| July 6, 2026

The Georgia Recreational Trail Riders Association (GARTRA) hosts two annual dual sport rides: the Hooch every June and the Fall Foliage Ride each October or November. These events serve as the club’s longstanding biannual fundraising activities. Established in 1992 as a volunteer-run nonprofit dedicated to promoting and enhancing public off-road motorized recreation areas across Georgia, GARTRA currently has 225 active members.

Photos by Jen Muecke

Beyond being a fundraising mechanism, each event also celebrates responsible trail stewardship and serves as an all-important communal gathering of like-minded motorcyclists. Based at the famous North Georgia motorcycle meet-up destination Two Wheels of Suches, attendees come from neighboring states, including Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as from distant Florida and Ohio, each year to enjoy two unique routes, each covering 120-plus miles of scenic Appalachia, winding through the Chattahoochee National Forest and surrounding areas. Designed to accommodate both novice and experienced dual sport riders, the routes offer a mix of easy gravel roads, rocky climbs, forest service roads and optional advanced sections, including legitimate single-track inside the OHV trail system Whissinghunt, one of seven state-run trail systems that GARTRA maintains in cooperation with the Forest Service—all connected by perfectly placed short stretches of quiet, country two-lane paved roads to tie it all together.

Historically, navigation was handled via roll-chart route sheets, an antiquated, old-school but beloved method that adds to the event’s traditional dual sport character. However, this year riders were offered GPX files as well as a free trail map on onX Maps for those inclined to enter the new millennium of motorcycle-navigation technology. OnX not only supports the club with navigation but is also a corporate partner that has contributed to several trail-work projects since joining the club.

GARTRA’s mission has always been to promote sustainable trail access, and The Hooch and Fall Foliage rides embody that ethos. Riders aren’t racing; they’re exploring, navigating and appreciating the rugged beauty of North Georgia’s mountains while supporting the organization that helps maintain access to those very trails. In fact, the club maintains seven different state OHV areas from the Atlanta metro area to the North Georgia borders of Tennessee and North Carolina, with help from their sponsors, including Wooly’s Cycles of Atlanta, Viasat, Extreme Terrain (Clean Trail Initiative), Cycle Specialty, Highland Park Off Road Resort, Butler | Kahn, and BikeGraphix.

Additionally, supporting the club through a grant process is the Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative (OAI). The club has been awarded multiple grants over the past few years for much-needed supplies and trail equipment in the form of Yamaha ATVs, gravel carts, chainsaws, hand tools and more. With this support, the club has been able to keep OHV areas open by working with the Forest Service, performing regular trail maintenance and rehabilitating staging areas. However, while the grants and support from sponsors are needed, the most valuable resource is the volunteer club members that make the “magic” happen through hard work and manual labor at monthly trail-work days at each of the seven OHV areas they manage. This effort has not gone unnoticed by the Forest Service, helping build a strong working relationship that has resulted in plans to build new trails, a first for state-managed off-road recreational areas since the original OHV sites were created!

If you missed this year’s Hooch Ride, don’t worry, the Fall Foliage Ride is just around the corner. Come out for the self-led ride, enjoy the colors of fall and support the GARTRA motorcycle club and the good work they are doing in the state of Georgia. Can’t make the trip or too far from your local region? Check out the AMA dual sport page for events closer to home, and support or join your local motorcycle club. They are the boots on the ground putting in the work to keep our riding areas open, with all funds generated by the club put to good use to increase advocacy for proper motorized off-road use, maintain public land access, preserve trails and develop new trails. All to the benefit of the local motorcycle community.CN

Learn more at https://gartra.org/outdoors/

ATLANTA – Democrats have secured early leads in Georgia’s high-profile Senate and gubernatorial races, according to a recent Fox News poll.

What we know:

The initial post-primary polling shows incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff leading Republican nominee Mike Collins by 13 percentage points, 56% to 43%. In the gubernatorial race, Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms holds a 5-point lead over Republican Rick Jackson, 52% to 47%.

Democrats currently maintain early margins with core demographics, including younger and Black voters. However, political analysts and strategists from both parties note that these initial multi-point advantages are expected to fluctuate as general election campaigns expand their messaging.

What we don’t know:

While initial metrics favor the Democratic ticket, officials have not yet confirmed how these margins will hold up as the race tightens. Strategists note it remains unclear exactly how independent and moderate voters will lean once both campaigns fully deploy their contrasting platforms.

Dig deeper:

With general election matchups officially set following highly competitive primary runoffs, both parties are framing the races through distinct career backgrounds. 

Republicans plan to highlight private-sector experience, contrasting it with the sitting incumbent’s record, while Democrats are building their platform around public service and state-level engagement.

What they’re saying:

GOP strategist Loretta Lepore said Collins intends to center his platform on business management and legislative performance. 

