North Alabama Convoy for GA Rally

ALERT! I'm not going. I no longer own "Tinkerbell". Someone made me a good offer on her and she's gone. If you want to Convoy over to GA, it's entirely up to you now.

I'm trying to get a thread started for forming convoys for the GA rally this October.
I posted a poll to see if anyone else was interested.

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OK. Here's the route.
From Huntsville: US 431 over the mountain through Guntersville, Boaz, Albertville, Attalla, Gadsden, right turnoff for Anniston to Oxford. Turnoff for I-20 to ATL.This will be a 4+ hour drive plus approx.40 minutes for rest stops and join-ups.

Convoy join-up any place throughout the drive. Let us know. Cell phones should be used and numbers shared- especially for emergency stops. Walkie-Talkies if you have them (although channel selection may be a problem). CB radios? Ideas?

I propose 10 minute stops at various places to wait for joiners (TBD). The most significant join-up will be in Oxford at
the Cracker Barrel off I-20 (slightly east of Oxford). There's a big parking lot in back there where we can sort out and go. Plenty of diesel fuel there too IIRC.
There are several truck stops on I-20 just past the GA state line at exit 3. This will be a minimum 15 minute stop (more depending on fuel/ bladder needs).
After that, non-stop through ATL to the Rally.

Departure from HSV will be 9:00 a.m. Central Time on Friday October 22.

Departure Point in Huntsville will be from Gibson's BBQ on Memorial Parkway for those who want breakfast before hitting the road. Gibson's is south of the Governor's Drive and Memorial Parkway intersection on the northbound side.

Arrival at the Cracker Barrel in Oxford should be at 1130 (2.5 hours driving avg speed 45 mph). We should hit the Rally by 3:00 (1500 hrs).

Google Map link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Governors+Drive+Southeast,+Huntsville,+AL&daddr=4300+Atlanta+Highway,+Bogart,+GA+30622-2207+(Durhamtown+Extreme+Sports+Otlt)&geocode=FXeqEQIdfm3X-ilBD5eicRNiiDGRCyMs2i5GOw%3BFeTrBQId8B0G-yFs_n1ytl9MKynvVtiuDHP2iDFkwWEh4viNEQ&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=34.270836,-85.039673&sspn=1.820237,3.438721&ie=UTF8&ll=34.157273,-85.0177&spn=1.822691,3.438721&z=8

Depending on your route and when you all are leaving..... I may join. I'm going to be rolling out from Benton, AR.

I will be leaving early Wed morn to beat the afternoon rush hour through "Hotlanta".

I need to be on site Wed afternoon to meet up with Mike and get the MKT set up.

If anyone is leaving that early get up with me and we will make plans......if you are coming from afar I have room at the LZ for
a couple of folks if you want to come in on Tues and leave out with me on Wed.

I will be driving my M275 with a big van trailer so I may not be running at high speed.....I will have a towbar with me in case of
breakdown. I may need some stuff hauled since it will be hard to load big items thru the small rear doors.

I'm not sure which route would be best.
1) US 231/431 down through Anniston, AL and then over to ATL via I-20
2) US 72 through Scottsboro, AL and over to Rome, GA
Other ideas welcome.
I was planning on driving over Friday and driving back on Sunday.

dc,

You didn't say what day you are leaving.

If you are coming by my place, 431 to Gadsden and then 411 over to my place would be the best route. I can give you some shortcuts but they are backroads.

If you are leaving Huntsville and want to cut off some distance (not necessarily time) then you can take 431 to Gadsden and then Hwy 77 south to I-20. You miss metro B'ham that way.

Friday

wreckerman893 said:

dc,

You didn't say what day you are leaving.

If you are coming by my place, 431 to Gadsden and then 411 over to my place would be the best route. I can give you some shortcuts but they are backroads.

If you are leaving Huntsville and want to cut off some distance (not necessarily time) then you can take 431 to Gadsden and then Hwy 77 south to I-20. You miss metro B'ham that way.

Click to expand...

I plan on leaving Friday and returning Sunday (see last line of my previous post). You're leaving on Wednesday, correct?
I still don't know about using I-20. I feel mighty uncomfortable with everything zooming past me about 30 MPH differential speed!

You didn't say what day you are leaving.

Click to expand...

DOH!!!!!

Sorry about that.

I usually hang a "CONVOY AHEAD" sign on the rear of my vehicle to alert other drivers that I am a slow vehicle.

Unless you are heavily loaded you should be able to maintain 45-55 in a deuce on the interstate.

I may be up for a convoy. I say may because I'm going to be in Huntsville around the time of the rally but it's for work. We've got a big job at Teledyne and if it's like most Teledyne jobs it will be a rush job and working lots of hours. If I can get off I'm going to try and make the rally this year. I'll let you know when the time gets closer.

