James "Sloppy" Floyd

James "Sloppy" Floyd State Park
Summerville, GA
December 18, 2010

Today was an eventful sort of day! We, Scott, Carlos, Kim, Megan, Mike, and I decided roughly two weeks ago to go on a roadtrip. It would be a one day event traveling over three hours to eat lunch at James Floyd State Park and stopping in Alabama at the Unclaimed Baggage Center.

The day started pretty gloomy at 8:45am with muggy weather and even a bit of rain to start the day. We took Scott's parents minivan for the most space... the downfall.. wipers didn't work very well! We shared a lot of fun stories and laughed a lot in the car catching up on all the crazy adventures from the semester. We stopped in Kennesaw to pick up Kim and a mini cooler. Two hours later we finally arrived at James "Sloppy" Floyd State Park. The entrance to the park was found after driving two miles down a run down road surrounded by red neck style housing, complete with wild dogs, large trucks, and I swear we heard banjo music!

Once inside the park grounds, it was actually gorgeous. There was a large lake, leaves still everyone on the floor, and these beautiful white trees by the water side. The best part was the quiet and calmness of the whole park. It felt as if we were the only ones there! There were several picnic areas near the lake and swinging chairs. We enjoyed a peaceful lunch and took several pictures at the swings. Though I did not get a chance to check out the campsites, I think it may be a good state park to check out for future camping in this area. Fortunately too, the visitors center, as small as it was, actually had the patches! The only downside from our visit besides it being cold was the bathroom at the visitors center smelled like smoke...

Upon leaving we had a pretty interesting run in with a driver under he influence... Kim couldn't have put it in better words with her note...
My friends and I planned a day trip to the Unclaimed Baggage Center stopping for lunch at James H. (Sloppy) Floyd GA state park on the way there. We make it to the park for lunch safely, with much better weather than expected! Sunny and chilly enough to know it is fall. When our yummy sandwiches were gobbled up we were off to the Center. Only about 20 minutes into our 50 min drive to the store an indecisive driver turns in front of us too close at a stop light intersection. Seriously people, if you're going to pull out in front of someone that close don't go five miles per hour! So we (Krystal, Scott, Carlos, Me, Megan, and Mike) all get rallied up in his stupidity and honk at him out of frustration. This careless driver now in front of us finally goes down the road but we notice him slightly swerving and didn't think much about it until he almost runs off the road. He corrects himself and now were are all watching him like a hawk... (It's a one lane each direction, winding road). After about 6 more times of the obviously extremely intoxicated driver cutting it close when swerving out of the road (in the grass and almost all the way in the other lane swerve) we decided to call and report him to the police for everyone's safety. About now there are a few cars lined up behind us and it is obvious they have noticed his erratic driving because they are staying a good distance behind. We leave a report and are keeping our eyes out for a cop to wave down. We all start getting antsy because its been a while and there was still no cop. We come to a t-intersection with option to go left or right. You could tell the driver wanted to turn right but his reaction was too slow, he almost runs into the stop sign. Instead of correcting himself and turning from the right turn lane he uses the left turn lane to turn right. Now the road (which is a bridge) is two lanes and we are able to pass and get in front of him as well as one or two other cars. When the long bridge ends, to the left are trees for a couple of yards and then a grassy median where we finally spot a cop! I attempt to jester to the cop as well as the drivers behind us. We are all rallied up now excited and anticipating the cop was stopping him. Because of heavy traffic it takes him a a bit longer than we expected for him to get on the road causing the tension to well up. Finally, when the cop turns on his blue lights we all cheer as if our favorite sports team just scored an amazing play. This is not the end! We are still watching out of curiosity of what is going to happen. To our humor the driver takes for ever to decided where to pull over. He finally gets stopped and we all celebrate once more!!

To say the least it was one of those days... We finally make it to the Unclaimed Baggage Center and spend just over an hour. It was pretty neat to see some of the crazy stuff people leave at airports. Could you even imagine loosing or leaving a wedding dress, a baby stroller, a laptop!? It's mind boggling! I would throw a fit after having spent so much money! Regardless I found a jacket, still with the Macy's tag of $130 and purchased it for $35! Scott and Megan both bought some books and Kim purchased a fairly new Nintendo DS for her niece and $70 with a case too!

Overall it was a fun trip and a nice get away from the normal daily routines. I'll definitely go back sometime to see if there's any more crazy stuff!

Let's see where the next trip takes us.. perhaps it will be camping!!