RV trip to my sisters - Part 2 - South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama - December 2014

This is going to be a 3 part post.

Owen and I drove from Washington, DC to Atlanta, GA where we picked up an RV and then drove on to West Monroe, LA to see my sister and her family. See our route here. As you will see from the pictures it RAINED the whole time.

We left SC and drove onto Atlanta. If you didn't know, North Augusta is "South Carolina's Riverfront". If you know where Walker Exhaust Manufacturing is in GA please comment. That is one issue with me posting things 4 years later, my memory isn't great.

North Augusta, SC (actually)

Walker Exhaust Manufacturing, Somewhere in GA

 In Atlanta,we picked up the RV. We rented one through Cruise America. This was our second time doing it and we moved up to a 24 ft. RV.

Right outside the RV pick-up place we saw this "God Bless America" water tower in Atlanta. Then we saw a great Chick-Fil-A water tower. We, unfortunately, couldn't stop to get a good picture and the one I took from the RV window was bad. I just did some research and evidently, this water tower is changed pretty regularly by Chick-Fil-A. See and read more about it.

God Bless America, Atlanta, GA

See my other Atlanta water tower posts here.

Work Trip (AFF) - Tree Farmer National Leadership Conference, Savannah, GA - February 2014

If you read my earlier post, you will understand how embarrassing this is....

I am writing this on January 1, 2017 but I am posting pictures from February of 2014.  These pictures are from my first work trip with the American Forest Foundation (AFF). I was recruited from Keep America Beautiful to AFF to do behavior change campaigns with rural woodland owners. One of the programs that AFF facilitates is the American Tree Farm System. Each year the Tree Farm System puts on a conference. In 2014 it was held in Savannah, GA. Owen came down after the conference and we spent some time in Savannah and Tybee Island.

On our way out of town to Tybee Island we stopped at Savannah State University.
They were over achievers with 2 towers.

Savannah, GA

It was only fitting that we saw an old water tower that was part of a wood supply company.
Showing how wood in the south is an important economy.
Bradley Hardwood, Savannah, GA

Tybee Island, GA

Tybee Island with a bunch of recycling carts below. Fitting.

We took a beautiful boat ride out into the Atlantic on the one nice day we got. 

The poor Tybee Island Lighthouse had just gotten a new paint job when multiple days of rain hit.
The streaking was the talk of the town when we were there. See the water tower way back there?

Hardeeville, SC off I-95 on the way home.

ARTICLE - Gwinnett County, GA Water towers retired

Sent to me by Alicia on LinkedIn.

By Camie Young
Senior Writer

LAWRENCEVILLE - The water towers that have proclaimed "Gwinnett is great" and "Success lives here" for more than a decade will come down.

Commissioners decommissioned the 35-year-old tanks, along with four other water structures made unnecessary by the upgrade of a pump station in Norcross.

The towers, visible from Interstate 85 near Jimmy Carter Boulevard as drivers enter the county, have boasted Gwinnett's motto for years, but some officials say they aren't sad to see them go.

"Those have been outdated for years," said Jim Maran, president of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, which began the branding. "We need a fresh image."

Maran said a new marketing ploy is under development.

"There's some nostalgia," Chairman Charles Bannister said. "But it's necessary we reduce our expenses in any way we can and they are no longer necessary."

Commissioner Shirley Lasseter agreed with the reminiscence.

"It's symbolic of where we've come from," she said, referring to the county's growth as a suburb during the 1980s and 1990s, when it was one of the fastest growing counties in the nation.

But Chuck Warbington, who heads the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District, which includes the Jimmy Carter Boulevard area, said he didn't have an issue with the decommissioning.

"We've moved on from using water towers for economic development," he said.

Along with the four other structures, Water Production Director Neal Spivey said the county would save $100,000 in operating costs each year and other $100,000 in capital costs for maintenance each year.

He said the county will prepare a bid with several options for the tower: a tank manufacturer could buy the tanks and transport them intact, a demolition crew could take the towers down and get the benefit of using the materials for scrap or the county could pay a demolition crew to take them down.

Likely, the towers would remain at least until the fall, he said.

"On one hand, I hate to see those towers go, but on the other hand, removing them will certainly help beautify these areas by eliminating the industrial feel of the big tanks," said Gwinnett Water Resources Acting Director Lynn Smarr. "And, of course, success will continue to live in Gwinnett County."