We arrived at Jack Hill State Park in Reidsville, Georgia around 2:15 pm on Tuesday, October 27th after leaving Sesquicentennial State Park in Columbia at 10 am that morning.
Jack Hill State Park
Jack Hill State Park was established in the late 1950’s as the Gordonia-Alatamaha State Park but was renamed in 2020 in honor of the late Georgia State Senator Jack Hill, who had significantly contributed to its further development and upgraded facilities.
The park consists of 662 acres surrounding a 12-acre lake. There are 29 RV/Tent sites and 10 cottages for rent, as well as 4 picnic shelters and an 80-seat capacity Group Shelter. In addition, they have a playground and splash pad, as well as outdoor fitness equipment. Until 2 years ago there was a Nature Trail you could hike, but Hurricane Helene destroyed access to that and repairs have not yet been made.
The lake provides the opportunity for boating and fishing, but no swimming as there are alligators in the water. You can also bike through the improved areas of the park and have fun with geocaching.
Jack Hill State Park also has an 18-hole golf course. I tried taking up golf when I was a younger man and sucked at it, while Cindy has never tried it. So that feature held no attraction to us, but it definitely might to campers who do not want to travel far to get to the green.
Our site was level and spacious with some foliage providing a modicum of privacy. It took us until 3:30 pm to get set up, mostly because we spent a LOT of time dealing with a huge infestation of Stink Bugs near the back window curtain. They had spent the drive nesting in the curtains while enjoying the warmth of the sun. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of them which surprised us. We had not seen many during our stay in Columbia, but that was probably due to the cooler temps. They like to stay huddled away out of sight when it’s cold.
I had awakened that morning still with a headache from the “Kissing The Asphalt” incident the previous Sunday morning and had it for the entire drive and while setting up. And I was still cleaning out blood from my nostrils throughout the day, while continuing to apply hydrogen peroxide and antibacterial cream on the surface of my nose where the “road rash” was healing.
On Wednesday, October 28th I awakened with NO headache, YAY!, but was still pulling blobs of blood out of my nostrils. Not pretty at all! I still spent the day resting and reading because we have a busy, busy time coming up in Florida. Good busy, but busy just the same.
As it was on Wednesday, I awoke on Thursday with no headache. I also had very little blood coming out of my nostrils. All good news. And my nose, which had looked like a pile of raw hamburger meat on my face, now looked like scab city. Per Doctor Cindy’s orders (I love it when she wears that lab coat) I continued to keep applying antibacterial cream to it in the hopes that it would heal quickly.
Busy Thursday
It was also a busy day. I had to get up on the roof to put sealant around the bathroom skylight; I replaced an electrical outlet in our bedroom on my side of the bed; fixed some storage arrangements in the bed of Voyager; dumped and flushed our tanks since we had full hook-ups at our site; and tried to take a hike with Cindy.
I say tried because, as noted earlier, we discovered the trail and access to most of it was closed due to damages from Hurricane Helene two years earlier and had still not been repaired.
Sad News
The day ended with sad news. Not personal sad news, but sad news the same.
I was at the gas station filling up Voyager when my phone dinged twice. I looked down to see that both my daughter and my good friend Kirk had texted me at the same time with the unexpected news that Sir Patrick Stewart, best known to his fans as Captain Jean Luc Picard on Star Trek The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier on The X-men, had passed away at the age of 86.
My eyes just stared at the screen in unbelief, then sorrow.
It’s heartbreaking when someone you admire and enjoy seeing perform iconic roles passes away, even if you never knew them personally. I know that, for me, his many interviews and reading his memoir Making It So back in October of 2023, made me think that I knew the person, at least in some small way.
I feel like this quote by his character Captain Jean Luc Picard, in the movie Star Trek: Generations almost 30 years ago, was made for his passing.
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