At night we fall asleep to the low burble of V8s coming into the parking lot after a night of cruising around town for dinner and various tours through the other hotel lots. In the morning, our alarm clock is the sound of those same V8 cars firing up in the hotel parking lot. We leave at 7 am which is plenty early in the morning, but there's always a contingent that leaves even earlier.

Today's route was another really good one. We wended our way alongside the Talladega National Forest and the hill country of Alabama and Georgia.


For the most part, traffic was light. We had some Power Tour induced traffic at one left turn, but it only took a few light cycles for our group to finally get through and we were able to regroup at the end of a nice winding two lane road and head to a gas stop.Just about every gas station along the route has a car show- these 2 1960 Impalas had serious motors by the sound of them
After a crowded gas stop at the only 2 gas stations in sight, Tara and I let Tim and Lori take over the lead and cruised along at the tail of our group. It's a little pressure relief not being in the lead. You're always questioning whether you are going too fast or too slow for the group, whether you should change lanes or stay together. Worse yet, the fear of missing a turn and taking the group and often a bunch of other Power Tour cars off the route with us. This happens a lot because people figure if they are in a pack of Power Tour cars, they can just follow along. When we detoured into Newnan, GA for our lunch stop, about 10 other cars followed us off the route and into downtown traffic.

Before getting to lunch, we passed a Haunted Chicken Ranch, which had a bunch of hearses stacked up on the side of the road. We also ended up on a great twisty stretch of scenic byway, but were stuck behind a Prius that puttered along at 35-40 mph and slowed down more for the curves. Each time we hit a passing zone, a few of us were able to pass him with extreme prejudice. We really felt bad for the 6 brand new Corvettes that were stuck behind him with us. This would have been a great stretch of road to open up and carve through the corners at what proper people call an elevated speed.Too clucking scary for me
We stopped in downtown Newnan for lunch. It's a neat town and they have some art project where there are painted barnyard animals on each corner. It reminded me of the geckos or whatever they were that were put up in Orlando. There were a bunch of restaurants on the square around the courthouse. Some of our group ate at Mother's restaurant which was a soul food place down an alley. I, Tara, Tim, Timmy, and my folks ate at Meat and Greet which was a really good burger place, with several other options. Tara's still raving about her food.Newnan's Art Scene

It was another early morning for everyone since today was our longest run of the Tour. Again we had cool weather as we left the hotel and headed for Darlington Raceway. Bryson wanted to ride in the Corvette. so my mom hitched a ride with Scott in the G8 which is probably the most comfortable car in our group.

The first third of the route took us on two lane roads through some small towns. I defy anyone to drive through Butts County, GA and not snicker. We passed through the center of two small towns. We ended up behind a farm pickup truck hauling melons and I tried to get Tara to jump out and buy some while we were slowly passing through town. We later saw the guy at a highway rest stop selling the melons.Old Courthouses have some of the best architectureI bet they have bumper stickers that say "I love Beautiful Butts"