Thanksgiving over, it was time to head towards Florida for some scheduled service work. We had already made an appointment for Thursday so knew we didn't need to rush off. Good thing since it was raining on Monday morning and cold. We were on the road late, around 11:30.
Our first stop was at the Stone Mountain Harley-Davidson. We try to stop at as many dealers as we can, Stu collects "
dip dots" and puts them on the side of his tool box in the garage. We also get a second one for a friend back in Virginia. (Dip dots were originally designed to be put on the top of the dip stick and mark the oil change. Then they were changed to reflect the Harley-Davidson dealer. They quickly became inexpensive collectibles (we've paid as much as $3.00 and as little as nothing) and some folks even trade them.
Stone Mountain Harley-Davidson is one of the few we have hit that do not have dip dots.
So after buying a shirt for Stu (he plans to collect one from each state and is well on his way to that goal...LOL!) we continued on south. Our next stop was the
Macon Harley-Davidson. I had been there when the old store was being rebuilt as well when it was complete....it was a stop on the Pony Express Relay for Breast Cancer that I rode in 2003. We got parked and headed in the back service door. We did our usual perusing, checking out the clearance items and looking for a Tri-Glide. Bingo!!
There was a red Tri-Glide on the floor. This was the second one we had run across, both in Georgia (the other was at the
Cartersville Harley-Davidson store). The one in Cartersville fit me perfectly. I could almost flat foot it (although that isn't a huge issue) and could easily pull in the clutch (something I can't do on our current trike, thus I can't drive it in an emergency). This one had both feet dangling in the air and the clutch was much harder...both fixable issues though. We both like the Tri-Glide and there may be one in our future...time will tell.
As we meandered back towards the clothing, one of the gals stopped to point out the clearance rack to us...that was a first for me! We had already picked up a great sweatshirt for Stu - $18!! She was the gal to check us out and while standing there I noticed an unusual shirt...it had "Harleywood Tornado 5-18-08" on it. The gal explained that there had been a tornado through that took down the building next door (which had just been completed) and had planted a two by four in the side of their building. Since there was no structural damage from it, they left it in place and named it "Harleywood" - thus the shirt front. We had missed it since we came in the back. We left via the front door and snapped a few photos with the phone.
We spent the night in Unadilla, GA at the Southern Trails RV Resort (an
Escapees discount park). We got in just after dark but since we only cared about water/electric and the sites were very open/grassy areas, it wasn't difficult to get parked.
Tuesday brought a gorgeous sunny day...the high even made 56 in mid-afternoon. We stopped at at the Tifton Harley-Davidson and the Gainesville Harley-Davidson. Both presented interesting parking but Stu is a pro and got us in and out with a minimum of difficulty.
On Sunday, while still in north Georgia, we had found diesel for $2.40/gal, needless to say we filled up. That was 10-15 cheaper than others in the area. We then planned to stop at exit 2 on I-75 and top off before entering Florida where prices were 10-15 higher than Georgia. We managed to get $2.52/gal at the Flying J there as well as a great lunch.
We ended up the day at the Escapees Sumter Oaks RV Park in Bushnell, FL. We don't know how long we will stay...it's looking dim for our service appointment tomorrow. As of yesterday Carefree said they had no record of our claim that was submitted the week BEFORE Thanksgiving. Grrrr.....we are still waiting to hear back. We may opt to have the parts shipped to TX and get the service work done once we arrive there. We should know more later today..
So today we plan to run errands and get in a nice bike ride. At least the weather is warming here...it was 27 at 7am but the rest of the week the lows are forecast to be in the upper 40's. Phew!
By the way....if you haven't noticed, we now have a link to our calendar in the side of the blog as well as the calendar displayed at the very bottom of every blog page. We hope this will help keep family & friends informed as to our plans....but remember, our plans are pretty much always set in Jell-O. LOL!
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu