Where to get a Scyther, and more Eggsecutes I guess

So, the idea yesterday was to grab lunch on the way to somewhere that would have interesting pokemon and a a good number of pokestops. So, to start with lunch at a pokestop, the Williamson Brothers Bar-B-Q has a cigar store indian inside that is a pokestop (sometimes reachable from the street). Actually it has two of them, but only one is a pokestop. It turns out, in addition to its usual pidgeys, spearows, fried okra, and rattatas, it also has these...

So the payoff should have been the Georgia National Cemetery, but after the Scyther (a new one for me), a Clefairy, an Eggsecute, some Evees, and an Abra (all of which I had) were more like the icing on the cake than the main feature.

Of course, on the way back there were some okay opportunities at Red Top Mountain as well.

Play the game of life at Badger Creek Stadium

Just down the road from Badger Creek Park (the impressive Cherokee Impact Soccer complex with a dozen fields, a couple of restrooms, concessions and two pokestops) is an even more impressive park with a strangely weathered sign on the fence that says "Badger Creek Stadium". Here you will find a pokemon gym, a pokestop, an artificial waterfall, and a lush green field with a babbling brook crossed by a covered bridge. 

Unfortunately for all the privileged children and their parents down the street what you will not find is a Badger Creek Stadium or indeed a stadium of any kind. This is the private field of a wedding venue called Rustix Barn (or Rustix Manor), a wedding venue for even more privileged adult children to spend 20 to 40 or a hundred grand getting wed and taking pretty pictures while doing so. The gym is reachable from across the street at a spacious dirt drive which veers right when the road bends left (or turns into South Holly Spring Road, however you want to look at it). 

Plenty of room to park and gym and stay out of the way of both drivers on the road and to that house. The pokestop is reachable separately up the road by a turn off to a blocked drive that is presumably open for weddings. You can park there safely but you have to walk a few steps into the ditch to reach the stop.

It's not the best area in which to play Pokemon Go, but heck, what else are you going to do while the entitled little cretin in your life plays soccer for an hour and a half?

Double pokestop and a triple chili cheese pup: Canton Krystal Burger for lunch

The Canton Krystal Burger is a dream stop. Except that it's a Krystal Burger. There's a silver globe on the outside and a plaque on the inside making it a double pokestop you can reach from the drive-through ,the outdoor seating, half the indoor seating, and some of the parking spots. What's more it's open 24 hours so you don't look like a creeper hanging out there. Sadly, it's fast food so you are in and out too quickly if you eat lunch there resulting in only as many balls as you'd get from a normal sit down restaurant with a single pokestop. The pokemon are largely normal, but also...

I think I'd mentioned a possible double pokestop at the rooftop gorilla before. It's real and confirmed now, but it's only accessible from the Cherokee Closeouts parking lot (not from the church parking lot) and it looks like they lock the parking lot at night with a giant gate and padlock. Nice part of town.

4 Electabuzzes in one lunch at Olde Rope Mill Park plus an update on the Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta

Today, I went to food court at the outlet mall and found I didn't give it nearly enough credit, the pokestop is spinnable from at least Little Tokyo, nearly on the opposite corner, so at least half the tables in their must be good places to sit and spin.

I took said lunch to a picnic table at Olde Rope Mill Park, where I dropped a lure I was too far away to benefit from until the walk back to the car. However, I did get one Electabuzz on the way in, one on the way out, and two while I ate lunch, in addition to an Oddish, a Bulbasaur, an Ekans, an Eevee a Clefairy and a Magikarp.

Of course, my trip to JJ Biello Park was reliable as always. Second Magikarp not shown because it is already in my belly! I mean, inventory.

Canton, Georgia Bridgemill/Sixes Pokemon Guide Update: Lunch with an Electabuzz in Woodstock

First I went back to Olde Rope Mill Park and there was indeed an Electabuzz there again. Right in the same spot before you leave the straight away and the parking splits. Opposite side of the road as the entrance gym basically. It wasn't as big as the one I failed to get the other day but it was new so that's nice.

