night, so it was more of an amusing thing than an aggravation to us at being awakened twice in the space of an hour.
Weather Woes
It was cold and damp with temperatures in the lower 60’s. So when we took Bella for a walk Saturday morning I had to put on the only warm hooded-pullover and jeans that I had kept out when we packed our fall clothes away a few weeks prior. Brrrr!
My left knee had been feeling better, but the cold and damp had it aching not long after we started our walk around the campground and lake area. This getting old sucks, lol.
When we were in Orlando at the beginning of this year, Amber had lent us her complete 7-season DVD set of Hill Street Blues to watch this year while we were on the road. I remember I loved that TV show when it aired in the early 1980’s. So, Saturday night we sat down to watch the first season. But before the first episode was even over Cindy figured out that she didn’t care for it at all.
My plan now is to wait until we get back to Orlando and watch it while she is spending several nights over at Amber’s so we can give it back to her before we leave town early next year.
“Let’s be careful out there.”
Sunday it rained all day and it was a dreary, blah day for us. But we did watch “Star Trek: Nemesis” from back 2002 and enjoyed it for the 6th or 7th time (for me, lol). Now we’re talking about re-watching the “Picard” series from a few years ago since we have all 3 seasons on DVD.
Fixing Things
Monday the weather cleared and warmed up a bit. I fixed a window valance that was coming loose and pulled the breaker box so I could get a look at our converter to see if that might be causing the partial outage of the lights in the slide-out. But decided I would need to shut off all the power to do that safely, so didn’t do it that day.
And, because it was a dry day, I got up on the roof and looked at the shower skylight. There was no crack in the skylight, but I could see where the sealant was cracking, so I’ll need to clean it up and apply some new sealant. I didn’t have any with me, so would need to stop by a Camping World or equivalent to get some.
I also did a little writing on my writing/book blog about where I find and decide what books to read. If you like reading, you may find it helpful.
On Tuesday I replaced the weatherstripping on the screen door. It’s been 3 years since I first installed it and it needed to be replaced. Then I used a wire brush to get the beginnings of rust off the anti-sway tow bars and then coated them with clear spray paint. That helps slow down the rust that forms from the metal rubbing against the metal, at least a little bit.
We decided to drive 40 miles north to Statesboro on Wednesday for lunch at Cracker Barrel and run some errands. We like the food at Cracker Barrel and plus we wanted to try and give them some business since they took such a hit for trying to change their logo.
I didn’t like their new logo idea, but not because I thought it was “woke” or some silliness like that. I just didn’t think it evoked the feeling of what Cracker Barrel is. I mean, hell, there wasn’t even a barrel on the new logo, just the name. Anyway, I’m glad they decided not to change it.
Plus, we wanted to see where the “No Kings Protest” would be on that Saturday in case we decided to go participate in it.
And it gave Cindy a chance to get out of Nomad and relieve her cabin fever a bit.
Claxton Fruit Cake
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Evans County Public Fishing Area was just outside of Claxton, Georgia. And Claxton, Georgia is the home of Claxton Fruit Cake.
Now, I know, some people hate fruit cake. Cindy is one of them. I like fruit cake, but really only those made by my mom before her passing and now by my darling sister-in-law who makes them following my mom’s recipe.
Growing up, and even into my adult years, I always looked forward to Christmas season and my mom making her fruit cake. It was just a standard part of the holiday season.
One year, in my late teens or early 20’s, someone gave me a Claxton Fruit Cake. I took a big slice, thinking it would taste like my mom’s
It didn’t.
First, it was dry. I mean “give me a full glass of water to wash this bite down” dry. Second, it tasted like someone left out some key ingredients along the way. It was disgusting. If Claxton Fruit Cake was all someone had ever tasted, I could understand why they would not like fruit cake. That stuff was horrible.
If you are one of those who like Claxton Fruit Cake I feel sorry for your poor taste buds.
Still, since we were so close to their home and factory, I thought it would be some good content for this blog to take their factory tour. Plus I could probably show them where they could make some improvements on their product, lol. Unfortunately, they were not offering tours. I understand, I wouldn’t want people to see the demons of hell that must be making that awful stuff if I were them either.
So all I could do on Friday when I went into Claxton, Georgia to do laundry was to take a photo of their building. You can see it in the photo album. But I’ll warn you, like their fruit cake, it’s not much to look at.
No Kings Protest
Saturday morning, October 18th, we drove up to Statesboro to shop at the Farmers Market from 9:30 to 10:30 and Cindy picked up some homemade soap and a new Christmas-themed flag for our campsite. I imagine you’ll see that in photos from posts over the holidays.
Then we took part in the nationwide “No Kings Protest” at the courthouse in Statesboro. It was quite an experience and I wrote about it over on my personal blog. We found out a couple of days later that more than 7 million Americans had taken part in the protest across our great nation, and even more millions across the globe had joined in solidarity.
Photos from it are also over on the personal blog, but I did include video footage I took from the protest in the video about this stay on this post.
Sunday we hiked 2 miles in the morning. Rain was forecast so we took down Cindy’s screen room to be able to put it away while it was still dry. The rest of the day was spent relaxing since we were leaving for our new campsite the following day.
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