Hittin' The Roads For Memorial Day?

Have you (or will you be) hittin' the roads for Memorial Day?

To celebrate this "summer kickoff", many an American family have been (or will be) hittin' the open road for an extended weekend getaway.

My wife Mary and I did spend some time with my family in Gwinnett and we will be attending (and helping out with) the Roswell, Georgia, Memorial Day celebration tomorrow at their city hall.

Speaking of roads and roadtrips, Mary found this very interesting article in USA Today called "Best Drives of the Big Roads". It is a celebration of "all things Interstate" as the Interstate Highway System is approaching it's 50th Anniversary with suggested roadtrips, songs for the road, and even a quiz to test your Interstate knowledge. Please click here to read it.

Finally, please don't forget what Memorial Day is all about... honoring the memory of those American military personnel who gave their lives so that we could live in a free nation. Please also keep those who currently serve in our military in your thoughts and prayers. My little brother Chris, a Navy submarine officer, is among those who selflessly serve and I am proud of him for doing so. We fortunately got to see him this weekend, BTW. :)

Thanks for reading and may you and yours have a happy and safe Memorial Day. Y'all come back now, y'hear.

Road Enthusiast Meetings

The first annual National Road Enthusiast Meet will be held August 10-12, 2006, in the Pittsburgh area. For more info and sign-up details, please click here.

Road enthusiast meets, also called "roadgeek meets", are nothing new. In fact, there have been sporadic meets since 1999, when Jeff Kitsko, the "National's" organizer, organized the first ever such meeting in his home state of Pennsylvania. For a brief history and photos from past meetings, please see Pete Jenior's "roadgeek meet" website.

Admittedly, I have never been to a "roadgeek meet", and regretfully, I will not be able to make the "National". However, it is possible that we here in Georgia could host a future "National" if there is enough interest. Before planning such an event down here, we will first see how this inaugural "National" goes.

Most of all, our hats are off to Jeff and we wish him well in this groundbreaking endeavor. :)

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and please visit often.

Misspelled Signs On GA 400 Finally Fixed

Remember the Misspelled Signs On GA 40o?

The Georgia DOT has finally corrected "Winward Pkwy" to be "Windward Pkwy".

Inquiring minds may want to know what took so long, but we, your friends at "The Georgia Road Geek", were the first in the world to publish the infamous misspelled new BGSes on the Internet. Once I get a picture or two, I'll put it on the blogsite.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and please do so often.

Financial Firm Makes Proposal To GDOT

According to today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the financial firm Goldman, Sachs, and Company, is proposing the latest Public-Private Initiative for adding truck-only toll (TOT) lanes to I-285 between I-75 in Cobb County and I-20 in West Atlanta.

Goldman Sachs made a similar PPI proposal last year for a longer stretch of I-285, but Georgia DOT Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl felt that it was inappropriate for financial firms, as opposed to engineering firms, to make such proposals to the state.

Please click here to read the full article.

Frankly, I still think it is inappropriate to put tolls on a road that was built as a free road. If GDOT wants to build truck-only lanes, then fine, do so. Even the trucking industry, a very powerful group in and of itself, is somewhat leary of the idea of these TOT lanes, though they do support the general idea of non-mandatory truck-only lanes.

As for why we have these traffic issues... address the growth and start putting more procedures and policies in place to control growth. By doing so would help us get a grip on the traffic and other overburdened infrastructure (water, sewer, etc.) problems that have come with the unbridled growth Metro Atlanta has seen over the past 20+ years.

On a lighter note, here's a really whacked-out picture of yours truly with a Georgia welcome sign "butchered" by C.C. "Comrade Mister Yamamoto" Slater:

That's all for now. Thanks to Slater for the photo, thank you for reading, and please come back again.

New Roadgeek Photo Albums

Dear Readers and Fellow Road Enthusiasts,

For your viewing pleasure, I have created the following Yahoo! Photo Albums:

- GA 400 Southbound Construction Pics 5/6/2006
- GA 400 Southbound Toll Pics 5/6/2006

As per my last blog, these are photos I had snapped last Saturday as I was heading down to Peachtree City for the day.

Again, a big thanks to fellow roadgeek "Comrade Mister Yamamoto" for being my "roadgeek influence" for this project. :)

My next photo album will be assorted Fayetteville and Peachtree City roadgeek photos. Once the album is ready, I'll let y'all know.

Hope y'all enjoy them, thanks for reading, and please come back again.

Ham Radio, Toastmasters, and Roadgeeking

Yesterday, on my 140-mile (220 km) round trip from Forsyth County to Peachtree City, I combined three of the things I like to do all in one... ham radio, Toastmasters, and roadgeeking!!! :)

Before I left the house, I packed the good digital camera and snapped a boatload of GA 400 construction photos between McFarland and Holcomb Bridge Roads. Here's one of them...

I also snapped several shots as I approached the GA 400 toll plaza. Again, here's one of them...

I have to note that my "roadgeek influence" for my group of toll plaza approach shots was C.C. Slater (a.k.a. Comrade Mister Yamamoto). For a sample of his unique brand of roadgeek work, please click here.

When I arrived in Fayetteville (20 miles/32 km south of Atlanta), I noticed something on GA 54 that I've never really seen here in Georgia... BGS that inform you of major intersections. I just had to stop and snap a picture of one of them on GA 54 west just outside Fayetteville...

My ham radio 2-meter handie-talkie helped keep me company on the ride down, and my biggest ham thrill was that I was able to have a QSO (conversation) with a Dahlonega ham via a repeater situated over 70 miles north of Atlanta. Normally, VHF frequencies don't have such a range like HF (shortwave) frequencies do, but atmospheric conditions were just right to allow my 5-watt signal to reach Dahlonega from as far away as the Atlanta Airport!!! :)

The primary mission of my trip to Peachtree City was Toastmasters... particularly our Georgia Spring Conference, where I was a voting delegate on behalf of our local Club in Cumming and as Immediate Past Georgia District Governor.

Having been the Georgia District Governor last year, and Lt. Governor for 2 years prior, I, along with my lovely wife Mary (a Past Georgia District Governor and Past International Director), dedicated much of our lives to our beloved Toastmasters. This year, we decided to cut back on our involvement at the statewide level and it gave us the opportunity to pursue things that we otherwise didn't have time for (her scrapbooking and beading and my roadgeeking and hamming).

Mary was unable to make the conference due to her work schedule, but I'm glad I was able to do so and see several of my "Toastmaster buddies". It was great to hang out with several of them and I was so touched by how much they've missed us over the last several months.

Finally, I just want to congratulate our dear Toastmaster friends Lee, Joy, and Cindy for being elected Georgia District Governor, Lt. Governor of Education and Training, and Lt. Governor of Marketing, respectively. We know that they will serve our fellow Georgia Toastmasters well.

Dinner's ready and I better get it before the cat does. Thanks for reading and please do so often.