Also someone was running two lures on the double pokestop and the amount of good spawns in the parking lot was downright overwhelming. A psyduck, a couple Magikarp, a Slowbro, a Rhyhorn, a Bellsprout a Nidorino, an Abra, a Jigglypuff, a Koffing, a Digglet, and a Meowth. I went here instead of the double Magikarp park and it clearly payed off.

Before that I walked around Woodstock a bit. I ate outside at Canyon Burger. Couldn't quite reach the Bob the turkey gym. Could reach a pokestop. One of the outside tables might have reached two. Another might have reached one stop and the gym. The only reliable place to reach that gym is inside Reel across the street. There are also a number of double pokestop parking spaces along main street if Holly Springs doesn't suit your tastes.

BTW, yesterday I went to Cherokee County Park where there are four pokestops in a small area ( a boat ramp and a pavillion, basically). Two can be reached at once from a trailer only parking spot. Two can be reached at once from the street shoulder. I think you can reach 3 or 4 at once from a picnic table or two but I didn't feel like leaving the air conditioning, definitely at least two. There's a gym as well. The gym is barely reachable from the street but not from the parking spaces.

Sixes & Bridgemill Pokemon Go Guide Update 3: Lunch and a workout (pokestop + gym)

I have no intention of covering all of Kennesaw. It's half an hour away and there's just too much of it. You may as well be in the city. I mean, look at this nonsense. There's double pokestops, triple pokestops one park with like 20 pokestops, etc.

But sometimes you just have to go to Kennesaw, so today while I was there I scoped out a pokestop plus gym in a decent mexican restaurant.  There's one booth where you can reach the pokestop and the gym both reliably. And then there's at least one where you might have to wave your phone around a bit.

The mexican restaurant between Hobby Town and the post office.

Oh, and regarding the Magikarp park on the way to/from Woodstock. Today my take was one Psyduck and one Magikarp. And an Exeggcute on the way in (plus all the balls on the way in and out).

Pokemon Go Guide for Bridgemill, Sixes, Georgia Update 2: A double pokestop where you can eat lunch

A double pokestop where you can eat your lunch

As long as that lunch is in your car. 

Olde Rope Mill Park has two or more parking spots from which you can reach two pokestops at once. Get there early though as the parking spots are often full from people who actually get out and walk the park at lunch. Or bike. Or whatever it is people do. There's another couple pokestops and a gym if you were to do that. But there's a gym you can reach on your way in and out from the shoulder of the road so you've no need to get out at all. 

Further, the pokemon selection is quite good. I saw an Electabuzz in the road by the aforementioned road gym (it escaped; I'm totally going back). I picked up a Slowpoke and a Cubone from one of those parking spots as well. Little River goes right through the park and there's a trail along either side of it (one paved and one not) so I'm sure there's good water pokemon if I actually got out in the oppressive heat and humidity. I'd go there in the middle of the night but it's closed from 11pm to 7am and there's a gate across the road.  It is only 10 minutes from Bridgemill so it would beat out my ultimate double pokestop spot if it weren't closed when I drink my morning coffee.

For lunch options you've got a McDonald's a Chick-fil-A and a Five Guys across the road from the park. Or you can go into the Outlet Shops at Atlanta food court and pick up Charley's Philly Steaks, Johnny Rockets, Little Tokyo, Taquiera Tsunami, Auntie Anne's or Starbucks.

The food court has a pokestop, too.

Oh, regarding that other park where I always get two Magikarp, today it was two Psyducks instead. That's allowed I guess. I also got an adorable little Charmander and a Venomoth in the first parking lot on the way in.

Do Charmanders always come this small or was I just unlucky? Leave a comment below if you know.

