Tell me about. . . middle Georgia (the state, not the country).

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

Well,

It seems as though I’ve got notification of my next assignment.

Being the gung-ho, fix bayonets and kick-down-the-door, kick-ass/take-names type I am, for the past few years I’ve been soliciting AF Personnel for a slot to EOD school. Well, I got a note saying “Sorry, all of the school slots for '06 are full, and we’re currently filling those for '07. You don’t have a “short tour” yet, and you’re getting too close to your window of eligibility for the school.” Basically, I’m running out of time, and it looks like this school which I’ve been aching to get into for the past few years is booked solid. :smack:

So, I get a note today with my new assignment: Staff Officer–Robins AFB, GA. :eek: :smack: :rolleyes:

But, I’ll take it for what it’s worth–apparently a good job for a strong shot at promotion my first time around.

Ergo, henceforth, and thus being, it seems I’ll be moving to Georgia sometime this summer. Any Dopers down yonder? What’s it like down there? I’ll be glad to get back to the East Coast, just close enough to drive home for a weekend (okay, it’s a long drive), but far enough away the Trip-kin can’t swing through unnanounced. I’ll be about an hour south of Atlanta, just a few miles down the pike from Macon.

What’s it like down there? I can speak North Dakotan, Canadian, Montanan (Missoula dialect, and “high prairie”) and a touch of Western Cowboy Drawl. I don’t think I ever learned Deep South. Do I need to take classes?

Tripler
Just friggin’ great. I go from “Tip of the Spear” to “Tip of the Pencil”. :rolleyes:

#2

Robins is down in, well, Warner Robins, and it isn’t too bad as I recall. Atlanta’s a great town and you’re not too terribly far from it.

The summers will be hot. I spent several summers growing up further south of Warner Robins so I’m going off of what I know from Waynesville GA (a bump on a zit of Georgia).

I don’t recall how strong the southern drawl is in Warner Robins, but as I recall you’ll get used to hearing it.

Welcome to the South! :wink:

#3

A word of warning - you will be officially “below the gnat line”. The “gnat line” runs through the middle of the state. The gnats live south of that line. That means billions of the tiny critters flying in and around every exposed orifice you happen to expose. All the time. From May to November. Free protein every time you inhale. Got a cut or scrape? Cover it up or pick off the gnats that stick to it. See those nice people over there? They’re not waving to you. They’re swatting at gnats. They’re not from here. People from here don’t swat, it’s a waste of time and energy. The gnats ain’t gonna leave just because you gesticulate wildly. They were here before you, they’ll be here after you die. They know that. I think it actually amuses them. The locals puff. Just a quick exhale directed upward from the corner of your mouth. It’s just as effective as swatting (read: barely) at clearing the gnats away from your nose and eyes and you don’t look like an idiot doing it. Do wear a hat. When you give up on puffing and you’re driven to swat, a hat is much more effective than a hand - often giving up to 2 seconds relief. Buy what a heavenly 2 seconds!

Gnats scoff at bug spray. Thay’re not there to bite you. They wouldn’t dream of it. No, their plan is much more insideous - to slowly drive you insane. There’s a reason the state mental hospital is located below the gnat line. It saves on transportation costs.

Of course, I could be exagerating. Could be. You’ll find out soon enough.

#4

You’ll be hearing from Swampie, I’m sure, but just so you know: anything south of Atlanta is south Georgia. Anything north of Atlanta is north Georgia. Atlanta is more surrounded by Georgia than an actual part of Georgia.

Gnats may be a pain, but you’ll have very toasty weather compared to your last stateside posting and you can get boiled peanuts.

#5

You aint kidding. We stopped for gas in Tifton right off of I75 in June a couple years ago. That was enough for me. They just attacked as soon as I stepped out of the car. I thought “what the hell kind of town is this? I will never be stopping there ever again.” Now you tell me the entire bottom of the state is like this.

#6

Well, Tifton’s no special prize either, gnats or no gnats.

But it’s extra-unspecial with gnats. :slight_smile:

#7

I’ll be sure to remember this one if you ever chastise a Southerner for not liking winter. :wink:

#8

Hey, we’re well south of south Georgia… and we don’t have any noticeable gnat problem (nor a Nat problem, afaik). Now don’t get me started about the mosquitoes last night. Yes, in February. In fact, most of the year. But we don’t have to worry too much about bears - the gators ate most of those a long time ago.

#9

Right. I don’t know what life on a military base is like, but I know about rural Georgia. It’s quiet. It’s bucolic. It’s boring as hell, outside of the typical small town scandals that are always a-brewin under the surface. I think you will find most of the locals polite and friendly, provided you are also trying to be friendly and not come across as smarter than they are. Try not to speak too quickly, people here will perceive you as trying to pull something or be ‘uppity’ if you do. I hope you like fried food. We deep fry everything: chicken, fish, green tomatoes, dill pickles. You name it.

#10

Whew. I’m kinda hoping to cool my heels for a year or two. It sounds relatively ideal. How’re the outdoors? Are there mountains and hills to hike around in (keep in mind, I’ve seen mountains–Montana, Arizona).

What’s Atlanta like? Do they have a happenin’ downtown scene? I’m looking for some “culture” like live blues–think 6th Street, Austin.

Tripler
Oh, I’ll definitely be taking in some Thrashers’ games.

#11

I lived in that area for about 4 years (various locations). Macon is a decent city and that’s where you’ll go for malls, chain stores, etc… Warner Robins itself is not a very southern city due to the high number of military, computer personnel and other immigrants from other parts of the nation, while Atlanta (an hour further from Macon) has some southern flavor to be sure but is mostly just a big city that resembles Chicago, Indianapolis and Nashville and other inland metropoli than it does rural Georgia.

