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Thursday, December 12, 2013

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

We, however, often are.  Not just lost, really lost.

We took on a new task here at J. Strom Thurmond COE.  Around the lake, on private property many people have built nice summer homes.  And what make the homes even nicer is they have access to Thurmond Lake.  Many of the home owners have constructed boat docks on COE owned shoreline property, after obtaining a lease from the COE.  Requirements are to first obtain a permit, have the design approved, then after approval and construction, an annual payment is required for the lease.  The only other requirement is to keep the boat dock in good condition.

To ensure the docks are in good condition, the COE does annual inspections and takes pictures of the boat docks.

This looked like a great way to spend the day doing important work for the COE.  We obtained a list of docks to inspect along with some Google Earth pictures supplied by the ranger overseeing this project.  Off we went to the Georgia side of the lake.

Sounds simple, right?  Knowing we’re involved, nothing ever goes too simply for us.

After locating one address that was locked tight with a sign posted with large letters “Beware of Dog”, we decided to move on to the next location.

One thing we’ve found here in the wilds of Georgia, streets and properties are not all that easy to find, even with a GPS.  We looked for another address and finally decided we were there looking at the Google Earth pictures and comparing them to the roofs of houses.

Off we set to walk down to the property owner’s boat dock.  It seemed strange since it looked pretty heavily wooded, but there was a gate.

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After walking into the woods for about 15 minutes, all we found were even more woods…and no lake.

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Hmm, this doesn’t look like the Google Earth picture.

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Another reason why I like working with Marti is she is so tech savvy (unlike me) and whipped out her iPhone and called up Google Earth.  Fortunately we had a good signal.

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Comparing our location to the Google Earth picture we had been given, we found we had gone exactly in the opposite direction of the lake.  Duoh!

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Now we were back on track, we walked back out of the dense woods and found the house we were looking for.

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Walking around to the back yard, we saw victory was in our grasp.

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We walked down to the dock and I took several pictures.

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We had four more docks to inspect and photograph.  Thankfully, these were much easier to find and the pathways were very clear.  One crossed a deep ravine and the owners had constructed a bridge across it.  Marti was especially glad of that.

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We were glad to finish the job, even though we did wander lost in the Georgia woods for a while.  Why do I get so concerned about the Georgia woods?  Well, recently at a Georgia Visitors Center, I saw this sign:

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Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

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17 comments:

  1. At least you got some good exercise. Our Verizon Navigator is having a hard time here in rural Alabama and Mississippi.

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  2. We have never admitted to being lost, just taking the scenic route. At least you got the job done.

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  3. In Georgia I would worry about the landowner with a gun and shovel!

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  4. Hope you have your bullet proof COE vests on! Never know who you might run into :-)

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  5. You probably got this job because of all your experience finding pins. :)

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  6. I'm sure glad you have Marti. Who knows when we would ever hear from you again without her.

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  7. I'm betting the worst looking dock of the bunch is the one with the fictious dog. :-)) Sounds like a fun assignment. Better stick with Mari though.

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  8. Leave it to Marti to save the day. Way to go Marti!

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  9. Those docks are really just great big geocaches;o)) Should have figured Marti could find them!!! Keep having fun:o)

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  10. I agree. Thank goodness for Marti and her iPhone. Whatever would you do without either one.

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  11. Good to have a iPhone to get the Google map. Nice to hear that you have reached the house safe from the dense forest.

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  12. With those Zombie Hunters out in the woods now I'd think you are going to have to be extra careful.

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  13. Yikes....wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of a property owner. Sounds like interesting work though :-)

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  14. Just how many zombies can you shoot/trap/catch with one of those licenses? Hope you were wearing your blaze orange :)

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  15. Never leave home without it (or her, in this instance) ;-)

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  16. I was picturing you walking along the shoreline looking for docks. I guess driving to them makes more sense - it might be a long walk. Of course, then you do have to find the lake!

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