Americus, Georgia

This is part one of my new series, "Where in the World is Suzi?" Thanks to my fellow SSG writer Jodi for the title inspiration.

I just spent the past day and a half in Americus, Georgia. Never heard of it? I don't blame you. It's a small town about two and a half hours south of Atlanta, and it's actually where the international headquarters of Habitat for Humanity are located. See any connections? The purpose of this trip was to visit a Habitat friend I'd made on my trip to Cambodia. Of course, I got a quick tour of the Habitat headquarters, and even drove out to the town of Plains, GA where ex-president Jimmy Carter is from, and currently resides. He teaches Sunday school most weekends he is in town, and despite my agnosticism, I would have attended his service, had I the energy to wake up in time. Oh, and because I was too refreshed and relaxed to care, I neglected to bring my camera on any outings in Americus. So...thank you Google Images for the photos.

Plains, GA

It might be a considered by many as a small town full of "rednecks" and "hicks," but I actually did not encounter any directly. There were certainly signs of outward racism that you hear about in the news, but simply can't fathom. A sheriff's house with a huge confederate flag in the front window. A school teacher's car with a "Bush '04" bumper sticker. The fact that you can't buy beer or go to bars on Sundays. There were all sorts of little indicators that this was not an Obama-loving town and separation of church and state did not apply. I was lucky to hang out with three guys who obviously were not originally from Americus, and did not share the same views as the townspeople. We spent my first night in Americus drinking in the best of the town's only three bars in the historic Windsor Hotel. On the whole though, I rather enjoyed being out in the "middle of nowhere." It was quiet, peaceful, relaxing, refreshing, and a nice change of scenery. I am glad that I chose to begin my journey here.

Windsor Hotel in Americus, GA

Suzi's Photo of the Day

Rome, Italy, June 2007

This photo of me was taken by my parents at our hotel in Rome at the end of my 6 month European adventure. I sustained myself on all that I could carry on my back, and nothing else. I take a similar minimalist approach to nearly all other travels I go on, including this one.

This is my current backpack, which is actually quite a bit smaller than the one I took to Europe. It fits perfectly into the overhead stowbins on the airplanes, and is filled with half clothing, and half coffee/trailmix/host gifts. I like the minimalist approach to life, learning to live with only your basic necessities and minimal luxuries...it's part of traveling that I enjoy. I finally have an excuse to be offline and not attend to my phone at every beep and chirp it makes. This is the first time that I am traveling with my laptop, intending to make public online blog posts, in lieu of my usual handwritten diaries. This may defeat my purpose of being virtually disconnected from the world, so we'll see how the presence of technology changes my approach to traveling.