One Summer in 1964

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

In the summer of 1964 I had graduated from high school and wanted to see what the Old South looked like by bus.

I took a greyhound from California to Florida.

Fortunately the bus rarely stopped in towns where Klansmen were marching - lol

Passing thru one Southern state, I forget which, I was stopped my army military police. With my short hair, slim figure and spit shined shoes, they thought I was a runaway GI from boot camp - They held me for over an hour and I had to wait for the next bus to get out of that state. My father was an USAF recruiter.

Serious then but it seems funny now.

[Wolf-Pup (imported)]

I was a zygote or fetus or something

[Arab Nights (imported)]

What was your impression?

I knew I would never fit in there and had no desire to, but the funny thing is that I ended up with a couple of lifelong friends from the south.

[DeaconBlues (imported)]

The WORST three years of my life was when I lived in Augusta, Georgia. I do not like to admit that I am completely irrational about anything, but I am when it comes to Georgia, "the old south" or "the bible belt." I readily admit that I have a deep and lasting hatred for all things even remotely associated with Georgia and most of the south, from Newt Gingrich to Sam Nunn. I am NOT a racist, but there is such a palpable hatred between the blacks and whites there that I came to hate the blacks who hated me just because I was white. While Augusta is not typically associated with violent crime, it is the only place I have lived (and I have lived a LOT of different places) where I honestly felt the need to be armed after dark, it is the only place where I was routinely stopped on my way home after work by police roadblocks... "we were chasing a suspect who got away into this neighborhood... we are stopping and searching all vehicles...." Not very comforting when I was going to my home just a half mile away, and I lived in the "upscale" suburb of Martinez. While I was there, I remember that it seemed the whole placed was cursed, even the "well to do" there were often being arrested for violent crimes (e.g. a lawyer who murdered his law office partner with a hammer, on the front porch of the law office). The manager of the Sam's club was murdered in the most brutal way, burned to death while locked up in the trunk of his car, I don't think they ever caught the murderer(s), that was really bad for me as my own wife worked in the Wal-Mart just a few hundred yards away from the Sam's Club. Armed robbery was really common and the cops never seemed to catch them, one large shopping mall closed down not for lack of business, but because all the major stores there were relocating to a safer location. I just cannot find the words to adequately express my hate for Augusta, Georgia. I know, I know, for quite a while one of our senior members here was always saying "Bomb Detroit," well, I feel that way about Augusta Georgia.

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

The WORST three years of my life was when I lived in Augusta, Georgia. I do not like to admit that I am completely irrational about anything, but I am when it comes to Georgia, "the old south" or "the bible belt." I readily admit that I have a deep and lasting hatred for all things even remotely associated with Georgia and most of the south, from Newt Gingrich to Sam Nunn. I am NOT a racist, but there is such a palpable hatred between the blacks and whites there that I came to hate the blacks who hated me just because I was white. While Augusta is not typically associated with violent crime, it is the only place I have lived (and I have lived a LOT of different places) where I honestly felt the need to be armed after dark, it is the only place where I was routinely stopped on my way home after work by police roadblocks... "we were chasing a suspect who got away into this neighborhood... we are stopping and searching all vehicles...." Not very comforting when I was going to my home just a half mile away, and I lived in the "upscale" suburb of Martinez. While I was there, I remember that it seemed the whole placed was cursed, even the "well to do" there were often being arrested for violent crimes (e.g. a lawyer who murdered his law office partner with a hammer, on the front porch of the law office). The manager of the Sam's club was murdered in the most brutal way, burned to death while locked up in the trunk of his car, I don't think they ever caught the murderer(s), that was really bad for me as my own wife worked in the Wal-Mart just a few hundred yards away from the Sam's Club. Armed robbery was really common and the cops never seemed to catch them, one large shopping mall closed down not for lack of business, but because all the major stores there were relocating to a safer location. I just cannot find the words to adequately express my hate for Augusta, Georgia. I know, I know, for quite a while one of our senior members here was always saying "Bomb Detroit," well, I feel that way about Augusta Georgia.

Thanks DeaconBlues, you makes me glad that I never lived in the South…unless you count six months in Houston, Texas. BTW, Riverwind's favorite saying years ago was "Bomb Detroit."