De Plains, Boss! De Plains!

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Last stop in Plains, I promise. It’s easy to see everything in a town that small. Of course, a great deal of it is related to their most famous native son, the 39th President of the United States. Here are a few leftover photos. Top left is the entrance to the home President and Mrs. Carter lived in from 1961 until their deaths (except for the few years in the governor’s house in Georgia and the White House in DC). It was the only residence they ever owned. That’s pretty amazing. What you see there is the gated entrance, with a little of the Secret Service office (the white building) showing. Now that the president has passed away, efforts will begin to turn this area into part of the national historic park as well. You can’t talk about Jimmy Carter without mentioning brother Billy. I guess most families have a “black sheep,” and that was Billy. This is the gas station he owned and operated in the 60s and 70s. On the bottom left are a couple of bags of peanuts that are given out free of charge at the welcome center, along with the National Park Service pamphlet on Plains. And at right is the opportunity I took to pose with Carter in the welcome center. As I’ve said before, I didn’t vote for him in 1980 (I was too young in 1976); however, I don’t think even his most bitter political enemy can deny that James Earl Carter Jr. was a remarkable man who walked out his faith every day. It was an honor to visit his hometown.