I drove through a goodly chunk of rural Georgia today.

[ulysses]

Not one odd look - bear in mind what the back of my truck looks like:



Douglasville to Whitesburg to Newnan to Hogansville (there are lots of "villes" in Georgia). It's a pretty drive until you hit the interstate - still a lot of trees, the odd shack or barn by the side of the road that looks like it's been there for a hundred years. It was cool and cloudy when I left at around 9, very nice with the window down.

There are no traffic lights in Whitesburg, only a little circle where GA 5 meets US 27, a few brick stores, a few tin ones. Small town, nestled in the kudzu. I turned the wrong way and got nearly to Carrolton before I turned around.

Newnan is an overgrown strip mall, but Hogansville is sort of quaint, bigger than Whitesburg but not by a whole hell of a lot. Had to wait 20 minutes for the railroad folks to figure out which train would go which way, so I sat downtown checking out the handpainted storefronts and ancient balconies of Old Hogansville. As tiny as the town is (they still have a Rexall drugstore - when was the last time you saw a Rexall?) one of the three best used bookstores I've ever seen is there. I damn near parked in the street and went in to browse.

I watched two men, one in a torn, sleeveless tshirt and shorts the halves of which didn't look as if they'd begun life together, load a highboy into a van. The train eventually moved.

Jeff's service was nice, except for the part where the preacher recounted his ongoing efforts to save Jeff's soul in the months before he died. Jeff's sister is a good person and I like her, but if any of you sends someone to me on my deathbed to talk about whether I'm "lost" or "saved", I will rise up and smite you. Ennyhoo.

I haven't unpacked the box of books Jeff put together for us, but it seems to have a lot of poetry, Kerouac, HST and Far Side collections. :)

[RebelOne]

1. During the election, I had one anti-Bush sticker,

my Kerry/Edwards and Democratic Underground bumper stickers on my car. I live in North Georgia just northwest of Atlanta. No one even paid attention in my red county.

[ulysses]

2. you're in Cobb, right?

[RebelOne]

3. No, I'm in Cherokee, but I work in Cobb.

[ulysses]

4. gotcha.

:hi: from Paulding. :)

[youspeakmylanguage]

6. Our secret admirers talk tough, but I've only had one small incident...

...when a big white landscaping conversion truck tailgated me and the driver (straight out of Deliverance) gave me the three-finger "W" gang sign. And that was in one of the more upscale sections of town in Charlotte. He must have been landscaping some millionaire's lawn.

The only political sticker on my car is the original "John Kerry for President" sticker, which I thought looked better than the later "Kerry/Edwards" version.

Besides that, no problems.

[ulysses]

8. every gathering we've had in Atlanta

some idiots either at FR or CU have posted how they're going to come kick our asses. :eyes:

[youspeakmylanguage]

15. Have any of them actually shown up?

I remember when I attended the huge anti-war march in NYC before the Iraq war. We got some random jeers and insults from ordinary people on the street, but there was exactly ONE organized protester that I saw. He had a handwritten sign with Lenin's "Useful Idiots" quote and was screaming mostly incoherent insults at anyone that would walk by. Three cops set up a little ring around him to protect him from flying bottles and such, but most people just laughed.

I imagine that's how most people who hate us would end up behaving if they ever came out into the light of day.

[ulysses]

17. of course not.

The phrase "chickenshit" comes to mind. :D

[youspeakmylanguage]

19. There are a few that I consider crazy enough to be taken seriously...

...when they make a threat of physical violence, but the rest are a joke.

But even the chickensh*ts can find out where you work and attempt to get you fired.

[Modem Butterfly]

24. Well, Uly's about 6'8" and a muscular 250, so that probably helps

They take one look at Uly and freak!

[ulysses]

29. it's true. I'm a monster.

:o

[Modem Butterfly]

20. Heh! I used to haunt FR gatherings in the Atlanta area

Okay, I used to hit the parking lot of FR gatherings in the Atlanta area. Also gun shows and such. I was looking for the creep who hit my dog and who didn't stop.

In fact, it was through lurking at FR that I found DU!

[ulysses]

21. LOL - really?

:D :hi:

[Modem Butterfly]

23. Yeah, I was pretty upset.

Our lawn guy left the back gate open and my partner didn't realize it. I was about six feet from my dog with his leash. I remember the guy speeding up, but I'm not really sure that he did. He almost hit me. He broke my dog's neck with his headlight. I ran to my dog and remembered to look up to get the license number. I saw that he had a Bush/Cheney 2004 sticker, which was remarkable because it was 6/21/2001. He also had a FR bumpersticker. When the Cobb cops refused to do anything, I kind of took matters into my own hands. But that's another story.

[ulysses]

26. I'd have been the same way.

Leave it to some freak from FR to run down a dog and drive off. :mad:

[Modem Butterfly]

28. All I can say is that revenge is ultimately unsatisfying

It didn't bring my dog back, and it didn't make his death any easier to take. The only positive about the whole experience is that I found DU.




But that was a very big positive, IMHO.

[Modem Butterfly]

22. I had someone nearly run me off the road once

I was turning right, he was turning left coming from the other direction, there were two lanes. He drifted into mine, so I honked at him and held up two fingers for two lanes. He got behind me, honked and brighted me, followed me to the next light, and pulled up next to me, still shouting. I unrolled my window, he unrolled his passenger window and yelled, "YOU FUCKING HIPPIE BITCH!" I yelled "TWO LANES ASSHOLE! NOT PEACE, JUST TWO LANES!"

Boy did he look embarassed. He drove off considerably slower when the light turned green.

[youspeakmylanguage]

30. Funny! But still sad and scary... (n/t)

[XemaSab]

5. I like the South

thank you for sharing this story!

[ulysses]

11. more than welcome.

:)

[GOPisEvil]

7. The one that brands you a terrorist is the public school one.

You know the NEA is nothing but a gang of Amurika-haters!

[ulysses]

10. this is true.

But hey, I'm exposing my students to different points of view now!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

9. If anyone tries to "save" me on my deathbed, I'll haunt the motherfuckers

and my ghost will follow them down every dark alley they walk breathing fire up their pious asshole.

Just sayin' ;)

[ulysses]

12. noted.

:D

That part was almost unbearable to hear. I very much suspect that Jeff agreed to pray with the man (the night before he died) and "accept Christ as his personal savior" so he'd leave him the fuck alone.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

14. well there is no worse demise in life than being talked to death

;)

[ulysses]

18. Jeff liked to talk.

He probably had fun with the preacher up until he showed up for the ninth-inning, "you know you're about to die any time, right?" talk. :mad:

[WCGreen]

13. A ride on the Blue Highway

Sorry it was under such circumstance, but that is the only way to travel,,,

You truly were on an odyssey

[ulysses]

16. it really is.

I hate interstates, but for the speed. Wish I'd had my digicam with me.

[redqueen]

25. *sigh*

Sounds like he had great taste...

[ulysses]

27. he really did - Malamud, Heller, Vonnegut,

Julian Barnes, Annie Proulx...all in the box.