Pat’s Wildways: A south Georgia trip like no other

Trust my friend Betty Duckworth to suggest a four-hour one-way drive to Americus, Georgia, for an event that lasts three hours, but that’s Betty for you. She likes to drive and actually would have liked to drive right home afterwards, but not me. I suggested we spend the night at the old Windsor Hotel, a historic place I’ve been to a number of times before.

So with this decision finalized we headed to Americus for a dinner murder mystery train on the SAM Shortline, “Georgia’s rolling state park.” But hey, a four-hour drive yields lots of fun along the way, too, if you poke around a bit. Why not enjoy it!

On our way to Americus, we traveled back roads through cotton, soybean and corn fields with the attendant farm machinery sharing the roads with us. But our goal was pecans. This is the pecan harvesting season and when we finally left the flats of eastern Georgia we began to see pecan trees. I got curious about the stages of growth of the pecan nuts when I was recently in southern Arizona. Bucko and I drove past a grove of trees there with fruit I couldn’t identify, so of course we stopped so I could photograph them and use Google Lens to find out. And, lo and behold, they were pecan trees! I thought I knew pecans but only, it turns out, on the ground when they have cast off their protective green outer casing. But now I knew, and in Georgia, Betty and I stopped to photograph more pecans on trees and on the ground just to make sure. And when we came to a sign for the Southern Pecan Orchard, closed on weekends, we decided to barge in anyway and see what we could.

It seems like I always have good luck when I disregard closed signs. This was no exception. When we got to the office/shop/warehouse area, a worker came out to greet us, and before long, we had a bunch of different pecan products to bring home. Chocolate-covered pecans, salt and pepper pecans, cracked pecans, whole pecans, cleaned pecans, Southern Pecan Orchards has them all. Now I know what I am buying and having shipped to all my northern relatives for Christmas. What a find!

But the main event of our trip happened when we finally got to Americus. We checked into the old, restored Windsor Hotel, a favorite of Bucko's and mine, and almost immediately left to drive around the town to sightsee before our 5:30 p.m. murder mystery train ride. Soon we were standing at the train station with other tourists and started conferring with our new companions about the others on the platform. Some mingling with us were definitely part of the murder script — we could tell by their fancy clothes — and soon we were talking to them too, all already acting their roles. In our hands was a synopsis of the characters that would be on the train with us — a group of fancy “Magnolia ladies,” a nun, a young journalist, a fortune teller, a colonel that everyone seems to hate, and others too.

Betty and I settled into our table in the dining car of the train and were served a full meal by volunteers as the cast moved through our car, talking to all of us, in perfect character. The train left the Americus station and passed through the tiny town of Plains when I looked out the window and saw, “There’s a dead man on the landing platform!  It’s the colonel!!!” I alerted the passengers of the dining car and soon Betty and I bonded with a group of women at a table next to us and we all worked together to figure out who killed him. What a hoot! Meanwhile, the train passed sunset scenes of forests and fields of rural Georgia, not viewable from the roads.

The train passed beyond Plains and stopped to change direction back to Americus. We passengers were still enjoying our drinks and dessert when we headed back to Plains again. But what was this! Flashing lights from fire engines and police cars at the station! The whole town of Plains got into the act with a hubbub around the dead body, emergency vehicles and townspeople all were there to wave to us as we passed by again. What a great ending!

I recommend this train experience for everyone. You don’t have to pay full price for a complete dinner — the moving interactive play encompasses all the cars, including the tourist class with no meal involved. There are other SAM train rides too. Check out their website if you want a fun experience like no other. And, while you are at it, stay at the Windsor Hotel — a treat in its own right. And tell them I sent you.

Pat Foster-Turley, Ph.D., is a zoologist on Amelia Island. She welcomes your nature questions and observations. patandbucko@yahoo.com