We had a good run from Florida into Georgia, avoiding the inter state and taking a lesser road which was quite scenic and a lot less chaotic. We spent the night in the Wal - Mart car park in Thomasville and treated ourselves to Subway for tea. Not very exciting I know but after a very long day it was just fine. We studied the map that night and Marty ran over the next day’s route with me to be doubly sure I knew where we were going. All seemed very straight forward.
The Georgia countryside was beautiful, so beautiful in fact that I forgot all about map reading and before I knew what was happening we were crossing into Alabama about 4 inches too far south on the map. (I have no idea how many miles but it mattered to Marty I can assure you). It was an easy fix and again the countryside and small towns we passed through were wonderful. Was easy to forget so many extra miles and time had been added to the days traveling. About 5pm we pulled into Wind Creek State Park about 70 miles south east of Birmingham. The camp was nearly empty as was the lake. The lake was 13.5 feet below its normal level. They are in dire need of some rain.
Next 
morning we had a ring from Gary who told us that according to the Barber web site all the camping for the weekend was booked. A mild panic set in as we had spoken to someone the previous day who said we would be able to get camping tickets on Thursday afternoon. Marty got onto the phone pronto and after a couple of calls to various people he got hold of the booking agents and yes all the camping was full so Marty did a Burt Munroe and said we’d come all the way from NZ and were told we could get tickets at the venue on Thursday. It worked. The woman suddenly remembered she had had a cancellation and there was one spot left on the Hilltop. Would we like that? What a silly question and after parting with $168 we had our three day camping and festival pass. What a relief.
We spent the night at a State Park just South of Birmingham and early Thursday morning we headed out to the Barber Museum and Raceway.
This complex is just amazing. It has to be seen to be believed. The photos don’t really do it justice. Nothing has been skimped on. All the roads within the circuit are sealed, there is parking everywhere and special areas all around the facility for bikes. During the weekends activities there were trams traveling the perimeter roads so there was no need for spectators to drive their cars and cause congestion. All the lanes between the swap meet stalls were sealed as last year it had rained and turned into a mud bath. The loud speaker system was great and could be heard no matter where you were around the track. It makes the Pukekohe circuit look very antiquated.
But first the museum. We bought tickets for the weekend as that gave us entry to the Friday night meet and greet the stars plus Saturday night’s auction and unlimited access to the museum itself. The first person we saw as we were getting our tickets was Kerry Sleeth, a motorcyclist acquaintance from NZ. He was hoping to pick up some gems at the swap meet. We spent all day in the museum. It was hard to believe 6hrs could go so fast. And no I wasn’t bored, I enjoyed every minute of it. Check the photos out. I think it has to be a motorcyclist’s idea of heaven. There are 700 bikes on display at one time with as many in the basement waiting 
their turn. My favourite was the Morbidelli. It was a work of art.
At 5pm we joined the queue to pick up our camping pass. It turned out that our hilltop park was the VIP area. What a view we had. It was awesome. How lucky could we be?
We did a quick flick through the swap meet but came away empty handed. I did fancya late model 650 Yamaha that had 703 original miles on it but didn't have the $4500 the guy wanted. Had an early night so we would be bright eyed and bushy tailed - ready for a busy weekend.
I slept terribly
and felt like I’d been dragged through a 
hedge backwards (Marty said I looked like it) so I let him go off to the swap meet alone. What harm could he possibly do to the budget with just a shoddy plastic Wal Mart bag to carry stuff in? I spent the morning sitting in the sun reading my book and watching the racing from my hilltop position. It was great. Marty arrived back about lunchtime looking very pleased with himself, and with the top box on the bike loaded with goodies. He just wanted a quick bite to eat then he and Gary were going straight back. A couple more small gems found there way back to the camper in the afternoon so his under seat space is now nearly full.
We went to the meet, greet and nibbles at the museum and got to have a look at the bikes that 
were to be in the Saturday night auction. Marty was particularly interested in a 1949 Vincent Rapide. One of the bikes in the museum display was the bike that set the world land speed record 
for a motorcycle and the guest speaker was the bikes designer, 
Denis Manning. His streamliner reached a world record speed of 350.884 MPH.
At 9pm the museum people were trying to close up but the threat of being locked in for the night had little or no effect on the stragglers. It was something they were all hoping for.
Racing starts bright and early here. 8am and the first practice is underway. We went to the swap meet in the morning and then to the trials in the afternoon. That was a bit of a mission to find. No one seemed to know where it was, except that it was in the woods somewhere. We found it just before the first bikes started arriving. There were all sorts competing from Tiger Cubs, to AJ’s to classic Japanese machines. Not many had clear rounds in the section we were watching.
