March 16, 2017 – A day in the life of Simon; Ocone Fall Line Technical College

Yesterday after visiting a college in the AM in Savannah I pointed the bike towards the west.  I considered staying in Savannah but as thousands of people were expected to be descending on the city for Friday’s St Patrick’s Day Festivities I thought it best to just move on…  Most of the other colleges I had plugged into my GPS were in the northwestern part of Georgia and given the temperatures of the day never really left the mid 40’s I was trying to stay on somewhat equal latitude until the cold front had passed.  Never the less it was a very cold ride even with the electric gear on the bike.  By the time I reached Dublin GA I needed to refuel.  Pulling off the freeway I noticed a sign for Ocone Fall Line Technical College.  Earlier in the day I had learned that the Technical Colleges were governed by the same system and that Savannah’s college was on spring break.  I did not even have Ocone Fall on my radar but it was right off the freeway so I decided to stop and see if they too were on break.  If all the two-year colleges in Georgia were on break at the same time, my week was going to be light on college visits.  Instead I spent about two hours speaking with a lovely 72-year-old part time receptionist.  I learned from her that the college was not on break, I also learned quite a lot about the college and the local community, as she continued to field phone calls as we chatted.

Dublin GA, as you might expect celebrates St. Patrick’s day as well but instead of one day it’s a month long series of events.  I had just missed the Irish variety show “How do you get an Irishman to go up on the roof?...  Tell him drinks are on the house!”  Tomorrow night was the Pancake supper at a local church, and of course the parade is on Saturday.  Dublin GA, is a small town, with almost as many churches as businesses.  Pastoral farmland mixes with forests and local industry, and green bows are tied to most buildings and signs to mark the Irish day.  I decided to change plans and spend the very cold night, here in a warm local hotel by the freeway.

As I was having dinner at the local sports bar (recommended to me by the receptionist as the best chance to get a Guinness beer), I felt I really got a feeling for the people who lived here and a slice of what life is like in this part of Georgia.  Savanna may have more people but the smaller towns have better chances of actually meeting people and seeing how they live.  If you slow down enough and get off the freeway…  Ok, so technically they call them technical colleges, but if you want to find the local community just go to the local college, there right there, waiting to greet you behind the reception desk…