Purposes of this trip:
Visit two national parks in Alabama and four in Georgia

ALABAMA: Years ago I visited the Tuskegee Institute National Park but it was closed (too early in the day). I was there to photograph the campus sign of Tuskegee University. This time, as my first two stops, I wanted to visit the national park along with the nearby national park called Tuskegee Airmen. HOWEVER, my Garmin GPS had other plans for me. It kept telling me to turn onto a road that (A) was a one-way going the other direction, and, (B) was gated. I asked for a detour but after several attempts at that, and about 45 minutes of driving around residential streets, I gave up going to Alabama on this trip! Going to Tuskegee then on to the national park site in Andersonville, Georgia was going to have me come right back through Columbus.
GEORGIA: Visit four national parks in the state, leaving one on an island near the Florida border.

MISSED VISITING:
Alabama - this trip originally was planned to visit a couple of national parks in Tuskegee plus the town of Dothan. However, since the Garmin GPS could not get me out of Columbus GA in a timely manner, had to skip Alabama.
Florida - this trip originally was planned to visit several places and people in Florida. But since I only had 2-1/2 days, I scaled the trip back to just Georgia plus barely into Alabama.
Georgia - Cumberland Island National Park in the southeast corner of the state

OBSERVATIONS: Some observations made while traveling in this area:

1. Southern Georgia is quite flat, like what my home state of Kanas is known for!
2. Georgia highway drivers are pretty typical of what I have seen in most states -- speedsters. As an experiment, while driving along I-16 from Savannah to Dublin, I decided just as I got west of I-295 that I would count how many vehicles I pass and how many pass me in the next 100 miles. I passed six including three at once (two semi-trucks and an RV). Passing me were 87 vehicles, usually from 2 to 6 in one grouping. One other vehicle decided to catch up to me then tailgate for about 15 miles until he exited.
3. Maybe it would take getting used to it but I cannot imagine ever living in a town near a coast -- too many vehicles from all the tourist that clog all of the streets.
4. After touring national park site called Andersonville -- it was a Civil War prison camp -- it strikes me how incredibly cruel we humans can be to other humans. Things are done to those who "oppose our ways" that the tormentors would never want done to someone they care about. Slavery would fit in that same category since they are like prisoners too.

The Bests:

• Home Materials - Always did like how the southeast uses brick or stone to build many houses vs. wood that I normally see in the Midwest
• Fort Pulaski - Over the years I have toured many of the old forts. This was one of the nicest built ones -- the soldiers stationed there should have had a pretty decent place to live (at least, from my perspective more than a century later).
• Warmer Weather - the Kansas City greater metro area has had a long cold and cloudy winter. It was nice to enjoy some full sunny days in the 70's.
• Spring Colors - spring seems to be later than usual in both the southeast and Midwest. The southeast was barely showing some early spring colors, but it was something!

The Worsts:

• Construction - Too much road construction in Georgia all along its coastal area
• Garmin GPS - I now fully believe that whenever I plan any driving between towns, I need to (A) see the route Google Maps selects, then, (B) verify the route that Garmin selects. Too many times Garmin has had issues and "goes crazy", despite my taking their latest updates. This time, on my way from Atlanta to Tuskegee, Alabama Garmin should have simply taken I-84. Instead, it put me into two-lane highways and went through Columbus, Georgia. And there, it told me to turn onto a street that was one-way the other direction and was gated closed. I asked several times for detours and Garmin would take me on a journey through residential sections then lead me back to the same gated one-way street. After 45 minutes of this, I gave up and decided I had to skip Alabama since I had lost an hour of my long day.

The Totals:

• Miles Driven: 794
• Driving: 18 hours in 3 days
• States: 1 -- Georgia
• Pictures Taken: 167 (and deleted 9 of them)
• National Parks: 4 -- Andersonville, Fort Frederica, Fort Pulaski, Ocmulgee Mounds for a total of 231 of 423 national parks visited

