Atlanta/Warm Spring

Tuesday 29 April 2008

Off to the airport this morning to visit another town in another city. It’s hard to believe we’ve already been here for more than a week. We’ve been kept so occupied with interesting people, places and things (and food!), there’s been no time to think of how the time has been passing. Fortunately, this was only a relatively short flight at just over an hour in a ‘puddle jumper’. While Jill was waiting for her wheelchair to be brought up from the hold, I thought I’d capture the moment (see photo).

Apparently the weather is uncharacteristically cool in Atlanta and Warm Springs at the moment, although we have fresh, clear air. At the airport, we hopped aboard a shuttle – well, I ‘hopped’ and Jill ‘hoped’ to board with it’s 3 nice, big steps – which took us the car rental place. I had booked this online and decided to splash out and get a convertible! I figure you have to do something a bit special every now and then . . . And I’ve never driven one before – let alone on the other side of the road. The car is a Chrysler Sebring and initially we had trouble with get the car to actually ‘convert’, but eventually figured out that was because the guy who had so kindly put our all our luggage and Jill’s wheelchair in the boot hadn’t factored on the mechanics of the roof opening and closing. So out it all came, then some other guys repacked everything into the back seat and – voila – we had our convertible. OK, I admit that it’s not very practical but it sure looks cool. So off we went, with the wind in our hair, listening to R & B on the radio and feeling like “Thelma and Louise” (without the tragic ending . . .). The reality was that my hair was whipping my eyes and face to shreds, all that clear air was a little TOO fresh, and the surrounding freeway traffic noise drowned out any music. Warm Springs is a little over one hour’s drive South of Atlanta and eventually the traffic lessened and I was able to pull over and get my cap and jacket out of the back seat. That made all the difference and we continued on our glamorous way.

We made it to the Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation at around 5.00pm and found we had taken a step back in time. It’s a stately, rambling complex full of history and character. We were settled in to rooms in Kress Hall which was built in 1934 as dormitory housing for polio patients. These rooms have since been converted to ‘motel style’ accommodation and can now be rented to families of patients and students, as well as conference guests. Kress Hall has a charming common lounge room with a verandah looking out over the lovely gardens surrounding the various buildings. This would be a very pleasant place to sit in warmer weather. The Executive Director of the facility, Greg Schmieg, was kind enough to offer us the use of these rooms free of charge – yet another example of how hospitable and accommodating people have been during our visit. We will be meeting with Greg tomorrow for an orientation of the place and suggestions of what to do and who to see over the next couple of days.

Just a bit further down the walkway are located 17 bronze busts known as “The Polio Hall of Fame”, sculptured by Edmond R Amateis, and depicting 15 scientists and 2 laymen who were instrumental in the fight against polio. This information and much more, is in a brochure that enables visitors to do a self-guided tour of the facility. I’m hoping for the guided tour which takes place each week day. There is also an exhibition to see classified as the “Smithsonian at Roosevelt Warm Springs: Whatever Happened to Polio?” which is on loan from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. And, of course, we want to see Roosevelt’s Little White House, which is located a mile or so down the road.

We drove into the township of Warm Springs looking for something to eat at around 6.30pm and just managed to catch a meal before the place closed at 7.00pm. We each had a delicious chicken salad, the remains of which Jill took back in a ‘box’ for lunch or another night's tea. As the meals are usually so generous, everyone is offered foam boxes for leftovers here – it makes for quite a cost effective way of eating. One problem that we have noticed is that the Warm Springs area has notoriously bad cell (mobile) phone reception which makes it difficult to keep in touch.

Tomorrow beckons with so much to do, so little time!