The Videos Are Back

Since we now have boatloads of webserver space, we've uploaded our small collection of self-produced "roadgeek videos" for your viewing pleasure. Please click here for the video page.

That's all for tonight. Thanks for visiting and please come back often.

Website Changes

Dear Reader,

For future expansion of "The Georgia Road Geek", we have moved the non-blog website contents to our new web hosting service "Go Daddy".

As you may have noticed on the main page, we have made some website design changes, including a new main menu and a consolidated links page.

Thanks to "Go Daddy", we even have our own georgiaroadgeek.com e-mail accounts and have made it easier for you, the reader, to contact us. To e-mail us, please go to the main menu.

It's getting to be time for our afternoon "Sunday Siesta", so that's all for now. Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoy the new look and feel of "The Georgia Road Geek".

We Got A Response

Regarding the name change from "McFarland Road" to "McFarland Parkway", here's the response we received from the Forsyth County Roads and Bridges Department:

Mr. Williams,

On April 20, 2006 the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners re-named McFarland Road to McFarland Parkway. The Georgia Department of Transportation has modified the exist signs on SR 400, at the ramps, and at SR 9.

We will be changing out all the overhead signs along McFarland Road at the signalized locations.

Please let me know if you need any additional information from me regarding this change.

Tim Allen
Assistant Director of Engineering

My e-mail was sent to Mr. Douglas Armstrong, who promptly forwarded the inquiry to Mr. Allen. "The Georgia Road Geek" kindly thanks both these gentlemen for their timely response.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

What's Up With That?

Today, as I made my way north up GA 400, I noticed that the Georgia DOT has replaced BGSes (that's "Big Green Signs") for McFarland Road (Exit 12 South/12A-B North) with new ones that say "McFarland Pkwy".

Forsyth County, who maintains this particular road, has not changed street signs... at least not yet.

Being "The Georgia Road Geek", my inquiring mind wants to know what's up with that, so I sent an e-mail to the Forsyth County Roads and Bridges Department. As soon as I get an answer, I'll share it with y'all.

In any event, this looks like yet another "roadgeek photo op", so I'll get a picture taken and post it for your viewing pleasure ASAP.

Has anyone else out there read the latest Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) article regarding future roads and road improvements and the ideas of putting tolls on them? What's up with that? Click here to read it for yourself and please feel free to share your comments with us.

As I've said in past blogs, we have brought much of this mess upon ourselves by allowing development to get out-of-hand... and the politicians want us literally to pay to fix it with public-private initiative projects (PPIs) that will slap tolls on all newly constructed roads and newer lanes parallelling segments of existing roads. To our politicans, I say let's get a handle on the out-of-control growth first and foremost instead of just throwing money at projects that, at best, will be nothing but temporary "band-aids". Here's another AJC article listing the current PPIs proposed for Georgia.

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

Our 15 Minutes Of Fame

The late Andy Warhol once said that everyone will get their "15 minutes of fame"... and we just got ours, thanks to the Roswell Neighbor.

Please click here to read the article written by Joan Durbin.

One minor point of clarification... I am 42, not 55. :)

Hope y'all enjoyed it, thanks for visiting and your support, and please visit often.

My News Interview

A couple of weeks ago, the Roswell Neighbor newspaper ran a solicitation asking people about their commutes on GA 400 and what they do in their vehicle during such times.

Since I drive up and down GA 400 to and from work, I sent them an e-mail talking about my ham radio and roadgeeking... and they wanted to hear more!!! :)

Last Wednesday, I had a noon phone interview Joan Durbin. We had a real nice chat about what ham radio is, what we talk about on the ham radio, and last, but not least, my roadgeeking and what it's all about. During our interview, Joan was browsing this blogsite plus my "clinched" Interstate page. She was very fascinated as to why I was a self-proclaimed "roadgeek" and what led me to become such.

At 4:30 PM that same day, I met up with Skip, one of their photographers, at the Mansell MARTA Park and Ride lot off Exit 8 (Mansell Road), and he rode with me up GA 400 to Exit 10 (GA 120/Old Milton Parkway) and back, taking tons of pictures of me talking on my 2m VHF ham radio and the traffic jam in front of me. Before I dropped Skip off back at the Mansell lot, I gave him my e-mail address so that he could send me the photo(s) that they will use in the Roswell Neighbor.

As soon as the article comes out, I'll let y'all know.

Many thanks to Joan and Skip for their interest and time, my fellow ham radio operators for our QSOs (conversations) while Skip took pictures, and finally, thanks to you for reading and supporting "The Georgia Road Geek".

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!!!

