Folkston, Georgia "Folkston Funnel"

  A short trip north west on highway 40 from St. Marys is the little of Folkston.

It is know for it railroad intersection of rails from the northwest and from the northeast.

All trains going into and out of the trunk of Flordia pass through  Folkston making it a 

great viewing site for train nuts. About 100 trains per day pass by a viewing stand 

maintained by the town.  The weather while I was there was wet and cold  but I met a 

couple all the way from Canada there too photograph trains. The short time I was

there I saw three CSXT  and  a Conrail pass. Photos below.

This viewing platform is a nice feature and is well attended. Even with the wind and rain 7 people were 

there with use.

   

What,a Chevy train?

GM did build loco's. Under the EMF name. 

 

These are Auto Train cars used to transport customer cars back north

for sun birds.  

These are container cars that carry goods both by train and then by truck.

I do not understand why the larger boxes are stacked on top.

Hello again.
  I've been away several days on a little vacation to our former home
in the Tampa Bay  Florida area  and a little side trip to St. Marys, Ga.
  Central Florida is very busy this time of year due to the Florida State
Fair going on in Tampa, The Strawberry Fest In Plant City and spring
training baseball all over central and south Florida.
  The only place we found to stay, with a dog, was in Ruskin just south
of Plant City on the west side of the bay, Pirate's Cove. A little fishing
camp. But it was nice and we had great time there.
  You may know about Ruskin tomatoes from Publix. Tomatoes are
grown in winter and fields were full when we docked a boat  there in the
1990's. We were too late to see any at all this trip and were told that
few farms were left. All went to Mexico!
  Strawberries are still grown around Plant City and the festival was in full
swing. In fact the festival grounds has been expanded and some of the small
hometown feeling seemed lost. But we had our fill of shortcake!

      
 

                                                                                             

 All  the above photos are of the fish camp area.

                                                                                   

  This the "good old boy" and my friend that maintained the camp.

 The flower Above can not be I.D.

  The following Photos are of the Strawberry  Festival.

Good eats are everywhere.

  Here is my Queen!

Good Stuff. They give away caps. They PAY me!

  The peing zoo has turned chickin!  Due to danger of an ecoli  infection insurance 

companies  demanded that all  be behind fences and everyone had to wash hands

when leaving.  Also shown  cows, pigs, rabbits.

  The following are views of the world famous Parkesdale fruit stand.  

Mr. Roy Parkes owned Parkes Farms and was a driving force behind the 

Strawberry Festival,  started his stand years ago and now is the only fruit stand

I know of that has a parking lot for tour buses.  Mr. Parkes passed away several

years ago.    

  

   You can't get this guys CD's in stores. And neither can he!

Really he was quite good and was selling CD's. of real music.

  The next stop , on the way home, was St. Marys, Ga.

St. Marys is located just north of Cumberland island and is one

of the oldest towns in Georgia. The National Parks Service runs

a ferry to the island two times a day and there is some seafood

industry there but mostly tourist trade and bed and breakfast 

and restaurants. 

       

  We stayed at the Goodbread B&B.  Each room was modeled  after a movie

and it's stars. Ours was "Gone With The Wind".

  These two views are of the parlor.

  

    The next are of our room the "Rett & Scarlett" 

Ain't she Sweet! 

  I could not sleep all night because of the noise Scarlett made!!

  The Goodbread house.

   Myrtice had a meeting with Ron Lance a cousin she had never seen on her mother's side.

 Mr. Lance is a tug boat Capt. at the Kings Bay sub base. He is a very articulate man with

interesting stories about his work pushing subs around. He is active on face book and wishes

to know more about the Lance people. He knows very little. Look him up!