Adam Bridges is tearing through Damascus, Va. After weeks of hiking the Appalachian Trail and 10 days without seeing a town, he’s back on the grid. He has just devoured a large pizza topped with broccoli, pepperoni and hunks of ricotta cheese, sharing it with his hiking partner, Plunger. Now, sifting through the contents of a small brown box he picked up at the town post office — duct tape, cell phone charger, wallet-size picture of his two nieces — he asks Stumpjumper about the hikers’ bug that’s been going around. At the library across the street, he updates his online trail journal and waves to Bill E. Goat. Then? Beer, where he’ll find Yield.

From Friday through Sunday, Damascus will stage what has become probably the largest single gathering of hikers anywhere: an annual festival called Trail Days. Last year, despite a steady rain, an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 people showed up for the celebration in a town with an official population of 1,094. It is during Trail Days that Damascus, a place shaped by the walkabout spirit of the Appalachian Trail and all the nicknamed hikers who pass through, puts on its brightest display. The festival is a backpacker’s Mardi Gras. It’s an alumni reunion for anyone who has ever hiked the 2,159-mile Appalachian Trail, a moment in time when America’s most famous long-distance footpath goes nonlinear. (more…)

search for : Damascus, Va, Appalachian Trail, hiker, Trail Days, Mardi Gras

So, there I was, weaving through more naked bodies than I’d seen since the showers after high school gym class. Except there weren’t girls in those showers (OK, maybe one time there was, but that’s another story). The scene is Paradise Valley, 110 acres off a winding mountain road near Dawsonville. On a chilly Saturday morning in April, more than 100 nudists were gathered for the Fig Leaf 5K. It was certainly a visual spectacle, ranging from the sublime to the … um … pendulous.

Until about three years ago, the resort was known as Hidden Valley. It was located here in 1978 by the Dixie Sun Club, after being run out of a nearby town, Maysville. “All we wanted was our own place,” says Jackie. When I ask for her last name, she hesitates and turns to her husband, Donnie. “Do we want to use our last name?” She shrugs. “Sure, it’s Johnson. We’re retired, so who cares?” The Johnsons — two of the few Paradise members who volunteered full names — have been nudists since 1974, and they scouted out the land that became Paradise Valley. (more…)

search for : Paradise Valley, Dawsonville, Fig Leaf 5K, Dixie Sun Club, Maysville

At one time I wanted to build myself an earth home (meaning 1 or two sides of the house would be underground); heated by solar power; and operated by photovoltaic panels, which would convert solar energy into electricity stored in a bank of batteries. Ah, yes, the dream of green living. Unfortunately, builders have not seen the public support swelling for such alternative, renewable energy sources, thus houses are continuing to built with energy technologies that haven’t changed at there core over the last several decades: central air conditioners, forced air furnaces, heat pumps, fossil fuels and natural gas. At least the politicians are getting it

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by the Department of Energy, is the nation’s primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. The group operates on a $220 million budget, dedicated to the development of renewable energy. An example of the group’s mission was depicted in a Habitat for Humanity house build last year in Wheat Ridge, Col. The home, on Carr Street in that town, is a net zero energy house, meaning it creates as much energy as it consumes — now that’s what I’m talking about. (more…)

search for : solar power, photovoltaic, solar energy, electricity, batteries, central air conditioner

The woods that were a magical playground for Charles and Lessie Smithgall’s children will, with $5 million in community donations, be transformed into a garden for all to enjoy. Six years ago, the influential Gainesville couple donated to the Atlanta Botanical Garden 185 acres they lovingly called Huckleberry Hill. A greenhouse was eventually placed on the property, the bud of a plant collection that will one day blossom into the Smithgall Woodland Garden.

The first construction phase includes less than a tenth of the total acreage. The property is located inside the Gainesville city limits and will be accessed by Lakehill Road off Cleveland Highway (U.S. 129). Mildred Pinnell Fockele, horticulture director for the Atlanta Botanical Garden and the new Smithgall Woodland Garden, said initial plans call for an entrance drive, parking and a visitors center and private events facility overlooking the “Enchanting Woodland Garden.” The “enchanting” first garden centers on the elements of wind, water, earth and sky. Stone stairways and a bridge will lead visitors to beautiful plants, relaxing swings and intriguing artwork. The second phase will include a waterfall trail with off-shoots that lead right to the water’s edge, Fockele said. (more…)

search for : Gainesville, Smithgall Woodland Garden, Cleveland Highway (U.S. 129), Enchanting Woodland Garden

John Sheirer dreamed of quenching his thirst for adventure by taking a trip along the 2,160-mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine or the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada.

Since that first day, Sheirer - a professor of English and communications at Asnuntuck Community College - has walked along the 2-mile loop trail, known as the “Shady Brook Trail,” some time each day between 12:01 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. On New Year’s Eve, Sheirer walked the trail and finished right before midnight. Then walked it again a few minutes later after toasting the new year. The walks take between 30 minutes and three hours and average about 45 minutes. Sheirer said some journeys take a little longer because he will do some trail work - pull out invasive plant species or other weeds, do some bird-watching, talk to people or just sit and admire Mother Nature. He estimates that 300 of the days he was all alone in the wilderness. (more…)

search for : Appalachian Trail, Georgia

High gas prices, traffic tie-ups, expensive housing - who needs it? Most Americans, if they want a good paying job. But an increasing number of people are opting out by telecommuting, giving them access to companies in high-paycheck areas while at the same time being able to live in areas with more reasonably priced real estate.

Rural communities are especially interested in promoting telecommuting. These areas have hemorrhaged population in the past few decades as agricultural jobs dried up and the best and the brightest of the young pursued opportunities elsewhere. Some of those migrants eventually return when they get older and begin to raise families. But often they can’t find suitable work. (more…)

search for : High gas prices, expensive housing, real estate, telecommuting

Collusion between mortgage brokers and real estate agents is illegal. However many homeowners have been put at risk of foreclosure because this unethical practice is carried out in subtlety. A couple get pre approved financing and see a real estate agent that shows them homes beyond the price range that they can afford.

Even though everyone seems happy in the beginning, the only winners are the dealmakers who pocket the higher commissions from the sale of the house and the mortgage. In the long term it is homebuyers that pay the price when clauses in their mortgage contract kick in to increase the payments beyond what they can afford. They then either have to sell their home or are foreclosed upon. (more…)

search for : mortgage brokers, real estate agents, homeowners, unethical practice, pre approved financing, commissions