The Great Georgia Thunderbird Road Rally!
May 4-5, 2002
(For owners of the 2002 Thunderbird and earlier-year Thunderbird’s)
May 4, 9:00-10:30 am
The Great Georgia Thunderbird Road Rally’s flock of Thunderbird’s is to gather at Chestatee Ford, located on GA400 approximately 6.5 miles north of the intersection of Hwy53, on the right-side of GA400 and at the 2nd traffic light north of that intersection.
This will be the initial meeting spot to begin our road rally. The local press has been contacted and may be there to interview us. Coffee and snacks will be served.
Everyone should plan ahead to fill up their
fuel tanks prior to gathering the “flock”.
If anyone needs additional directions to Chestatee Ford, please call them at 770-535-7103
Our “flock” of Thunderbird’s WILL be taking off at 10:30am, so please be there on time.
May 4, 10:30 am
Leaving Chestatee Ford, we plan to drive north through Dahlonega, to Suches, then along the scenic, winding roads of the Smoky Mountains, to a nice viewpoint where the Appalachian Trail crosses. We plan to stop there for photos. Continuing along through the mountains, we plan to arrive at Brasstown Valley Resort for our lunch stop.
May 4, 12:30 pm
Lunch awaits us at Brasstown Valley Resort. Here they serve a very good buffet-style meal or items straight from the menu. The cost for the buffet is approximately $12.03 per person. An area will be reserved in the parking lot for our cars.
May 4, 2:00 pm
Leaving Brasstown Valley Resort, we plan to turn south to Lake Burton, where we will follow the lakeshore and stop for some great photo opportunities, with the lake as our backdrop.
May 4, 4:30 pm
Arriving at Unicoi Lodge, where we will check into our rooms for the night, we will have an area reserved for our cars. Here we can take time to rest or to explore the sights in the area on our own or with other members of the group. You can see a list of activities in the area at the website for the lodge at:
www.unicoilodge.com
May 4, 6:00pm
See the update for the Saturday evening plans in a separate post below.
May 5, Breakfast
Breakfast at the Restaurant at Unicoi will be served for our group. A private area in the restaurant will be reserved for us. The menu and prices are available from the lodge ahead of time for anyone interested.
May 5, 10:00 am
Checkout time for our rooms at Unicoi Lodge.
We plan to gather the Thunderbird flock in the parking lot for the continuation of our journey.
May 5, 10:30 am
Leaving Unicoi Lodge, we will travel up to Georgia’s highest elevation at Brasstown Bald. There we plan to spend 1-2 hours exploring the mountain-top, their exhibits and movie. They have a large parking area that should easily be able to handle all of our cars in a single area of the parking lot. Lots of photo opportunities await us at this location, with or without the cars.
May 5, 1:00 pm
Leaving Brasstown Bald, we will head over to the scenic Richard Russell Parkway. From there we will then decide our final route back, either through Helen or another route back to GA400 and back home to our nests.
FOR THOSE PLANNING TO JOIN OUR THUNDERBIRD ROAD RALLY
1. Please make your room reservation at Unicoi Lodge. They have given us a group room rate which is good for any of the rooms that they offer, including their cabins, for a rate of $99.00, plus tax. Call them at 1-800-573-9659. Mention that you are
part of the “Metro Atlanta Thunderbird Club” and our reservation number (79478). They will ask you for your arrival date, which is May 4. Make sure that you specify which type of room or cabin that you want to reserve.
2. Please send us an e-mail to MetroAtlantaThunderbirds@******* so that we will know that you have made your room reservation and also how many people will be joining you. Also a contact name and phone number would be greatly appreciated for any possible last-minute changes to the plans.
Please note:
This event is planned to take place rain or shine. Hardtops are optional, but softtops are encouraged if the weather permits. Make sure to bring your cameras and plenty of film.
Cell phones do not work in certain areas of the mountains, so we will provide 2-way radios for the front and rear cars to communicate with one another. The deadline for room reservations at Unicoi Lodge for the above mentioned rate is good until April 4. After that, our block of reserved rooms will be released. We only have 35 rooms blocked-off for us. The cabins at Unicoi lodge will go fast, so make your reservation early.
See everyone again, soon! There will be lots of new faces and cars to join with us for this great event!
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