Update: A Guide to Playing Pokemon Go in "Sixes"/Bridgemill in Canton, Georgia

As a followup to the post I made on playing Pokemon Go in Sixes/Bridgemill I have some new information in a couple of areas I wanted to expand on.

The nearest double pokestop to Sixes:

*drumroll*

It's in Holly Springs at the Train Depot. Specifically, it's in one particular parking spot in the training depot parking lot (assuming you don't want to sit in the intersection). You can also reach a gym from that same parking spot.

The other pokestop of the pair is at the Covenant of Peace Church across the street. The gym is at the Centennial Time Capsule plaque. You can only reach the two pokestops (with the bonus of the gym) from that one parking spot. Not even from the one next to it. So get there early! Well, actually don't go there at all during the day because Holly Springs is doing construction for a new downtown and that intersection is a mess at the best of times.

What intersection you say? You  could call it the intersection of Holly Street and Main Street, but you'd be wrong. Or you could call it the intersection of Main Street and Hickory Road, but that would be wrong too. If you called it the intersection of Hickory Road and Jackson Street, you'd almost be there. It's actually more like Hickory Road and Palm Street. This area really is a mess, but once you're in that spot you can just spin those two coins every 5 minutes and fight or train that gym forever. Or read your faces book or your tweeters or whatever you're into.

Why is this the best spot to get balls near Sixes? It's the only place you can sit in your car at two pokestops at once that is within 11 minutes of the entrance to Bridgemill. 10 minutes if you live closer to the ass end of Bridgemill by Allesandro's.


Other confirmed double pokestops nearby:

There's a double pokestop at the Krystal burger.

You can reach them both from inside, or in the drive through. I'm not sure if there's a parking spot that can reach them both, but I think so.

On the way to Canton in a strip mall.

There used to be a paranoia haunted house next to the church in this strip mall (Action Church of Canton). No one tell Niantic it's moved. There's at least four parking spots you can reach both pokestops from, if not more. Actually, this is only 8 minutes from the closest Bridgemill entrance, but it feels farther than Holly Springs, so shut up.

In Canton:

 in the front of the Canton Police Station (2 or 3 parking spots by the boy and girl statues)

and at the Arts Center by the cemetery (behind the justice building snug up against the cemetery).

That's not the only reason to go to downtown Canton. Canton has the best drive through pokestops in the area bar none and the traffic is way better than Woodstock. You can drive the loop once or twice and have enough balls to fill your sack. Or you can walk around and have enough balls to take on a gym or three. I think it's a better place to play Pokemon Go than Marietta Square actually, and that place seems quite popular.

There's a few more around as well, but I've not confirmed there's a legal place to park yet, and none as close as Holly Springs.

Again, leave a comment below if you think you know better than me.

A link to the original post in case you missed it.

A Guide to Playing Pokemon Go in "Sixes"/Bridgemill in Canton, Georgia

The problem:

It's hard to play Pokemon Go in the suburbs, especially in a place as deeply sub-sub-sub-urban as Bridgemill. You'd think there'd be an advantage to the topography, there's hardly any Pokemon in the woods or by the lake. There's basically no pokestops except for the churches because there's practically nothing of any historical, architectural or artistic significance and everything is 20, 25 or 30 minutes away. I've heard several times with all those different numbers that that's an Atlanta joke. It's not funny. However, it is true here considering how long it can take just to get out of Bridgemill (10 or more minutes depending on where you live).

pokemon: Pokeballs are scarce in Sixes, real scarce. More scarce than pokemon. After your first few quick levels you won't be getting any balls inside Bridgemill unless you pay for them or use a lucky egg and a few dozen evolves to level up. The exceptions on the extreme edge of the neighborhood: the entrance signs and the playground by the pool. So you can make your own choices but I won't go after bats, rats or spearows after I see the last Pokestop on the way into the neighborhood; what if I end up seeing something I really want? I still go for pidgeys coz the minimal number of candies makes them good experience, but mostly I wait for the odd ones or I end up running out of balls before I leave the neighborhood again. If you do choose to go after all the things be aware that Spearows aren't as bad as deal as the Internet says coz their evolve is 1000XP instead of 500XP.

