Got back on I20 east early next morning (June 6th)
and when I reached the MS-AL state line I moved onto Hwy80 towards Montgomery.
Somewhere between Selma and Montgomery I must have lost the oil dipstick
without noticing it. I just plugged the oil tank with an old rag and continued.
At a gas station in Montgomery I stopped to refill the oil and then got
on the phone to call the local Harley dealers, but guess what, they're
all closed on sundays... While I was standing there, a guy with a beat
up pick-up stopped and asked if I need help. I told him and he started
to dig in the back of his truck. A few minutes later he returned with a
bunch of junk in his hands, and one of these things (looked like a knob
of a heater or radiator) actually worked as a substitute for the dipstick
:-)
After that problem was fixed, I took out the maps
to set my final schedule. I had to drop off the bike at Atlanta Int'l on
the 8th before 11am, and I wanted to meet with the Captain in Atlanta the
night before. I checked the distances and figured I'd have enough time
left that day to make the app. 400 mls from Montgomery to Savannah, GA,
so at least I could stick my feet into the atlantic ocean once. And the
next day (7th) the 250 mls from Savannah to Atlanta would make an easy
cruise to bring this trip to an end...
So I entered I85, went off in Opelika, onto Hwy280
to Phenix City, then Hwy80 to Columbus and Macon, and finally hit I16 east
which goes directly to Savannah.
Around 4pm I passed Dublin, and a little bit later,
with less then 100 mls to go, the first drops of rain and thick black clouds
in front of me, made me stop under a bridge so I could put on my rain gear.
But before I was finished with that, I was in the middle of the worst
thunder storm that I've ever seen!! After a few minutes, cars were lined
up in the break-down lane and also in the left lane of I16, until finally
nobody was moving at all. The gutter to my right had become a raging river
about 10 feet wide and even though I was still standing under that bridge,
water flowed around my ankles at least 4 inches deep (glad I'd pulled the
rubber shoes over my boots first).
It took 45 minutes before that torrential rain eased
up a little and the first cars started to move again. Although it was still
raining very hard, another 15 minutes later I took off anyway, so I'd keep
up with my (now pretty tight) schedule. But after just a few minutes water
came in through the collar of my rain suit and ran down my chest, I could
barely see further then 50 feet and 25 mph was all I could do without risking
to crash the bike. So at the next exit I turned around, 70 mls short of
my ultimate goal and rode back to Dublin where I stopped at a motel :-(
The morning of Monday July 7th I strapped my stuff
onto my bike for the last time on this trip and left Dublin around 10am.
When I'd reached Atlanta shortly after noon, I checked the yellow pages
for the local HD shops and rode out to Earl Small's HD in Marietta to buy
me a new oil dipstick. When I had finished shopping I called the Captain,
he advised me where to get a good Motel real close to the Airport where
he'd pick me up at later that afternoon.
He did so and we went to a cool seafood place nearby,
had a few beers, a great dinner, some more beers, losta fun, even more
beers and more fun, in other words, a perfect ending to this vacation ;-)