{"product_id":"last-train-to-alapaha-the-making-of-carl-dixon","title":"Last Train to Alapaha: The Making of Carl Dixon","description":"Eleven-year-old orphan Carl Dixon stepped off the train in Alapaha, Georgia, in 1920 with a brown paper bag stuffed with the few possessions he had. His parents had succumbed to cancer and the Spanish flu epidemic. A serendipitous encounter with Alapaha store proprietor Oscar Hughes at the Bainbridge depot sealed the driven young man's fate.\n\nBy the end of his 74 years in 1983 Carl had amassed seed, chemical, fertilizer, and propane businesses with livestock, row crops, and land as far as the eye could see.\n\nThe agricultural empire builder didn’t forget where he came from and helped the downtrodden by donating to the Lions Club, hosting neighborhood barbecues, and looking the other way when a customer couldn't pay their bill on time. Carl offered a shoulder to cry on tinged with plain-spoken advice. \"I can't\" or \"I quit\" were foreign concepts.\n\nHe also didn’t brag about his brushes with bank robbers, barbershop knife fights, six-gun heroes of the silver screen, fatal lightning strikes, tractor accidents, tipsy bus drivers, haunted houses, catastrophic tornadoes, politics, golf, Atlanta Braves, ferocious hogs, pecans, soul mates, cancer, and Christianity.\n\nCarl's eldest son Joe [1938-2025] worked on the family farm and established Dixon Seed \u0026amp; Chemical two years after his father's passing. Having survived a murder attempt, Joe served as Alapaha's mayor, coordinated finances for the non-profit Alapaha Station Celebration, and donated his time and talents to the Alapaha Easter Passion Play.\n\nJoe didn’t want his grandchildren, younger friends, and customers to lose sight of Carl’s amazing journey, so he began writing in 2018. Seven years and 80,000 words, 127 chapters, and 200 color and black and white images later, climb aboard the Last Train to Alapaha.\u003cbr\u003eASIN: B0FYGS1R46\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: BVV.B0FYGS1R46.G\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Dixon, Joe|Roberts, Jeremy\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact  including the dust cover, if applicable . Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Blue Vase Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43611986460733,"sku":"BVV.B0FYGS1R46.G","price":25.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4225\/9261\/files\/B0FYGS1R46-0.jpg?v=1789250935","url":"https:\/\/www.bluevasebooks.com\/products\/last-train-to-alapaha-the-making-of-carl-dixon","provider":"Blue Vase Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}