Lake Sinclair
Trip Start
Nov 19, 2007
1
103
170
Trip End
Ongoing
Milledgeville,
Georgia,
United States
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
We took out the road map and debated about where we should go next. Lake Sinclair and Lake Oconee appear to be huge (each one is about 40 miles long), so we got on the computer and Googled both of them. After reading about these 2 lakes for an hour or so, we decided to head that way. Lake Sinclair has 417 miles of shoreline and was created in the 1950s and Lake Oconee has 374 miles of shoreline and was made in the '70s. They both appear to be the only large lakes in GA that are not controlled by the TVA and are not lowered during the winter. Both are owned by Georgia Power and they are used to produce hydro-power in a very unique way (at least to us). The water is released from Lake Oconee and run through power generators in the dam between the 2 lakes. Then it is pumped back from Lake Sinclair to Lake Oconee at night so that the process can begin again the next day. They use 18 inches to 2 feet of water depth to accomplish this and that keeps both lakes close to full pool at all times. What a cool sounding system!
We enjoyed a 4 hour ride through the mountains and down to Lake Sinclair as we passed dozens of gas stations with yellow plastic bags over their pumps. The gas shortage is getting better, but more than half of the stations are still without fuel. At one point, we had to stop and turn around to take some pix of welded sculptures that were standing 8 feet tall on the side of the road. Come to think of it, we must do 3 to 5 of those moves every day we are out driving.
As we approached Lake Sinclair, we saw a campground on the water and checked in for a couple of days. The roads and sites inside the campground were being upgraded, so there were backhoes and bulldozers pushing red Georgia clay all around us. We immediately got into our suits and jumped into the lake to join a couple from FL that parked next to us. The water is comfortable, but this area of the lake is commercially built up (including a power generation plant across the bridge from us), so forget about getting back to nature or hearing birds and crickets.
After driving around the town of Milledgeville for an hour or so, we stopped into a Realtor's office and met a salesman who agreed to take us around. We gave him our "wish list" and he said it shouldn't be any problem to find some nice places.
Tues. Oct. 7th
The Realtor picked us up and off we went to see some places. I won't be mentioning his name because I don't want him to possibly get in trouble in case someone who would care to report him happens to read this.
On his positive side, he would pull into any driveway with a for sale sign and check it out for us. But on the negative side, he would just walk down to the lake or walk up to a window of the house, cup his hands on the glass and peer in without having knocked or having rung the door bell. Now this is GA that we are talking about and lots of folks are packing guns, so looking into peoples windows without knocking can get you shot. Both of us had to insist that he call the realtors on the signs or at least knock on the door before heading into their backyards, but he kept saying "Oh don-chall worry, I can tell that nobody's ta home". Then he would use his electronic key and let us into the houses we were interested in. Man were we creeped out by his style, but he was entertaining and had lots of stories that kept us laughing and shaking our heads. At one point, he pulled into a gas station to fill up and I had to follow my premonition about what I thought was sitting in his glove box. Bingo! When I opened the door, there it was... a well worn 45 caliber pistol.
Wed. Oct. 8th
We decided to drive around the lake and find places on our own, so off we went in the RV to check out houses that we found on Lakehouse.com and Realtor.com. At one point, we found a sweet looking house on water that looked deep and wide, so we called our loose cannon Realtor to get more info. He called us back and gave us the code to get into the house to look for ourselves...good golly!
Thurs. Oct. 9th.
Our Realtor picked us up at the campground in his pontoon boat and gave us a tour of part of the lake. We pulled up at one of the houses that Jodie and I found yesterday and after looking through the house Jodie went swimming from the dock. The water was deep and beautiful, but the house ended up being in a county that has the highest taxes in GA, so we passed on going any further.
All in all, Lake Sinclair was nice, but we want to check out Lake Oconee after hearing that it has less development and more protected lands on its shoreline.
Comments
from maria bell
well well well...i guess y'all're havin fun down there in Joja...it's sounds like so much fun..taking your time finding the right place. I hope you make out on Lake Oconee (forgot spelling). I agree with you on the 'less developed/protected shores' part. Please promise me something...you'll stay out of Central and South America. I don't want anything to happen to you guys.
Well..keep up the fun. I'll keep reading your blog. Be safe.
Fondly,
Maria Bell