#2: [20-Jul-03]

14-Mar-2001 -- My father (Stuart) and I headed out of Atlanta just after ten a.m., running about forty minutes late due to a company vice president with a lot to say. We headed down I-75 to Macon, then went east on I-16 to Dublin. From there, US-319 took us to McRae, Georgia. Having had a huge crush on a girl from McRae in high school, it was interesting to actually see the town (although truth be told there really wasn't much to see).

We finally turned on to a small dirt road labeled "118" on the Mapquest map. We pulled over at the closest point on the road to the confluence point, which happened to be in front of the red structure shown in picture one. Upon exiting the truck, we were immediately confronted by A) an appalling smell and B) a massive swarm of flies. We scurried in to the building to take refuge from the flies and seek permission to head to the point on foot. Inside, we met an older gentleman operating a machine that grabbed eggs off a conveyor belt 36 at a time and put them in cardboard cartons. He didn't entirely seem to grasp what we wanted, but he was willing to summon the owner's son so we could explain ourselves and ask permission.

While we waited for the owner's son, we were allowed to enter a door that connected to the main part of the red building. Inside, we saw an amazing sight - 230,000 chickens, split evenly between the two sides of the building. Each bird was in a cage I estimate to have been 8"x12"x24". The cages were on ten shelves (per each of the two sides), eight high, back to back, and running the length of the building (at least a hundred cages long). Those are estimates from my memory, but the 230,000 figure was given to us by the man operating the machine.

In due time, the owner's son arrived. He told us that he didn't want to give us permission without asking his father, who was unfortunately unavailable. We gently tried to talk him into it, but to no avail. He did accept my phone number and a copy of the permission letter, and agreed to call me if his father was agreeable. We haven't heard from him yet, but anyone seeking this point should e-mail and see if we have heard from the owner. I would be happy to transfer my permission to any seeker if/when I hear from them.

Disappointed, but not ready to give up, we headed off for 33N 82W. On the way out, we passed a spot where we had seen smoke on the way in, and saw that it had grown into a full-fledged brush/forest fire. It covered several hundred yards of trees and brush along the side of the road. We called in to 911 on the cell phone, whereupon they asked for the nearest crossroad so they could locate the fire. I had to laugh as I read the name of the next cross street off the street sign: Possum Road. A few minutes later we stopped in Dublin for lunch at Wendy's, and saw fire trucks going by. Secure in the knowledge that we had single-handedly prevented billions of dollars in damage and saved countless thousands of lives, we proceeded on our way.