Georgia Nerd

I am a Georgia Nerd. What that means is that I am obsessed with all things having to do with the state of Georgia. Ask me anything about Georgia, and you'll get an answer longer than you wanted. Like, "How many counties are there in Georgia?" The answer is, "There are 159 counties. This is second only to Texas. Most of the counties are rather small as compared to other states. The last county formed in Georgia was Peach County in 1924... it's also the only county named for an inanimate object instead of a person. Hart County is our only county named for a female, Nancy Hart." And I could go on. I actually made a Georgia counties puzzle in late 1997. Guess how many puzzle pieces there are?

Anyway, I began my Georgia Nerdiness in high school, I guess around my sophomore year. Even though I babbled incessantly about counties, major crops of the state, and lame attractions such as The Airplane on a Stick and The Big Peanut in a Crown, I amazingly still had friends. In fact, one of my friends would actually play the Georgia County Game with me during our free period. While my more studious friends were studying, Bridgette and I were naming counties until one of us was stumped. Thus, she became Georgia County Master Second in Command (obviously, I was just Georgia County Master).

Maybe all this Georgia-mania really began with family road trips to Florida. I found landmarks along the way, and I wrote down all the businesses at each exit along the way. If anybody wants to know if there's a Travelodge or a Denny's at exit 45 (no longer numbered as #45 but I refuse to acknowlede the new numbering system), then just ask me. I can find out for you in about 30 seconds, thanks to my notes taken when I was ten (don't worry, they have been updated since, so if a business has since closed, that's noted, too!). On these trips, I enjoyed picking up brochures at all the rest stops. Who says nothing is free? Well, okay, technically we pay taxes that go toward the rest stops, etc., but the businesses are the ones that leave the brochures there. So they're basically free. I have about ten shoeboxes full of brochures. Maybe one day I'll use them to wallpaper a room.

This photo of me was taken outside one of the Georgia Welcome Centers. I'm pretty sure it was the one off I-85 on the north side of the state. As you can see, I am holding a stack of brochures in my hand, fresh off the racks from inside the welcome center. Karen took the photo (see, another person who wasn't scared off by my Georgia Nerdism!). This was right around the time we got the new welcome centers and rest areas, due to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

For other related topics, see my posts on road trips and street signs... I think they're all intertwined somehow.