July 19, 2003 - Ocala, FL

Forecast: 95 degrees, extremely humid

Road Condition: Good. 82 E to Interstate 1-75 S to Ocala, Florida

Fuel: Super Unleaded $1.61

Miles Traveled: Albany, Georgia to Ocala, Florida: 320 (Total: 4,947)

Bike Update: Running good, freshly serviced

Road Trip Log Update: What does a real estate broker and an auctioneer do while on vacation? Yes, that’s right……they go to a real estate auction! Ladies and Gentleman the auction method of marketing for real estate is alive and well in the South. Traveling through Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Georgia we saw over 2 dozen real estate auction signs by 6 different auctioneers. Arriving in Albany we were invited to join our friend Lance Kearce and the staff of Peach State Auction Group, Inc. for a Saturday auction of over 800 acres of land. After the complimentary bar-b-q …the auction was on. After the opening statement JillMarie was asked to come up and sell a tie for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. The tie sold for $310.00! We were also quite impressed as we watched over a million dollars worth of property in 15 tracts sell in less than 90 minutes. The auction staff did a great job and in the end the buyer and seller where both extremely happy. All the interested buyers were brought together at one time to determine the highest price and everything took place in one day. Tim now has the fever. When it comes to selling real estate, what makes more sense: 90 days or 90 minutes? After the auction, the next stop was Flint River Harley Davidson. The shop did a fantastic job of getting us down the road on time. On our way out of town there was one last stop to see the “Ironman Fan Club”. In the friendly true Georgia style, the neighborhood came out at the Kearce home to give us a big send off. Loaded down with little kid hugs, kisses on the cheek, one more hug, and jars of homemade jelly & barb-b-q seasonings we were on our way. The humidity had dropped considerably and the nats began to fade, which made the ride to the Florida border a lot easier. We reached Interstate 75 and knew that we were approaching the vacation mecca of Orlando as huge billboards appeared giving us plenty of reading material. Reaching Ocala was an enjoyable ride. Our next stop will be Miami, the halfway point of 5,500+ miles and our 2nd corner. The Weather Channel is forecasting morning thundershowers and the threat of increasing precipitation. We have gone 19 days with only one brief episode of rain, but it appears that Florida is determined to make us wear raingear. Stay tuned!

Ironman and the girls of Summer
A day at the Auction
Getting Service at Flint River Harley Davidson
Click to see July 18, 2003	Click to see July 20, 2003