Reed Bingham State Park Adel, GA
So, what makes a person want to visit a State Park in Adel, Georgia you ask? Well, word of mouth, I guess. While doing our laundry at St. Andrew’s State Park in Panama City, I met a couple who were headed south from Michigan, and had just arrived at the campground. When they saw me poking my quarters in the washing machine, they commented how crazy it was to pay $3 for a load of wash and said it cost only $1.50 per machine at Reed Bingham where they had just spent the past two nights. They went on to tell me how lovely the whole park was and such a surprise for a quick stop on their way south. and how they would plan a longer stay at Reed Bingham next year because it was so lovely. And so there it is, here we are at Reed Bingham in Adel, Georgia because I believe there are no accidents.
As I write this, we have been here almost exactly twenty-four hours - twelve of them in darkness and at least six more in the camper watching the torrential rain and trees blowing sideways. From what we have seen so far, it seems like a nice park, but will say that our excursions today have been few and brief. The sites are quite roomy and very large and each one has a fire pit, grill and picnic table. Our site has full hookups. I have heard that some do not have sewer but I have not had a chance to confirm that. There are lots of big trees, a lake with a beach, a mini golf course and several hiking trails. It’s another one of those beautiful places where, I think, a family with kids could spend a week and have a great time.
We had a bit of a curfuffle that started the afternoon before our departure - the afternoon that I was supposed to be packing the camper for our trip. Long story short, the bench seats of the dinette had been dragging and sticking ever since we had them recovered in September, so Richard spent a couple of days before we set off putting in new glides. When he was finished, the drawers slid right out and right back in - perfecto! Until the afternoon before our journey when he took Figment for a ride to town to fill up the propane tank. He pulled out of the driveway and the drawers flew open and the entire trip to and from town, the drawers flew open and slammed shut with each curve of the road. So, once again, it did not appear that we were going to be “on time,”
Project “re-design the re-design” started mid-afternoon and went until late night with no resolve. No packing took place that night but waited until the morning and we packed the camper, bungeed the drawers shut and were on our way some time around noon. I even took time to heat up some frozen homemade tomato soup and wrapped it up all snug as a bug in my Wonderbag, so we would have hot soup upon arrival at the campground that evening. Great idea, poor execution. The next lesson we learned on this journey is it’s a better idea to place the bag containing hot soup on the floor, preferably within eye shot. Do not put it “outta sight, outta mind” on top of a pile of stuff in the shower in the bathroom. No hot soup was had for dinner upon arrival at the campground, and I also had the opportunity to experience the reasonable rate for laundry at the campground on the very first day of camping. If you wonder what a WONDERBAG is, I will be doing a post about it and adding some recipes, Generally, I love my WONDERBAG just not so much today.
When the storms subsided, we were able to get out and do some more exploring and tried a little Geocaching, which we had learned about when we were at Kolomoki State Park in January. If you have not heard of Geocaching, you can look it up on Google. There is a website and also an app. I’m not totally sure that I grasp the complete concept but it is basically a map of the area where you are and hidden boxes that contain objects. The point is to use the map to find the boxes, opening each one to see the contents and take one item and leave one item and sign the “guestbook.” It’s pretty cool, though I think we may prefer to hike trails and be more present in nature but I think it would be a great fun thing to do with kids. I am glad we tried it and may try it again sometime in the future.
We wanted to walk across the dam to the other side of the lake but because there were crews cutting down trees and had the road blocked, we were not able to do that. So our hike was shorter than usual. Which was ok, again, because we were both still pretty tired from all of the travel day shenanigans. We spent our afternoon taking turns going to the bathhouse to shower - and SURPRISE! Reed Bingham has private bathing facilities. The family bathrooms are private, individual suites with sink, toilet and shower - very neat and tidy too. That’s a big plus in my book.
All freshly-showered and clean, we ate a simple dinner and took one last spin around the park and down to the lake. It’s so quiet and peaceful at Reed Bingham and a great place to relax and reset on the next leg of our trip.
