WARM SPRINGS, GEORGIA

After a nice drive through the Georgia countryside we arrived at Warm Springs, the site of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Little White House". It was here he died on April 12, 1945. Marlene had just finished reading "No Ordinary Time", the story of Eleanor and Franklin during WWII.

Our camp site for the night was directly behind the old train station, now a visitor's center, where Roosevelt's coffin was loaded on the train for his final journey back to Washington. When we rolled into Warm Springs, a very small town, we stopped at the visitor's center to ask where we might be able to park for the night. The hostess said, "park here, I'll call the police chief and tell him I have given you permission".

It rained hard that night, the beginning of the big storm that hit the southern states. We would have walked the .8 miles up the hill to the State Park where the "Little White House" sits, but it was still raining in the morning, so we drove up with the Jeep still in tow. There is a small museum on the site where we watched an orientation film and looked at the memorabilia they have on display. In back of the museum a short walk away is the actual house and servant's quarters. Inside, the house is exactly the way it was the day Roosevelt died. While posing for a portrait he suffered a stroke and died. The artist stopped and never put a brush to the painting again.

The unfinished painting is on display in an adjoining building where the humidity and climate is controlled.

This is the President's office. Notice the footrest under the table used to support his paralyzed legs. Roosevelt had polio and came here to Warm Springs to seek relief from the hot mineral springs.

The house is very small. I think no more than 1600 square feet. Two bedrooms, his office, a main room also used for dining, and a kitchen. This is his bedroom. It was so easy to picture him living in this space and sleeping in this bed.

This was a special car, built by Willis, with hand controls so he could drive around the country side near Warm Springs. He also had a 1938 Ford Convertible similarly equipped which he would drive himself.

After leaving the park, we stopped at an antique store in town. The night before I spotted a 1950's Schwinn Phantom which was going on sale the Saturday we were leaving. We didn't hang around because we had reservations at Richard Russel State Park along the Savannah River Reservoir of the same name. I planned to play golf there on Sunday and we had about 150 miles to drive.

The storm hit us just as we were approaching Atlanta. It rained so hard that traffic slowed to a crawl on the interstate. Fortunately we had no problems and arrived safely at our park just as the rain let up. That night we were treated to a thunder and lightning show like we used to experience in Wisconsin while growing up.