If you like American history I can give you a bunch of suggestions for places you’ll enjoy (and if you like Amish/Mennonite cooking there’s a great restaurant not too far away from WR).

#12

I was coming in here to say that Warner Robins exists because of Robins AFB, so it’s not a “typical” southern town but Sampiro beat me to it, so what he said. It will be hot. For some reason, that middle part of Georgia seems to be really hot during the summer. It even feels hotter than it gets down here in southwest GA where I am. Anyways, I’m not real far from WR and Macon, and there’s some other dopers about, so maybe we can plan us a Triplerfest while you’re there. We could go the the Georgia Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Macon or the cool Air Force museum thingy in WR. Or, we could go do the Georgia National Fair in Perry (just down the road from where you’ll be) in October. Ag exhibits and food on a stick. What could be more fun! Like others have said, Atlanta is about an hour away. Savannah, which is a cool place to visit, is a couple hours drive down I16 from Macon. Be sure to stop at Sweat’s BBQ in Soperton if you drive to Savannah. No real reason, except the BBQ’s pretty good and it used to be about the only place to stop between Macon and Savannah on I16, so for us locals it’s become somewhat of an icon.

swampbear
Plus, think how much closer you’ll be to DisneyWorld!

#13

You’ll also be reasonably close to Columbus, where we have the defending Southern Professional Hockey League Champion Columbus Cottonmouths! So hockey is available. I hope there is a Dopefest organized - I would love to meet all of the Georgia/Southern Dopers!

#14

Oh man alive, I am so there!. There’s nothign like getting fired up for a tailgater, gettin’ drunk, and getting yourself to a minor league hockey game–they are so much more fun than the NHL sometimes. :smiley:

Hey swampbear, that Middle Georgia DopeFest doesn’t sound like a bad idea! I see you already know of most of the local attractions, so maybe it’ll be good for me to get out and see stuff (since I’ll be living in the area).

Hey, how’s Macon for shopping ‘n’ stuff? Like, do they have real stores and such, or is it like Montana where I have to ride three days on horseback just to find the haberdashery? Oh, sales tax too: Montana? 0.0%. What’s GA’s?

Tripler
Montana does have it’s good points, sometimes.

#15

I humbly submit a location for a Middle Georgia DopeFest. (Within 15 minutes of it on one side is Andersonville and 15 minutes to the other side is Jimmy Carter, plus it’s convenient for Swampbear and Snakescatlady and I would love to visit friends in the town there again.

#16

Bucolic pretty much describes things below the gnat line, but not mountainous. Atlanta is at the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, and the further south you go the flatter the land gets. You might call WR “hilly”… if you grew up in Florida, that is. :wink:

It’ll be hot from about May to October, chilly the rest of the year (if you’re used to MT). You might have a difficult time adjusting to the heat, judging from your list of dialects. It is a hot, muggy, stuffy heat that saps the strength out of you and can make it difficult to breathe - days of 95F and 95% relative humidity are not uncommon: you’d think it would rain, but it doesn’t - not until 4:00pm or so, after you’ve sweated a couple of pounds.

Oh, yeah: Expect to sweat. If you’re used to a cool, dry environment, that’s not what you’ll be getting in WR. But don’t get too upset about it - everybody else is in the same position and are sweating just as much as you are.

Snow is rare, rain is common year round. The trees will be mostly pine, there will be plenty of deer and such, but much of “wild” S. Georgia is reclaimed cotton fields left to go fallow whenever the family went bust. If you’re looking for Rocky Mountain type mountains… well, move west. :wink:

Atlanta does have a music scene but it’s more widely known (to me at least :wink: ) for its contributions to hip-hop than blues. However, you’re in S. Georgia, the area that gave birth to Ray Charles (Albany) and James Brown lived (Augusta). It’s not really a life I know about, but I can’t see why you wouldn’t be able to find some good blues places in the Deep South.

Macon is likely where you’ll go when you get some time to yourself - shopping, drinking, etc. It’s a rather seedy town - if you can find a better steak than Outback’s, I’ll be surprised. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been there, so it might have improved.

You also aren’t too far from Athens (UGA football), Savannah, or Augusta (the Masters).

You’ll pay a fair amount in taxes - at one time, GA was the only Southern state with a statewide income, sales, and capital gains tax.

#17

I’m not too worried about the humidity. I grew up in North Jersey, and we had a fair amount. Try Qatar in the summertime: 127*F, 94% humidity. You think I’m kiddin’, but I’ve got the e-mail weather alerts to prove it. :smiley:

Now taxes, you raise a good point: If I buy a house out there, will Georgia force me to become a resident and pay income taxes (property taxes are a given)? I’m legally a resident of NJ, but have lived in three or four different states. I don’t want to change my residency in the eyes of the IRS (or the states for that matter), so I wonder. . .

Golf? Hell no. Football? I might get into that. How’s the NASCAR out there? Are there any decent races around?

Tripler
I hate golf. :mad:

#18

The Windsor. Cool idea Sampiro. We could tour Plains and/or Andersonville and have dinner at the Windsor.

Tripler there’s racing at the Atlanta Motor Speedway which is within an hour of WR. Daytona and Talladega are not way far away. Either would make a good weekend trip.

I’d also be up for a Snakes game in Columbus. A tailgate party would be fun.

#19

Count me in! I’ll let you know when I get settled in down there. And I have a truck: all important for a proper tailgate party!

Tripler
I need to nurture my ‘inner redneck’.

#20

Oh Boy! A Doper tailgate at a Snakes game! This is gonna be sooooo much fun!!! When are you gettin’ here, Tripler?

P.S. Did you take your username from TAMC in Hawaii?