Nashville to Sylvania, GA

Nashville to Sylvania

On the road towards Chatanooga

Well we're finally getting back to the warm. Shorts and short sleeve shirt for me and summer slacks and blouse for Tina... wonderful! We were up and out by 7:30 with a quick stop for coffee at Starbucks. Then it was on the road East towards Chatanooga. Tina put in the first 90 minutes then we switched off.

Crossing an arm of Lake Oconee

We were making a detour as part of our research for our daughters retirement plans. Marni and her husban Darren are planning to retire from the rat race in a few years and they would liker to open some sort of an expanded B&B/Guest House which would be more like a Dude Ranch without the horses. A place where people can go to enjoy themselves for a week or more in a nice country setting where they can offer, kayaking, hiking, biking, etc. We figure it will take at least a year to finalize the idea. But we have done some research on locations and there was a property that met most of their criteria, 50+ acres, water access, multiple out buildings and equipment, trails, an existing house that could be expanded to 6 or 7 rooms.

So, since we were only a day away, and the GA area within 50 miles of Atlanta met the weather conditions and access to European clientele we were making the trek to a little town called Sylvania in GA.

Leaving Chatanooga, we followed I-75 to Atlanta here we slowly eased our way through Sunday traffic that felt like Monday morning rush hour!  Once through Atlanta we picked up I-20 towards Augusta. Fifty miles west of Augusta we cut down to the south on GA-80 which took us through Warrenton, Wrens and Waynesboro (they like cities with names that start with "W") before we cut off onto GA-21 out to the property we wanted to look at.

Red soil of Georgia

Georgia is beautiful in late spring. The area around Sylvania is mostly agricultural and many of the fierlds have been plowed ready for planting or already in corn and cotton. One thing that surprised us was how red the soil was in many fields. Almost orange in some cases.

Entranc Hall at Kinchley Place B&B

We arrived at the property about 5pm and found a rutted dirt road that wound past a recent clearcut and past several small "cracker" houses on the way to the home we wanted to see. We got to the property and decided that it would take too much investment to do anything with it so we turned around and drove back into Sylvania to the Kinchley Place B&B for the night.

There are only two rooms and the owners actually live in the house ext door, so we had the entire house to ourselves.

http://www.kinchleyplace.com/

Tina is ready to relax!

The owner Bob, met us and showed us around the house giving us the big bedroom. Once we brought our stuff in and got settled, we had dinner, leftovers from lunch, rather than go out for Mexican, the only restaurant that would be open on Sunday.

Formal Dining Room

We spent some time talking to Bob about the area and his experiences getting the place open. He thinks that the area might be too quiet for the type of operation our kids are looking to start. Statesboro, about 30 miles South is probably more like the area where they could attract people and provide the services they are thinking of.

Formal Sitting Room

Originally we had planned on connecting with a realtor in the area but after talking to Bob we think we can do just as well getting info from the web until the kids are ready to maker a move. Plan first, action second.

Tomorrow we will enjoy a leisurely breakfast then head South for a stop in Ocala before making the final leg home on Tuesday.

To see all our photos from today, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com