The auction got under way at 6pm and as the Vincent was number 19 on the list we got there early. It was passed in at $26,000. It had a $40,000 reserve on it. A new Harley Factory Dragster sold for $17,000 while a brand new (never used) 1988 850 Ducati went for $30,000. A LE Velocette was passed in at $3700. The owner wanted $4800. A 1960 Triumph Thunderbird sold for $10,500. And so it went. There was no telling what things would go for.
We went back to the camper and were having a quiet game of cards when all of a sudden we could here very loud music. I thought it was our neighbours but Marty went to investigate and discovered there was a band playing in the amphitheatre just down the road so we went to listen. Got there in time to hear the last two songs. There were only about 30 people there. It wasn’t advertised in the program and if the wind hadn’t blown our way we would never have known. Pity really as they weren’t too bad. Don’t remember the name of the band but one of (or their only) big hit was Hot Rod Lincoln so maybe you know who I’m talking about.
Sunday morning was quite busy. We were on our way to the swap meet when we got a call from a friend of a friend who wanted to meet us at the museum so we detoured there. While talking to him George Barber walked past so I got talking to him about coming back out to NZ and different stuff which lead onto a photo shoot and George (I don’t think he’d mind me calling him George) telling us that if we wanted anything at all just get someone to get hold of him at it would be done. We thanked him but said we were doing fine, but if he could just get exhibit #1023 (a Yamaha ? 600 that had won an IOM TT) changed to read that Bruce Anstey was a Kiwi not a Brit we’d be much obliged. He assured us it would be done. He is such a lovely man.
Back at the swap meet I bought another bike jacket. I just couldn’t help myself. I just fell in love with the colour and the price was right. Well according to me it was but Marty said I should have bartered more. Marty didn’t find anything more bits so we went to watch the motocross only to find it was over and done with so we went back to the hilltop and watched some more of the road racing.
About 3.30 we decided to pack up and head off before the rush. We made a detour to see a local motorcyclist’ collection before heading back to the state park for the night. Actually we never made it to the state park as Marty couldn’t get out of the shed. To say he spent 4 hours in there poking in all the nooks and crannies is no exaggeration. My patience and understanding has earnt me a few brownie points and I look forward to redeeming them at some stage along the journey. Thank you Charles for your hospitality. It was fun and topped of a wonderful weekend for Marty.
The Georgia countryside was beautiful, so beautiful in fact that I forgot all about map reading and before I knew what was happening we were crossing into Alabama about 4 inches too far south on the map. (I have no idea how many miles but it mattered to Marty I can assure you). It was an easy fix and again the countryside and small towns we passed through were wonderful. Was easy to forget so many extra miles and time had been added to the days traveling. About 5pm we pulled into Wind Creek State Park about 70 miles south east of Birmingham. The camp was nearly empty as was the lake. The lake was 13.5 feet below its normal level. They are in dire need of some rain.
Next 
morning we had a ring from Gary who told us that according to the Barber web site all the camping for the weekend was booked. A mild panic set in as we had spoken to someone the previous day who said we would be able to get camping tickets on Thursday afternoon. Marty got onto the phone pronto and after a couple of calls to various people he got hold of the booking agents and yes all the camping was full so Marty did a Burt Munroe and said we’d come all the way from NZ and were told we could get tickets at the venue on Thursday. It worked. The woman suddenly remembered she had had a cancellation and there was one spot left on the Hilltop. Would we like that? What a silly question and after parting with $168 we had our three day camping and festival pass. What a relief.We spent the night at a State Park just South of Birmingham and early Thursday morning we headed out to the Barber Museum and Raceway.
This complex is just amazing. It has to be seen to be believed. The photos don’t really do it justice. Nothing has been skimped on. All the roads within the circuit are sealed, there is parking everywhere and special areas all around the facility for bikes. During the weekends activities there were trams traveling the perimeter roads so there was no need for spectators to drive their cars and cause congestion. All the lanes between the swap meet stalls were sealed as last year it had rained and turned into a mud bath. The loud speaker system was great and could be heard no matter where you were around the track. It makes the Pukekohe circuit look very antiquated.
But first the museum. We bought tickets for the weekend as that gave us entry to the Friday night meet and greet the stars plus Saturday night’s auction and unlimited access to the museum itself. The first person we saw as we were getting our tickets was Kerry Sleeth, a motorcyclist acquaintance from NZ. He was hoping to pick up some gems at the swap meet. We spent all day in the museum. It was hard to believe 6hrs could go so fast. And no I wasn’t bored, I enjoyed every minute of it. Check the photos out. I think it has to be a motorcyclist’s idea of heaven. There are 700 bikes on display at one time with as many in the basement waiting 
their turn. My favourite was the Morbidelli. It was a work of art.At 5pm we joined the queue to pick up our camping pass. It turned out that our hilltop park was the VIP area. What a view we had. It was awesome. How lucky could we be?