I may go, and if I do it'll be Fri. through Sun. too so I may convoy if it works out. If you don't want to take I-20 you can take Hwy 78 which is a beautiful drive but about 2 hours longer from my house. (Part of it runs through downtown ATL, which would be awesome to make some noise and smoke through)

BTW, once I-20 opens up to 3 lanes it's not that bad since they are actually people going 55mph in the right lane through there.

Depending on my work shift I will be leaving friday afternoon or very early saturday. Driving a M1009 down I 20 thru atlanta and onwards. I will be more sure if i got off my tail and looked at a calander.

dcwilkie: I'm also in HSV and will probably be taking my M818, work schedule permitting. Can you PM me your contact info?

OK. Here's the route.
From Huntsville: US 431 over the mountain through Guntersville, Boaz, Albertville, Attalla, Gadsden, right turnoff for Anniston to Oxford. Turnoff for I-20 to ATL.This will be a 4 hour drive plus approx.40 minutes for rest stops and join-ups.

Convoy join-up anyplace throughout the drive. Let us know. Cell phones should be used and numbers shared- especially for emergency stops. Walkie-Talkies if you have them (although channel selection may be a problem). CB radios? Ideas?

I propose 10 minute stops at various places to wait for joiners (TBD). The most significant join-up will be in Oxford at
the Cracker Barrel off I-20 (slightly east of Oxford). There's a big parking lot in back there where we can sort out and go. Plenty of diesel fuel there too IIRC.
There's a rest stop along the way on I-20 just past the GA state line. This will be a 15 minute stop. I can be made longer or shorter on the fly depending on bladder/ bowel control.
After that, non-stop through ATL to the Rally.

Departure from HSV will be 9:00 a.m. Central Time on Friday October 22.
Arrival at the Cracker Barrel in Oxford should be at 1130 (2.5 hours driving avg speed 45 mph).

Departure Point in Huntsville will be from Gibson's BBQ on Memorial Parkway for those who want breakfast before hitting the road. Gibson's is south of the Governor's Drive and Memorial Parkway intersection on the northbound side.


Contact me directly at cruisair@hotmail.com
Cell Phone is (256) 508-1558
PM me at dcwilkie

I would like to go but have not got my brakes done yet. Taking longer than I anticipated. That is usually how it is. Especially since the truck is over at my friends and he lives 20 miles away. Not just an everyday trip to get there plus the weather has not been cooperative.

Hawkshaw said:

I would like to go but have not got my brakes done yet. Taking longer than I anticipated. That is usually how it is. Especially since the truck is over at my friends and he lives 20 miles away. Not just an everyday trip to get there plus the weather has not been cooperative.

Click to expand...

have you considered an all Saturday wrench thrash?

Invite all the SS members in the area and offer to feed them well (cookout stuff) but in return, you need a few of them to be experience deucophiles who can help you wrench. You should be able to knock out an entire Deuce brake system and wheel bearing service in a day with 4 guys and air tools.

Give it a good shakedown cruise to make sure it's hunky dory and then follow wreckerman out here in October.

I am planning on leaving Augusta on Wed around lunch if possible so I can get there and help set up. I do not have a towbar but if someone is down I will do all I can.. I will have tools and I will bring my air compressor in case although I do not have a generator to hook up power to it on the road but will keep it full of air in case.. I am at exit 194 on I-20. There is a Pilot that is semi friendly... I can change my roll out time as required to meet up with people coming thru..

Hawkshaw.....how far are you from Sand Rock (35983).....maybe we could get together and do some wrenching as Clinto said.

I need to do some work on the M275 to get it ready for the rally.

I have a lot of tools, a big arsed air compressor and 1", 3/4" impact wrenches.....I can spin six lug nuts off before a cat can
scratch his azz. Only prob is we have to work outdoors....deuce won't fit in the shop.

We can fire up the grill and knock a possum in the head.

As I stated before I will be leaving Wed. morn.

I will leave the LZ and hit Hwy 411 at Leesberg, AL, north to Cave Springs, GA...south on Hyw 100 to Cedartown, HWY 27 south to I-20, I-20 east to Mile Marker 138 and then north to Durhamtown.

If need be I can go east out of Cedartown on Hwy 278 to Hwy 100 and then go south to I-20.

Hey Wreckerman I live west of Decatur, the deuce is beyond that about 20 miles. We are going to work on it with my group of friends on 14 August, we should get it knocked out by then. Hopefully my M105A2 trailer will be at the site by the October rally time. Still waiting on my EUC to get approved. We are rebuilding all the wheel cylinders and changing all the brakelines. Doing a full systems flush and hopefully that will put us back on the road. I picked up a 3" 8 point socket which will make the brake job go faster pulling the hubs. That had been the bottleneck in the past. I will keep you posted. Thanks for the offer on the tools but we have an air compressor and air tools as well, they make life a little easier in the mechanic department.

Hawk,

Good deal.

If you leave for the rally as early as I do you are welcome to link up with me.