Another Trip South...: Day 9 - April 11, 2011 (Monday) - Zirconia, NC to Auburn, AL

This was a pretty long day. I left Carola and Stu's place in the morning with my most immediate goal being Two Brothers Tires in Lawrenceville, GA. Here are C&S standing in front of a lovely flowering tree in front of their home:

We bid a fond farewell, and I was off, headed for Lawrenceville, GA. For those who don't know this, motorcycle tires are very expensive (compared to automobile tires), and they really don't last long. I'm sure most of us expect to get about 40,000 miles from a set of car tires. Motorcycle tires are asked to do a much more complex job than car tires, as they must handle varying loads, substantial temperature changes, high speeds (sometimes), and various lean angles on the motorcycle.

When I embarked on this trip, the rear tire on my bike had over 13,000 miles on it. The front tire had about 6,000 miles. My tires were wearing in an odd way, and I thought I'd probably have to replace the tires at some point during the trip. After getting some expert evaluation about wear, I decided that I might as well do so at "Two Brothers Motorcycle Tires" in Lawrenceville, GA (a place about 30 miles NE of Atlanta). Tim and Ernie Keel started out in the landscaping business together, but moved into the motorcycle tire business as they both rode motorcycles, and it seemed a natural thing to do. Now they run a small tire store in Lawrenceville (see photo below), but also run a large Internet sales business for tires:

Ernie's on the left of this photo. He replaced both tires on my bike in one hour...and I can tell you the price was right.

After I paid, I was on my way south again. I ended up going right through the middle of Atlanta, GA at rush hour. I thought I'd found a way around, but messed up somehow. I do think Atlanta drivers are pretty accommodating, and many were tolerant of the tourist on the BMW motorcycle messing with their commute.

Of course, motorcycles do like gasoline to get them down the road. I stopped in a rural Georgia Shell station, and after filling up, used the mens' room. Lo and behold, I found something in there I hadn't seen in decades. Take a look, and test your memory guys:

The price is higher these days, but the commodity is the same.

I arrived at Auburn, AL late in the afternoon, and saw that bad weather was due in the area. Eventually, a tornado warning was issued for Auburn, but no one seemed very concerned about the prospect. As a weather junkie, I kept the TV on, and the computer tuned to accuweather.com to watch the progress of the front. Soon it arrived, and after 15 minutes of intense rain, it was past...and no tornadoes appeared. Here are a couple of photos of the weather passing by: