Still Here

What I also decided yesterday after deciding to stay last night in the 'Roadmasters Lodge' was if Dixie would give me the same reduced rate I'd stay tonight to. So I'm still in Folkston - always like this town for some strange reason.
First a few early morning train shots from the porch of my lodge.

Did I tell you, yesterday I choose to do some laundry - wearing the same cloths for several days isn't one of my normal habits. When I went into the laundromat  I was surprised to find they also would do your laundry for you - for a dollar a pound - how nice. Another reason to like Folkston. So today I had nice fresh clothes to wear/
After eating breakfast (would you believe the waitress, after only two previous breakfasts knows me), and watching the trains above go by, doing a little grocery shopping, it was time for lunch. Staying in the Lodge or Caboose gets you a 20 percent discount at Dixie's "Whitslin' Dixie" shop for lunch. Tom (the guy that bought the house two lots down from the Lodge) showed up about half way through my lunch. We talked about a lot of things, mostly his house. He has a home and wife up in Canton, Ga. Hopefully his wife will enjoy coming down here when Tom gets the place all fixed up. Tom been a school bus driver for the last 10 years or so, use to work for the railroad as a 'conductor'. I guess once the railroad is in your blood it never goes away. Don't have any good pics of Tom yet, but here's the backside of him in Dixie's place at lunch - then one of him in his pickup truck.

That's Dixie on the right and my waitress on the right (sorry didn't get her name). Inside lighting was low, so slightly blurry pictures.

That's the tip jar, and the cook? on the right.

This place is fascinating, both what's in it and the building an furnishings. A good deal of what she has inside is railroad related, a lot of paintings of railroad scenes.
Oh, before I forget, I want to say that the BLT sandwich I had for lunch was perhaps the best BLT ever.It's hard to see, but the two light fixtures on the right are something I've never seen before - the light is in the center, but then sticking out on each side is like a regular fan, and it all rotates if memory serves me right.

Here's what main street Folkston, GA looks like. That's the county courthouse at the end of the street.

Here's the inside of the Roadmasters Lodge.

And this is Toms house her bought. You can see the railroad tracks just behind his truck.

Well, the plan for tomorrow is to see how far I can get towards home (about 330 miles). Hopefully it is not raining tomorrow. It has been raining her for the past couple hours now (9pm).

'Careful'

Best not to pack your stuff on the scooter while it's on the side stand, especially parked on the grass. Yep dropped the scoot on the right side while trying to bungee cord the duffle bag.
the fall knocked the top case off and loosened the right mirror. One of the bolts that holds the top case mounting bracket to the rear rack got pulled through the mounting bracket. I went to the hardware store to get a few washers and an allen set to remount it, worked fine.
While I was fixing all this I decided to stay another night - in the Roadmaster Lodge since the Caboose was reserved for tonight. Dixie the owner had said she'd give me a discount next stay - so I took her up on the discount an got the Lodge at a lower rate then I payed for the Caboose.
Spent most of the day watching trains some, getting to know my neighbors in the Caboose, Lenny and his kids Trance and George. There from Blackshear up the road a bit, fact I rode through there both on the way north and again south. This is there first stay in The Caboose. Be interesting to see if any of them can sleep tonight - the parade of trains, especially north bound, sounding there horns no less than a hundred or two feet away.
Here are those pics of the Caboose I promised you'll. Again - click on the pictures to see full size.

 The tracks are about 50 ft from the Caboose.

The Lodge quite a bit biger then the Caboose. One big room in front with room to sleep five people. It's also the living room of sorts, tv, desk, and chairs. Behind that is a full kitchen, stove, refig, sink, plates, siverware and all. Off the kitchen is a full size bath, with good size shower. Pics of the inside tomorrow.

This freight train had to sit here for 5 or 10 minutes to wait for Amtrak to clear. This is the procedure - freights are sidelined to let Amtrak stay on schedule. That fellow in the yellow vest is the Engineer of the freight train by the way.

 These are my neighbors, not the couple farthest, but the gentleman closest, his daughter George, and Trance is way at the end where you can't see him.

This is my view from the porch.

ps It'll be a lot sooner if I get my photo assistant Bob #2.

Riding the Rails - sort of

Called the Folkston Caboose people this morning - Caboose was available so I reserved it. Don't Know where Jenny is - haven't heard from her - so got it to myself tonight.
The Lord rested on the seventh day, so I didn't take any pictures on the road today, save one showing the scoot passing the 10,000 mile mark. The rest of the shots are of the inside of the Caboose.
Today's route was just an invert of the ride up - why ruin a good thing. http://tinyurl.com/6vue2fk

I'll get a copule of shots outside tomorrow. Meet a fellow at the Train Platform that just bought the house a just a few doors away, also backs up to the tracks. Not sure what his plans are for it, but he is fixing/remodeling to bring it up to the modern age - place was built in '47 and was owned by one person up to now. The 57 year old sons swing set from when he was a kid, is still in the back yard.

4 states - 2 twice - 312 miles

What a beautiful day, sun, and some incredible roads. Left Deals Gap Resort at 9am after a nice breakfast. Rode the Dragons Tail north one last time (makes 3 north and 3 south total). Up to hwy 411, then over to TN 360, down to the Cherohala Skyway. The Skyway is a fantastic road, curves, hills to 5800 feet (if memory serves me right), with a speed limit of 55 mph. That puts you in Robbinsville, NC (about 18 miles south of the Gap), and roughly 100 miles traveled. From there I retraced my route to Augusta, Ga. Long days travel, but 2 thirds of it was in the mountains, absolute spectacular riding.
The route http://tinyurl.com/7wuk6b4

Hope those came out alright, service here is terrible, even in the morning.

The morning portion of this ride was cold cold - could have used my long johns if I still got them. I had my winter gloves on , my hoodie (without the hood), scarf, and it was cold enough to have to put my face shield down.
Not real sure where I'm going now - only heading back, more on that later.

The Dragon wins

Sorry folks, no internet access last night. The great Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort is a nice place, good rooms, nice grounds, and a nice big pub/restaurant, but no internet. Every time  I used my computer on the benches outside my room, people would be asking if there was internet service - guess we've forgotten that we can do things on the computer that don't require  the internet.
I left Franklin with some scattered showers in the area hoping I could avoid them. Only caught the slightest of sprinkles, not enough to worry about. I did call Deals Gap Resort from the motel before I let and got the last room they had available, but only for Friday night.
After I got to the Resort and got signed in (but not checked into the room - check-in is 3pm), I decided to run the Gap, 11 miles north then back. Most of the way there was a slight drizzle, until I got within 2 miles of the Resort when it really started to rain. Tops of my pants got wet, and my jacket got well soaked. Not long after getting back it started to rain quite heavily, lasted for about 2 hours before it finally cleared up. Had lunch, dried out a little, and got my room during the rain.
Since it cleared up, with the sun shining again, I took another run at the Dragon. No cops so I really let it hang out (speed limit on the Dragon is 30 mph), hitting some of the curves at 50 mph. What a delight.
At times there must have been 200 or more bikes here, usually in groups ten or so. Seems there are many cars groups come here from everywhere (one group I remember had Indiana plates).
Got quite a few shots for you today, but almost none of the really exciting parts - they require my full attention of course. I need to upgrade my camera equipment to mount on the scoot or helmet. A video camera would be great. Of course the best solution would be a lovely young lady (young at my age is anyone under say 50) Slim (weight counts), small breasted (large makes for to much distance between rider and driver), can live out of a small bag (can't have to much luggage), and of course not be to hung up about sleeping together. Any volunteers, the benefits are great.
The route http://tinyurl.com/breyhmq

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