Goodbye to Georgia

When I got back from my last hike, someone said to me that he knew I wouldn't have made it through the mountains in north Georgia anyway.

As I was walking along the highway a few days ago, on my way from the trail to my last stop in Georgia, I suddenly recalled the other side of the people of my home state: genuine, generous, kind, decent, patriotic, and God-fearing. And I also remembered that I have good memories from my childhood as well as bad ones. And all my bitterness towards this place and my past here evaporated.

And, as if on cue, the last town I stopped in, Hiawassee, turned out to be exactly all the good things I remember about the north Georgia mountains, and which I thought was long gone. Even got some genuine Georgia barbecue; best I've had in ages.

So Georgia and I part as friends.