May 28th - You never know
who will go on a ride when it involves long distances. When it
may mean riding over 500 miles in one day and/or being in the saddle for over 12
hours. Oh, it always sounds good when it is three months off, but as the ride
date approaches, commitment and priorities seem to battle against your desires.
Which is stronger? Will your true love for riding show up?
Sandee Bible, Larry and Mildred Johnson have that love and they did not let
anything deter them from going today....not even the rain.
We left Knoxville today pretty much as planned. The weather
radar showed severe storms just West of I-75 but we had no choice but to go.
Delay would only mean riding after dark and that is something we wanted to avoid.
We hit the road and found there was no rain in Knoxville. No sun, no wind and just enough overcast
sky to keep the hot
sun in its place. Knoxville traffic was light so we made good time through town.
I-75 looked good too even though the skies were threatening. The temperature was
perfect for riding in a T-shirt.
Traffic in Chattanooga was a mild annoyance but we did beat the 4:00 rush by a
few minutes. There were a few sprinkles on the way through town. As we turned
South on I-59, we did run into a few mild showers. No wind or lightning but just
enough rain to make the road wet and to get your clothes damp. It rained at a moderate
level for about 10 minutes and Sandee grumbled that her boots were soaked.
As I type this, we are at the Motel 6 in Gadsden and just finished a wonderful meal at the
restaurant next door. Ready now to kick back and relax for awhile. Oh yeah. One
other thing that is a little annoying. Yesterday, my rear tire was very low on
air pressure. It was inflated to 32 lbs. but is low again today. Down to 8.5
lbs. here at the hotel. We will see. No pics today.
May 29th - I was up all night worrying about that
tire. But I decided to try making it the rest of the trip using Larry's built in
air compressor on his Gold Wing.
We left our hotel about 7:00 AM local time and rode about a half hour South
bound before stopping at a McDonalds for breakfast. Back on the Interstate and
nearing 8:00 AM, I saw a HD dealership just before we got to Birmingham. I
decided to stop just to see if they could replace the tire in a reasonable time
period. Maybe the rest of the gang could proceed and I would catch up to them
tonight in Jackson. I know, first I wanted to try it on the tire, then I kept
thinking about the gash in the tread. Good news, the dealer can do it in less
than an hour....and, they did it in less than an hour. Everyone elected to wait
on me.
We ran into a slight shower near Tuscaloosa and later,
one more severe that required rain gear, so we
ducked under a overpass near Meridian for about 1/2 hour. But the rain was
minimal today. The further South we went, the better the sky looked.
The GPS took us direct to the Southern most end of the Trace.
From Natchez to Jackson, I was reminded about the wonderful scenery along
the Trace. Rich with Civil War history, this well manicured roadway has similar
characteristics to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is a National Park which allows No
Commercial Vehicles and is well maintained.
The Speed Limit is 50 mph and that is easily maintained on
this portion of the road. The right-of-way is maintained with finish mowers
which remind you more of a golf course than a highway. There is a lot of old
growth forest along the Trace. When you leave the main highway, there is a drop
in the air temperature along the highway.
We are in Jackson, Mississippi tonight. 535 miles today has
left us sun burnt and tired. Tomorrow and Monday will be easier days by design.
May 30th
- A wonderful day on the Trace from Jackson, Mississippi to Florence,
Alabama. Only about 250 miles today but a lot of stops for site seeing and
breaks. We took several photos of a lot of the places we stopped but could not
post them all for lack of disk space.
This is my third trip up the Trace and I am quickly beginning
to believe it is one of the best roads in the East. Definitely the Southeast.
We bypassed Tupelo (birth place of Elvis) and again, I did
not get to see the battlefield. We did stop at the Visitor's Center so Mildred
could buy T Shirts for the grand kids.
Debi Nelson came over from Huntsville to meet the group and
join us for dinner at Applebees.
We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Florence. As you probably
know, the weather was terrible this night as fast moving storms moved through
the area tearing down trees and power lines. The hotel evacuated almost everyone
out of their rooms and into the lobby when a tornado warning was announced. I
later looked out the window to see the cover partly blown off my bike so I went
down stairs to fix it around 1:00 AM
Things look bad for tomorrow. Hope morning finds an
improvement in the weather.
May 31st
- The clouds outside look awful. It is raining a little and looks like it is set
in to rain all
day. But the radar on the Weather Channel shows the rain is moving out to the
east. Since we have to ride 20 miles West to the Trace, then North to Nashville,
I see a little delay in our departure might keep us dry by riding behind the
front. We might just follow
the storms and follow them to Knoxville.
We got on the Trace at the Rt. 20 Intersection and started
North. Almost immediately we started to see uprooted trees and debris all over
the road. About 5 or 6 miles North, we had to detour around some fallen power
lines. But as we headed North, everything improved. No more signs of high winds
and the Sun came out. Temps cooled as the front was moving past us making this
another wonderful day.
The level, lazy curves of the Trace started to give way to
more sloping angles and sharper curves. Hay fields and lakes turned to hills and
waterfalls. Still interesting to ride, the Trace went through a subtle
transition as did the terrain on which it was built....and then we were there.
From it's southern most, to it's northern most points we rode the Natchez Trace.
