Yeah, so I went to Georgia

And I freaking love the south!

I went down there with one of my oldest friends to visit our other friend (the three of us were neighbors since day 0) at his Air Force Base in Georgia. The trip was planned so that I was going to pick up a rental car in White Planes NY because we got a great deal up there and then drive to Williamsport, PA that night (Thursday). We would leave Williamsport at 4:00 AM and drive all day and get to Georgia around 9:00 PM. Then, we'd come back on Monday.

Here's how it actually worked out.

I rode the Metro North train for 45 minutes to White Planes. The earliest one I could catch was the 8:00 train because I got berkeleyed by work because they forgot to put me on the calendar back in April when I asked to be off and the other accountant was off on the same days. I finally got up there to find that the berkeleying rental car place (ALAMO) doesn't accept debit card payments. Mine is a Visa debit card and works like a credit card as far as any vendor is concerned so this was a complete shock to me. I was trying hard not to smash my umbrella into a concrete poll at this point.

So, the options were quickly running out and we needed a plan. My car (the Miata) will not support life for two human beings for 18 hours; especially considering the fact that one of them is 6'3". Dan's car is a 1991 Volvo that is ill-kept at best because he hates it. A lot. It wasn't going to make it down there. We were finally able to secure my mother's Yaris, but we had to drive to southern PA. I drove to Williamsport anyway for some reason at 1:00 AM in the Miata to meet Dan. I got a flat tire at 3:00 on the interstate in the rain. I had a spare but it took a few minutes to install it and I ended up meeting him at 6:00 AM (two hours after we were going to leave). This put us in Glen Rock (parents' house) at 9:00. We were WAY behind schedule.

Well, we finally got on the road. We decided to make our first stop somewhere in Virginia. Burger King. Ugh. It became a theme for this whole vacation. I gained 8 pounds. 'Where the berkeley is my wallet?' Turns out, I left my wallet on Dan's Volvo's dashboard. His car was locked (400 miles away) and this meant someone in his family had to drive over there to unlock it and give it to my dad so he could overnight it to me in Valdosta.

From this point on, the trip went pretty well. Except for the almost constant down-pour for the ride down there, but we were in a car with a roof (that didn't fill up with water for some reason--how exciting!). Saturday and Sunday were nice enough and we got a lot done. See pictures below.

Hooray for the GT-R

Humvee with the new 300 lb doors.

The Humvee's replacement (with air-assisted opening and closing doors and 5 inch thick steel armor).

Hooray for off roading!

The ride home? Yee haw. That sucked hard. We made our way up to southern PA pretty quickly considering that it was neigh 900 miles. Then the exhaustion set in. Both of us were too tired to drive, but we were doing it anyway. Dan drove his Volvo to Williamsport and I grabbed the Miata and headed back to New York (in the rain and fog on a temporary spare). I didn't get back until 6:00. IN THE MORNING. And I had to work today. So, I took a shower, took a real quick nap, and went to work. It's 10:05 PM right now. This means that I've been up since 4:00 AM YESTERDAY. I took a few quick naps from time to time to make sure I didn't die on my way up here, but I had to keep them quick because I knew I would run into New York rush hour if I didn't.

Was it worth it? Heck yeah. Would I do it again? You betcha. Would I plan the whole thing a bit more thoroughly? Probably.

Should have taken a fast train. Then you could say you've been to Georgia on a fast train.

You weren't born no yesterday.

Joey

Were you looking for a steal? In a bind? Way behind? Willing to make a deal?

Glad you enjoyed your visit. Please come back soon. If your comming down (or up) the 75 corridor in the northern Georgia area let me know and we will get some proper southern food in your gut instead of Burger Slease.

I've got a whiney neighbor from new york who constantly talks about how much he hates living in Georgia. Even swap?

poopshovel wrote: I've got a whiney neighbor from new york who constantly talks about how much he hates living in Georgia. Even swap?

People like that piss me off, why did you come down here and stay if it sucks so badly? As Lewis Grizard said Delta is ready when you are.

Agreed, also in the words of Lewis, "If I ever get back to Georgia, I'm gonna nail my feet to the ground."

I need a reason to move to Georgia. I have told my wife eleventybillion times we were going as soon as the estate in Kid Rock Acres is paid off.

poopshovel wrote: I've got a whiney neighbor from new york who constantly talks about how much he hates living in Georgia. Even swap?

At least he's not from Ohio. www.gobacktoohio.com

I just moved back up north from being down south..

Here's the list of misses...

Miss the sunshine miss the bbq pork miss the nice people

don't miss

The damn humidity the flatness of it all. No jobs or job progression prospects in my chosen field of work.

All in all it's a wash. For every plus theres a minus.

I think you will add a couple of minuses in a few months. Cold and snow, while snow can be fun for a while it gets old when you’re running late and it’s been there for a few months. The cold just sucks. I hope the pros out weigh the cons for you.

porksboy wrote: I think you will add a couple of minuses in a few months. Cold and snow, while snow can be fun for a while it gets old when you’re running late and it’s been there for a few months. The cold just sucks. I hope the pros out weigh the cons for you.

Yeah I make nearly double what I did down south and my living expenses are less cause I sold my house. And.. I got a really good job. I'm shooting for effectively tripling my salary in less than 5 years.

And I would add that the heat in the summer just sucks. You're inside as much as you are up north in the winter. I consider it to be a wash.

Jensenman wrote:

poopshovel wrote: I've got a whiney neighbor from new york who constantly talks about how much he hates living in Georgia. Even swap?

At least he's not from Ohio. www.gobacktoohio.com

HA!....I've seen that before.

Being a somewhat transplanted Georgian...I miss it. My Lovely Wife would not move anywhere that is not close to her Mother though....so I am here for the doo-ray-shun.

I love GA!

I am moving in a few short months, I am resigned in my view that I shall never again weather the weather in Michigan! I am outta here before the first snowfall.

Lewis Grizzard used to take the New York Times. Not because he needed to know the news; he just liked the obituaries, which meant more dead yankees.