“So, I think Mike Collins has been very clear that he intends to use the resume as his weapon,” Lepore said, noting his background running a trucking company. “And he’s going to make an issue of that with Senator Ossoff, who the Republican Party is already branding as a trust fund baby, and they will perpetuate that.”

Democratic strategist Tharon Johnson argued that Ossoff’s multi-year tenure provides a visible baseline of leadership. 

“Jon Ossoff. He has been laser-like focused on getting around Georgia in a governing capacity,” Johnson said. “He’s been our Senator now for over 5 and a half years.”

FOX News poll: Jon Ossoff holds double-digit lead over Mike Collins

Big picture view:

Lepore noted that while Ossoff is carrying core electorates like Black and young voters, the real concern for Republicans lies with the center. 

“Where the concern would be, I think, for Republicans is with the moderate and independent voters, because for whichever candidate wins, this race is going to have to carry that segment of the voting population,” Lepore said.

Johnson acknowledged the polling helps Democrats raise money and profile, but agreed the race will tighten. 

“Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff have shown us the model,” Johnson said, describing a “base plus strategy” that requires motivating the core party base while remaining appealing to independents and moderates.

You spent decades driving an hour for the doctor and the good grocery store. These Georgia towns put both back inside the city limits. The hospital sits a few minutes from the courthouse square. The square stays walkable on a warm afternoon. A sound brick house here runs around $200,000. Thomasville shades its streets with a live oak older than the town itself. In Dublin and Vidalia the Saturday crowd learns your name by spring.

Thomasville

Less than an hour from Tallahassee, Thomasville keeps its South Georgia identity while leaving North Florida specialists within reach for retirees who need them. National trackers currently put a median house value around $250,000, which puts an older house in town within reach for buyers selling a higher-priced home elsewhere. Start with the Lapham-Patterson House, which makes its case through unusual angles, stained glass, and carved Queen Anne woodwork rather than grand scale. Pebble Hill Plantation adds formal gardens, stables, and a major sporting-art collection on a former shooting estate, the kind of place a retiree can return to across a season rather than rush through once. The Big Oak, often dated to the late 1600s, is a quieter stop but one of the town’s clearest landmarks. Archbold Memorial Hospital delivers regional care from Thomasville itself, so routine appointments stay in town, and Sweet Grass Dairy Cheese Shop, near Broad Street, handles South Georgia cheese, sandwiches, and wine without requiring a trip anywhere else.

Rome

At the meeting point of the Etowah and Oostanaula rivers, Rome has older streets, Berry College, and waterfront corridors that give a retiree more to settle into than a simple low-cost relocation. The midpoint for homes is usually listed near $250,000, and Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center keeps hospital care close to home. The Rome Area History Center traces the area from Cherokee territory through its river-and-rail years, while Oak Hill and The Martha Berry Museum presents Martha Berry’s residence and the education work that eventually produced Berry College, two stops that fit comfortably into a single unhurried day. Ridge Ferry Park has level riverfront paths, concerts, and links to the Heritage Trail system, an easy place for a daily walk. After time in the historic district, Harvest Moon Cafe on Broad Street is a practical place to land.

Milledgeville

Milledgeville has brick sidewalks, old state-capital blocks, and a courthouse-seat calm that has survived college growth without losing its character. Recent estimates put the local median for homes around $230,000, leaving room in a retirement budget for the upkeep an older house asks. Georgia’s Old Governor’s Mansion covers the town’s political past through restored rooms and guided tours. Andalusia Farm is a separate kind of stop, quieter and more personal, keeping Flannery O’Connor’s work close to the land that shaped it. For major hospital care, Atrium Health Navicent in Macon is the nearest large facility, roughly 35 miles west, worth weighing for anyone who expects frequent specialist visits. The Oconee River Greenway offers water views, flat walking paths, and benches along the river a short distance from the center of town. Blackbird Coffee on West Hancock Street brings coffee, baked goods, and unhurried conversation into Milledgeville’s core.

Americus

Less than an hour from Albany, Americus has courthouse-square architecture, a defined historic core, and a pace that suits a retiree who wants errands on foot rather than a daily commute. Phoebe Sumter Medical Center is in Americus, so hospital care does not depend on leaving town, and national estimates put the median house figure at about $165,000, among the most affordable on this list. The Windsor Hotel, dating from 1892, is the most visible historic set piece in town and worth a look even for residents not staying the night. The Rylander Theatre still brings concerts, films, and touring acts to its 1921 stage, a standing reason to be out in the evening. Café Campesino Coffee House handles fair-trade coffee roasted on site, giving the town a specific local business rather than a chain substitute. Georgia Veterans State Park on Lake Blackshear, under 40 minutes away, adds fishing, birding, and easy walking trails when the square is not enough.