Pine Log Diversion

Last Monday, on our way back home from Subligna, Mary spotted a "See Rock City" barn on US 411/GA 61 just yards north of GA 140. She wanted to snap a picture of it and I happily obliged her. :) Here's the photo...

Just after snapping the pic, we ventured a little further north on US 411 and wound up turning at the tunnel bridge. There we spotted a green historical marker for the Pine Log United Methodist Church, so we went under the bridge to see the church. Here's a picture of the marker itself...

Not only did we see the church (a beautiful one at that), but we also got a look at the bridge, which is featured in J.T. Legg's Peach State Roads website. Here's our own photo of it...

Here's also a closeup of the old "JUNCTION US 411/GA 61" sign...

My wife wanted to move the kudzu, but I asked her to leave it "as is" for a somewhat "artistic" purpose. In today's vernacular, I wanted her to "keep it real". :)

For J.T. Legg's pictures and his perspective, please click here.

I'm glad my wife wanted to get a picture of the "See Rock City" barn. It also goes to show that when you venture off the beaten path sometimes, you never know what you'll encounter. Besides that and the old historic church, it was really neat to see the old tunnel bridge that I've only seen on J.T.'s website. In the end, I got a little history... and a little unexpected "extra roadgeeking" done.

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

Mary's Scenic Byway

Yesterday (Sunday, 7/2/2006), my wife and I did a three-hour jaunt from Subligna and back as follows...

- Gore-Subligna Road to US 27/GA 1.
- US 27/GA 1 to GA 48 in Summerville.
- GA 48/AL 117 to I-59 (Exit 231) in Hammondville, AL.
- I-59 to GA 136 (Exit 11) in Trenton.
- GA 136 to East Armuchee Road.
- East Armuchee Road to Gore-Subligna Road.

Our first stop was in Summerville to see the railroad turntable that was installed in 2003 thanks to some federal transportation funding that almost did not happen due to the 9/11 attacks. Here's a photo we took...

After visiting the turntable, we proceeded west on GA 48 toward Alabama. This was the first of many scenic portions that we encountered, as GA 48 meandered its way over Lookout Mountain and on into Alabama, where it becomes AL 117.

Along AL 117 between the Georgia Line and I-59, we noticed that almost every road (including several dirt roads) were signed with blue pentagon county route markers. Here's an example (please pardon the photo quality)...

There were even some blue county route markers that contained the number but not the county name.

The next scenic view on AL 117 was found between Mentone and Valley Hill.

After stopping for gas in Valley Hill, we made our way to I-59, which we took from AL 117 (Exit 231) to GA 136 (Exit 11) in Trenton. At that point in our journey, we had "clinched" 2 new counties... DeKalb County, Alabama, and Dade County, Georgia!!! Here's the scene as we approached the Georgia state line on I-59...

Initially, I was planning to "clinch" all of I-59 in GA up to its end at I-24 and make my way eastward toward Chattanooga, but my wife suggested taking GA 136 (a.k.a. "Lookout Mountain Parkway") instead. Initially, I was relunctant, but I'm glad that I did so.... because the drive on GA 136 around Lookout Mountain from Dade into Walker County was really awesome with its breathtaking scenery and the "hairpin curves". IMHO, this is the best stretch of mountain road we've ever been on since driving the Russell-Brasstown Scenic Byway.

Back to the subject of county routes, we noticed that, in Dade County, the street signs all tended to have the Dade County route number along with the street or road name. In Georgia, county route numbers are marked with long green signs behind the "STOP" sign (if they are even marked at all), but I found Dade County's system somewhat interesting.

We finally left GA 136 at its 4-way intersection with GA 201 and East Armuchee Road (part of the Ridge and Valley Scenic Byway). In just under 3 hours time, we finally made it back to Subligna.

The only part of the drive that we were not fond of were the extremely narrow bridges we crossed along AL 117, but it looked like Alabama DOT was grading out land and getting ready to replace one of them in the Mentone/Valley Hill vicinity.

Overall, we considered this to be a very good scenic trip and highly recommend it for anyone interested in both scenery and roads.

In honor of my lovely wife, I, "The Georgia Road Geek", do hereby designate this entire route as "Mary's Scenic Byway"!!! :)

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and please come back again.

Belated Birthday Greetings

Dear readers, I was amiss in not posting a "Happy 50th Birthday" message yesterday to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Interstate System, so here goes....

Happy Birthday To You
Happy Birthday To You
Happy 50th Birthday Dwight D. Eisenhower Interstate System...
Happy Birthday To Yooooooooou.

... and many moooooore!!! :)

Last week, I had contemplated the idea of getting a birthday cake made for this occasion, but I did not follow through with it. If you did, or know of anyone else (besides state DOTs), then please let us know.

May y'all have a wonderful, happy, and safe 4th of July weekend.