When I worked in Peachtree City back in the ’90s, I drove my golf cart to work for about a year. I remember that I felt that I was much more in tune with my surroundings on a golf cart versus driving my car. You’re in the elements on a cart, and I had some neat experiences driving to and from work.
I remember once there was a rain storm and a huge tree fell and blocked the path. No problem; in a cart you can just swing around. Years later I encountered a fallen tree on Redwine Road while driving in my car. That was a totally different experience, waiting quite a while in a long line of traffic while the tree was removed.
Carting down the path along Ga. Highway 54 one day, past what used to be Lake Peachtree, I looked over to see another long line of cars, this time just trying to get from here to there. I remember thinking how crazy driving in automobiles is from the perspective that you actually do miss a lot.
On my cart I saw unfamiliar stores, stumps and wild life along the streets and paths that I had not even noticed before, even though I had lived in town for over 10 years. It was like experiencing the journey rather than just trying to get to the destination.
These days I have plenty of time to think as I’m sitting at the MacDuff Parkway light trying to get out of the West Village. It’s a seven-minute red light.
No one in the planning effort to open up MacDuff from 54 to 74 seems to have wondered how the current residents in West Village are even going to be able to get on MacDuff, not to mention getting through the red light onto 54, or probably 74 either. MacDuff really is the only way out unless you’re heading to Coweta.
Things do change, I guess, and not always for the best. But, hey, I still have the option of getting another job close to home and carting to work. Won’t be a problem swinging around MacDuff, around the red light and then around the lake bed.
Ralph Ferguson
Peachtree City, Ga.