Dublin

In Dublin, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his first public speech in 1944, giving this Laurens County seat unusual civil rights weight. First African Baptist Church preserves the site where that speech was delivered, and Martin Luther King Jr. Monument Park adds a sober stop for residents tracing the event. Those two sites alone give a new resident something to show visiting family. Recent estimates show a median residential value near $190,000. Fairview Park Hospital provides medical care in town, and the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center is also within Dublin, which matters for veterans choosing where to retire. River Bend Wildlife Management Area brings Oconee River fishing, birding, and pine woods within a reasonable drive. Theatre Dublin brings concerts and stage productions to a restored 1934 venue, and Company Supply is a strong choice for dinner afterward.

Tifton

Through Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and the Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Tifton keeps a firm connection to South Georgia agriculture rather than drifting toward generic small-city sameness. The Georgia Museum of Agriculture makes that connection tangible, preserving a working 19th-century farmstead, a steam train, and historic structures tied to the region’s rural economy. A median residential value is estimated near $205,000. Tift Regional Medical Center provides acute care, rehabilitation, and specialty visits in town, which keeps the most common medical needs close for an older resident. Fulwood Park has mature trees, level walking paths, tennis courts, and a calm central green. The Tifton Terminal Railway Museum presents rail history inside a restored Atlantic Coast Line depot. The Local Kitchen and Bar handles dinner without requiring a trip to a larger city.

Moultrie

Around Moultrie’s courthouse square, established neighborhoods and steady civic activity give retirement a daily texture rather than an empty calendar. Colquitt Regional Medical Center is close, keeping hospital care within easy reach, and recent trackers show a median house value near $165,000. The Colquitt County Arts Center occupies a former 1928 high school and brings concerts, exhibits, and classes into a building with some history behind it, the kind of standing program that fills a week. Reed Bingham State Park, about a half-hour east, has lake fishing, gopher tortoise habitat, and trails under longleaf pine, an outdoor resource that rewards returning visits rather than a single afternoon. The Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library collection at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library gives family researchers a serious regional resource. Blue Sky Grill covers lunch and dinner in town.

Vidalia

In southeast Georgia’s onion country, Vidalia sits less than two hours west of Savannah. Current estimates put a median residence around $180,000, and Memorial Health Meadows Hospital provides emergency and specialty care in town, so a retiree is not driving to the coast for routine treatment. The Vidalia Onion Museum traces the crop, the growers, and the shipping systems that made the town nationally known, a more specific story than most agricultural museums manage. The Altama Museum of Art and History occupies a 1911 neoclassical house and holds regional paintings, period rooms, and archives. PAL Theatre screens films and hosts concerts inside a restored 1920s movie house on Church Street, an easy evening out close to home. Jack Hill State Park in nearby Reidsville adds cypress water, fishing, and shaded trails within an easy drive.

Toccoa

Toccoa is best known for Currahee Mountain, the training ground associated with the World War II paratroopers later documented in the “Band of Brothers” account. Housing is still moderate by Georgia mountain standards, with the median house value estimated near $240,000. Stephens County Hospital is in Toccoa, which keeps routine appointments from requiring a drive to Gainesville or Athens. The Currahee Military Museum gives the military record a precise local frame, with Camp Toccoa artifacts and a restored stable from Aldbourne, England. Toccoa Falls, on the campus of Toccoa Falls College, drops 186 feet and reaches the viewing area by a short, level walk that suits most visitors. Henderson Falls Park offers wooded trails, picnic areas, and a route to the smaller waterfall that gives the site its name. X-Factor Grill draws regulars for burgers, trout, and meatloaf in a renovated Main Street building.

LaGrange

With LaGrange College dating to 1831 and mills shaping much of its later growth, LaGrange carries both academic and industrial history in the same downtown. Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center provides emergency care, surgery, cardiac services, and rehabilitation, a depth of coverage that lets a retiree manage serious conditions without relocating. Recent estimates put a median residence close to $260,000. Hills and Dales Estate is the clearest architectural stop in the area, preserving the Fuller E. Callaway family residence, a 1916 Italianate house designed by Neel Reid, along with historic gardens that began in the 19th century. The Biblical History Center presents archaeological replicas, ancient meals, and exhibits related to the Near East, a less expected stop than the estate but one that draws consistent interest. West Point Lake offers boating, fishing, and shoreline trails a short drive from LaGrange. Wild Leap Brew Co. occupies a converted tire building and gives the square a useful afternoon stop.

The Math That Actually Holds Up

Retirement is not a single calculation, but it consistently involves the same variables: what care is available without a long drive, what a house actually costs, whether the streets are worth walking, and whether the surrounding community has enough texture to hold attention for years rather than weeks. The towns covered here address those variables in different ways and at different price points, but none ask a retiree to trade affordability for a life that remains genuinely livable.