There are some creeks and ponds within Bridgemill where you'll find more interesting things than the usual birds, bugs and rodents. Along the creeks or ponds you'll find psyducks and magikarp and goldeens and staryu and other things you won't usually see on the neighborhood streets.

noonday creek
little river, which you can walk at olde rope mill park
toonigh creek
blankets creek
downing creek, accessible easily from the nature trail at Barnett Park
all the waterways

Even if you stay on the streets, if you hold out, you'll get some slightly less common pokemon: bulbasaurs, venonats, pikachus, evees, jigglypuffs, staryu, horsea, oddish ,nidoran, krabby, gastly, paras, poliwags, growlithes, clefairys, and probably more (I'm not sure where I got them because they took the cool i-found-it-here map feature away a few days after the game went live).

Gyms: There's actually a fair number of gyms in the area. Maybe as many as there are Pokestops, which is not the usual. Within a couple minutes drive of the entrance to Bridgemill, there's at least 4 Gyms you can capture and/or train at.

The red ones are gyms

Pokestops:

The blue ones are Pokestops.

Of course, I mentioned the Bridgemill entrance signs and the pool. And specifically there's one at the New Hope Baptist Church and two at the Sixes United Methodist Church, and one at the Xtreme Life churchy thing, then up at  the River Church and Blankets Creek but these are the exceptions that prove the rule: there are no Pokeballs in this place. There is really no place in Sixes to replenish your balls; one pokestop every 5 minutes isn't enough to keep you in balls.

Places that were almost awesome: There are two places in the area that were almost perfect places to hang out and replenish your balls: Sixes United Methodist Church, and the Lebanon Cemetery across from the post office. At both places you can just barely not reach 2 Pokestops from one place, by maybe a car length.

The elusive double Pokestop:

I haven't found it,  not around here. Maybe there isn't one nearby, but wouldn't it be awesome if there were a place you could sit in your car and drink your Starbucks and spin two pokestop coins every 5 minutes instead of just one? Please let me know in the comments below if you find one before I do (short of driving to downtown Canton).

Update 8/15/16: I found it! Check the link below.

Places with a Pokestop to eat breakfast:

J Christopher's in Woodstock (only the side of the restaurant that can reach the Century House)

Places with a Pokestop to eat lunch:

Century House in Woodstock (not open until 11)

Places with a Pokestop to eat dinner:

There's that pizza place with the brick oven, also in Woodstock.

The Krystal Burger for reals. Double Pokestop

Places to hang out in your car when it's too hot (or you're just chilling):

The Bridgemill pool parking lot
Etowah river park, there are parking spots that can reach the picnic pavillion pokestop
Virtually any church parking lot
"The Outlet Shops at Atlanta" one exit up has only has one Pokestop, however you can reach it from at least one table inside the air conditioned food court

Once in Sixes, you'll probably lose more balls catching rats and bats and pigeons than they are worth. Ultimately you want to walk in a 5 minute loop of Pokestops so you can spin coins nonstop and the first is reset by the time you are done with the last. Downtown Canton is best for that but Woodstock is nearly as good.

Random Local Tips:

You can get 2 Magikarp every time you go past the gate at the end of the road of J Biello park. There's also 3 pokestops you can hit on the way in and out as well, so you  can come out ahead on balls.

If you sit at the Etowah river park for 2 hours in the evening you are almost certain to get an Eggsecute though during the day you may just see weedles and junk.

Let me know in the comments if you think you have a local tip to share that I didn't cover. I'll edit the post with any new information I get.

Others in this series:
A link to the followup post on a great park to cruise through for Magikarp.
A link to the second update on a great park to eat lunch at.
The third update on a place to lunch and gym a bit out of the way in Kennesaw.