Hammer Time: I'm Walking

Steven Lang
by Steven Lang

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Well the hell with that! I’m going to fly if I have to travel even half the distance. I suffer enough these days. Traveling 500+ miles a week in Atlanta is a brutal punishment for any sane soul and mine is sometimes jaded to the point of h-e double hockey sticks.



Most drivers here don’t use turn signals. Cell phones are distracting folks constantly as is angry loud music that must originate from the anus of the devil. And God forbid you get in the way of some SUV Sam or Sally that has a brood in the back. You may was well buy yourself a James Bond special with artillery and a flame-thrower to deal with that. But then I get to rural Georgia… and boy am I a happy camper.

When you leave Atlanta something amazing happens to people. They become nice. Now every once in a blue moon you’ll see a Jethro with two buck teeth trying to attach his truck’s grille guard to your rear bumper. But otherwise it always seems like folks here take it easy. I know this sounds strange. But when family or friends come to town I go away from Atlanta. There is always something interesting to find when you go off the beaten path. Waterfalls, hiking trails, great BBQ. I’ve found that nearly any small town has enough attractions and distractions to make the trip worthwhile. The only difference is when we park our cars… we start walking and get off the long road for the better part of the day. To me that’s relaxing. How about you?

Steven Lang
Steven Lang

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  • Lw Lw on Apr 18, 2010

    I bought an RV to create the perfect blend of horsepower and "off the beaten path" fun for the whole family. koa.com is an amazing view into the soul of America. Pick a random campground and look at the "local area".

  • Golden2husky Golden2husky on Apr 18, 2010

    There was a time when everybody thought that the obnoxious only lived in places like NYC or Boston, etc. After 9/11 laid bare that city dwellers bleed and are human too, and that the web lets people get real time information from almost anywhere, it became clear that the Northeast urban centers are not the only place where there are more than a few obnoxious a-holes. Nor do they have a lock on congestion and nightmarish commutes. I have experienced the horror of Atlanta at rush hour and it is worse than most of what NYC can dish out. But like NY, get away from the overheated tempers of the commute and you will find some really nice people. A couple of times a year, we drive to different NASCAR events (A blue stater who's chest is notably larger than his stomach-yeah we stick out big time) and have met some really nice folk on the side roads of America. A few really scary toothless people, too but they don't ever seem to bother anybody. After the race, we will spend a couple of days hiking or sightseeing by foot. It really does the soul good to park the car and walk once in awhile. Give it a try. You wold be amazed at how socially starved most of us are being isolated in our cars.

  • Monty Monty on Apr 19, 2010

    Mrs. Monty and I ride our bicycles everywhere. We usually try to get in 80 to 150 kilometers on the weekends, riding throughout Winnipeg on the myriad of bike trails, or riding out of the city on less travelled roads to outlying communities, where on the weekends there's always a farmer's market or flea markets. Other times we will head out to a provincial park and have a picnic day, with some trail riding. And some weekends, I attach the dog via harness to my bike and take her for a good long run. I bought my wife a new mountain bike this winter to supplement her city bike, and we're planning on more exploring and much more off-road adventures. It's a great way to see a lot of the country-side that you can't do in a car. It's a great way to get some exercise, while having fun, and it' somehting we can do together. One of the many reasons our dogs live long healthy lives is that I exercise them, a lot. I take the dog to the leash-free park at least five times a week, where her and I walk several kilometers each evening (the dog, of course, travels at least twice my distance!), and people are always surprised by how good the dog still looks at twelve years old. She has no problem keeping up with dogs that are ten and eleven years younger, and if chasing a ball is involved, she usually will try to outrun them all. All of our females (we are breeders of White German Shepherds) have lived past thirteen years, and two lived into their fifteenth year. Exercise, and lots of it, along with a natural diet works wonders.

  • Res Res on Apr 19, 2010

    I'm an Atlanta native (born in Piedmont Hospital), and lived in the South until we moved to The Middle West about a decade ago. Went from a 70-minute "rush hour" commute in a 1964 Volkswagen ("the strength of 40 horses!") to a 30-minute drive from our 15 acre farm where our nearest neighbor is a mile away. There's something quite therapeutic about that... and yes, folks wave at you out here.

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