Travels with Darden & Joe Tales from the Road Deep Thoughts at Day's End Three Days in Georgia How Hybrids Work By the Numbers The Problem with SUVs Florida Car Quotes More Quotes: The Car Talk Guys, Too! Media Mention Global Warming Implications for Florida Resources

Tell Some Friends About This Page! Three Days in Georgia Diary by Colleen Kiernan, Georgia Energy Project Organizer Sunday 5:42 PM Find the Prius in long-term parking, section J, Tallahassee Airport. Hit the road, head for Blakely, guided by the ever-talkative GPS system. Female computerized voice yells whenever I miss a turn. Annoying or helpful? Can’t decide. Realize I forgot to bring any tapes. Have to listen to radio. Sunday 8:26 PM Arrive in Blakely, Georgia, site of proposed coal-fired power plant. Cell phone out of range. Strange feeling of disconnection sets in. Stay with Claude and Rachel Bell--Claude is the President of the Friends of the Chattahoochee, citizen group leading fight against the plant. Their kitchen becomes my office. Finalize press release. Asleep before head hits pillow. Monday 8:37 AM Hit the road to Albany, again guided by voluble, all-knowing GPS woman. Beautiful morning. Prius floats down the road, surrounded by old-growth forest. Arrive at Fairway Toyota and set up. Media arrives: WXFL TV and a photog from the Albany Herald. Another TV station, WALB, hasn’t arrived by 10:30, so I pack up and head over to the station, thanks to Ms. Global Positioning System. Monday 11:01 AM An hour or so with Kathryn Murchison and her cameraman will result in 3-minute segment to air on 6 and 11 o'clock newscasts. Drop by the Albany Herald and chat with Cassandra Corccoran. She’s busy, hopes to do a follow-up piece. Monday 12:47 PM On the road, Macon-bound. Realization: Haven’t had coffee. Not one cup. Stop at a Cracker Barrel, score some veggies. Psyched; cell phone has signal again. Hit Dunkin' Donuts for coffee, Kinko's to check email, catch up on work and get press materials together. Monday 7:37 PM Beer! Red Stripe never tasted so good. Join up with local troublemakers from CAUTION Macon (acronym = Citizens Against Unnecessary Thoroughfares In Our Neighborhoods) for seafood. All three have various 'situations' at home, meaning no freeloading for me. Head to the Red Roof Inn for much-needed shut-eye. Tuesday 7:27 AM Quick run to supermarket. Replace toothpaste lost in transit and pick up folders for my press packets. Roll into downtown Macon at 8:15, meet up with GreenCorps Organizer, Stephanie Bonin. Appear on local AM radio show with Kenny B. and Jami G. Jami drives Prius, calls in on cell phone. Loves the car -- probably biggest advocate all day. Go to studio, photo taken with Kenny and Jami. Tuesday 10:08 am Out to Stratford Academy, where CAUTION Macon President Susan Hanberry teaches 7th grade science. Kids are on break, WAY excited about the car. It’s like clowns packed into the Volkswagen on the test-drive ‘round the parking lot. Everyone has fun. Fox 24 gets some good footage. Reporter gets a 7th grader do the interview! Tuesday 10:45 AM As Stephanie and I are pulling out of the parking lot, the assistant principal comes rushing out, flags us down. Seems an engineering student from Mercer University heard us on the radio. They want us to stop by the E-school with the car. We’ve got about 30 minutes to spare before we make the midday news and we head over. About 50 students crowd around the car, take turns circling the parking lot. Tuesday 12:16 AM Appear with meterologist Rob Still on WMAZ. Rob does ozone modeling during smog season. Talk local politics with station engineers on lunch break. Tuesday 1:09 PM Lunch. Run into City Council Member Jimmy Patton. He asks for a ride back to the bank. I agree but make him drive. An asthma-sufferer, Patton is concerned about air pollution, but hasn’t been proactive about combating air pollutants. He likes the car, but doesn’t think his family will fit in it. He smiles but won’t say how many miles per gallon the family car gets. Tuesday 1:47 PM Head over to the Macon Telegraph. Environmental reporter Christopher Schwarzen is out sick, which is why no one made it to Stratford earlier. Luckily, we got plenty of pictures, so the Metro editor copies the disc and gives it to the photography editor. Ellen somebody is doing a story. Tuesday 2:33 PM I-75 to Atlanta! The Sierra Club Atlanta Group meets tonight, so I’ll bring the car for them to test-drive. After that, the Prius is off to the fair state of North Carolina, more whistlestops and photo ops without me. So long from Georgia. Thanks to everyone who helped along the way. Want a recap of the early part of the trip, and why? See the main page for Darden and Joe's excellent adventure, or read: Tales from the road: Day 1, Tampa to Orlando Day 2, Orlando to Daytona Days 3-5, Daytona to Gainesville to Tallahassee Three Days in Georgia Wetland photo: US Fish & Wildlife Service, Steve Farrell Up to Top