We did a quick flick through the swap meet but came away empty handed. I did fancya late model 650 Yamaha that had 703 original miles on it but didn't have the $4500 the guy wanted. Had an early night so we would be bright eyed and bushy tailed - ready for a busy weekend.
I slept terribly
and felt like I’d been dragged through a 
hedge backwards (Marty said I looked like it) so I let him go off to the swap meet alone. What harm could he possibly do to the budget with just a shoddy plastic Wal Mart bag to carry stuff in? I spent the morning sitting in the sun reading my book and watching the racing from my hilltop position. It was great. Marty arrived back about lunchtime looking very pleased with himself, and with the top box on the bike loaded with goodies. He just wanted a quick bite to eat then he and Gary were going straight back. A couple more small gems found there way back to the camper in the afternoon so his under seat space is now nearly full.
We went to the meet, greet and nibbles at the museum and got to have a look at the bikes that 
were to be in the Saturday night auction. Marty was particularly interested in a 1949 Vincent Rapide. One of the bikes in the museum display was the bike that set the world land speed record 
for a motorcycle and the guest speaker was the bikes designer, 
Denis Manning. His streamliner reached a world record speed of 350.884 MPH.At 9pm the museum people were trying to close up but the threat of being locked in for the night had little or no effect on the stragglers. It was something they were all hoping for.
Racing starts bright and early here. 8am and the first practice is underway. We went to the swap meet in the morning and then to the trials in the afternoon. That was a bit of a mission to find. No one seemed to know where it was, except that it was in the woods somewhere. We found it just before the first bikes started arriving. There were all sorts competing from Tiger Cubs, to AJ’s to classic Japanese machines. Not many had clear rounds in the section we were watching.The auction got under way at 6pm and as the Vincent was number 19 on the list we got there early. It was passed in at $26,000. It had a $40,000 reserve on it. A new Harley Factory Dragster sold for $17,000 while a brand new (never used) 1988 850 Ducati went for $30,000. A LE Velocette was passed in at $3700. The owner wanted $4800. A 1960 Triumph Thunderbird sold for $10,500. And so it went. There was no telling what things would go for.
We went back to the camper and were having a quiet game of cards when all of a sudden we could here very loud music. I thought it was our neighbours but Marty went to investigate and discovered there was a band playing in the amphitheatre just down the road so we went to listen. Got there in time to hear the last two songs. There were only about 30 people there. It wasn’t advertised in the program and if the wind hadn’t blown our way we would never have known. Pity really as they weren’t too bad. Don’t remember the name of the band but one of (or their only) big hit was Hot Rod Lincoln so maybe you know who I’m talking about.
Sunday morning was quite busy. We were on our way to the swap meet when we got a call from a friend of a friend who wanted to meet us at the museum so we detoured there. While talking to him George Barber walked past so I got talking to him about coming back out to NZ and different stuff which lead onto a photo shoot and George (I don’t think he’d mind me calling him George) telling us that if we wanted anything at all just get someone to get hold of him at it would be done. We thanked him but said we were doing fine, but if he could just get exhibit #1023 (a Yamaha ? 600 that had won an IOM TT) changed to read that Bruce Anstey was a Kiwi not a Brit we’d be much obliged. He assured us it would be done. He is such a lovely man.Back at the swap meet I bought another bike jacket. I just couldn’t help myself. I just fell in love with the colour and the price was right. Well according to me it was but Marty said I should have bartered more. Marty didn’t find anything more bits so we went to watch the motocross only to find it was over and done with so we went back to the hilltop and watched some more of the road racing.
About 3.30 we decided to pack up and head off before the rush. We made a detour to see a local motorcyclist’ collection before heading back to the state park for the night. Actually we never made it to the state park as Marty couldn’t get out of the shed. To say he spent 4 hours in there poking in all the nooks and crannies is no exaggeration. My patience and understanding has earnt me a few brownie points and I look forward to redeeming them at some stage along the journey. Thank you Charles for your hospitality. It was fun and topped of a wonderful weekend for Marty.
2 comments:
Hi you two, thought Marty would have known that the band sounde like " Commander Cody & the Lost Planet Airmen".Link
Be fair Lance, it was hardly a high point in the history of music
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