Remaining to Visit by State
• AL - Tuckegee to visit the two national parks there
• AK - DONE
• AZ - Some national park in the northeast part of the state to visit. Plus, will return on occasion as long as friends Diana and John live in the state
• AR - DONE
• CA - DONE but have yet to actually go into Lassen Volcanic National Park despite two attempts
• CO - DONE
• CT - DONE
• DE - DONE
• FL - Likely visit Orlando where a high school classmate and a cousin both live, still want to take the ferry to Fort Matanzas and revisit a couple of places on the Gulf Coast: Sarasota (downtown), Pine Island and the Naples Botanical Gardens
• GA - Cumberland Island national park
• HI - DONE
• ID - DONE but would like to drive from Boise to Moscow to cover that part of the state to yet drive through
• IL - Chicago has some places yet to visit, also, maybe family history research in towns of Danville and Pecatonica plus Washington county
• IN - Evansville Museum, maybe visit a friend in Plainville, and, maybe family history research in Ft.Wayne and find ancestral cemeteries in Brown county
• IA - DONE unless family history research in various parts of the state
• KS - I currently live here
• KY - DONE
• LA - DONE unless visit cousins in New Orleans
• ME - Revisit Acadia National Park to photograph the park sign and just see the park again, also visit the area around Eastport
• MD - DONE unless to visit some national battlefields
• MA - Visit Martha's Vineyard, also, family history research plus I know many fellow Toastmasters in Boston. And, a good friend lives in this state.
• MI - DONE but would like to visit the "thumb" part of the state at Port Austin
• MN - DONE unless decide to visit Isle Royale National Park from Grand Portage (also a national park there)
• MS - DONE
• MO - DONE, but I live too close to KCMO to avoid it
• MT - DONE unless I try a fourth attempt someday to Glacier National Park to finally drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road
• NE - DONE
• NV - DONE
• NH - DONE
• NJ - DONE
• NM - DONE but would like to drive from Deming to Alpine, Arizona to cover parts of those states I have yet to drive through
• NY - Many many places yet to revisit in this state
• NC - DONE
• ND - DONE but would like to drive from Bowman to Rapid City, South Dakota to cover a part of those states I have yet to drive through
• OH - Family research in several towns, one cousin in Columbus
• OK - DONE
• OR - DONE
• PA - Family history research in the southeastern quarter of the state plus the north central part
• RI - DONE
• SC - DONE
• SD - DONE but would like to drive from Rapid City to Bowman North Dakota to cover a part of those states I have yet to drive through
• TN - DONE but would like to drive through the mountains along the border of TN and NC
• TX - Brother lives in this state as does a friend, also, would like to drive from Amarillo through Lubbock and on to
• UT - Need to photograph the Zion park sign (despite two previous attempts to visit there) and actually go into the park
• VT - Want to drive entirely around Lake Champlaign, also, maybe some family history research
• VA - DONE but cousins live here
• WA - DONE but a good friend lives in Seattle
• WV - DONE
• WI - DONE but maybe re-attempt (it was pouring rain years ago when there) to visit House of the Rocks and Taliesman near Spring Green
• WY - DONE but would like to drive through the central part of the state e.g. Casper through Dubois then south through Afton to Rock Springs
• AB - REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to see Banff National Park and Lake Louise someday near Calgary in Alberta
• BC - Love Vancouver and Butchart Gardens plus much more north along the coast to see on Vancouver Island all the way to Port Hardy
• LB - Newfoundland/Labrador is worth one visit someday but it is a big undertaking since it takes a day each way just to ferry from Nova Scotia
• MB - Winnepeg, Manitoba is worth one visit someday
• NB - New Brunswick was gorgeous with the fall colors and I liked the three highways I drove going across the province but I never really stopped to see anything. Want to see Saint Johns and along the coast northeast of it, also the Kouchibouguac national park
• NS - Missed much here and would like to return someday, two national parks to visit: Cape Breton and Kejimkujik (dark skies)
• ON - DONE since visited Toronto and Ottawa
• PE - DONE since Prince Edward Island was unimpressive, so likely done here although I did entirely miss the western half of the province
• QC - DONE since visited Montreal and Quebec city and some towns south of them, plus, drove the entire coastline so unknown if will return here -- do not like feeling ostricized with the French everywhere
• SK - Regina and Saskatoon in Saskatchwean are worth one visit someday
• YK - Yukon is iffy if it is worth a visit someday since it is a long way to there and really nothing in particular to see or do except the scenery. Ditton Nanuvut and the Northwest Territories.