I have finally recovered enough from riding 3 days in 100+ degree heat to share some of the details.
As fate would have it Serk was looking to add an Interstate to his stable and I had a 99 Interstate that I was looking to sell.
He mentioned that he had an ST1300 that he needed to sell before purchasing an Interstate.
Since an ST1300 was on my short list of bikes that my mind thinks I'd like to have, I suggested to him that I could be open to a trade deal.
He was open to that idea so we began to make arrangements and preparations.
The Interstate would need a new rear tire to make the trek to The Lonestar State.
Since Serk was already a Darksider it didn't make sense to put on a MC tire that he didn't really want.
This would give me a chance to take a little walk on the darkside and see if I liked it.
So, I darksided her.
Before, I left I had to get a pic of all three phat gurls together one last time:
from L to R, 1999 Interstate, 2000 Interstate, 2001 Interstate
How I wound up with 3 black Interstates is a story in itself.
I left last Wed after work and headed west.
It doesn't take long from Roanoke to get to TN:
But it does take a long time to get from Bristol, TN to Memphis, TN.
My goal for the first night was to make it somewhere west of Knoxville.
I made it to Kingston, TN and got a room at the Lakeview Inn for the night.
This turned out to be a decent choice, it was clean, cheap and there was a restaurant and a bar within easy walking distance.
Miles covered on Day 1: 295
Early the next morning I made the easy jump back onto I-40 W and set out to make it to Hope, AR for the night.
I made it to Nashville before it started getting hot.
Nashville would turn out to be some of the worst gridlock that I would encounter on the entire trip.
Between construction and poorly designed interchanges it was bad!
Somewhere, west of Nashville the traffic came to a complete stop.
Since it caught me at an exit I jumped off and consulted a good old fashioned paper map for a detour.
Time and mileage wise the detour probably didn't make much sense but it would keep me from sitting in the hot sun for God knows how long.
So I decided to take it.
The detour turned out to be a pleasant diversion.
It took me along some decent twisties and let me see what I thought of the new CT.
And, I found a pretty good little place to eat at:
Coble General Store in Centerville, TN.
The store is mostly a restaurant that is ran by an older lady that specializes in home cooking.
The food was good and the conversation pleasant.
After a few more twisties and a couple of small towns I was back on I-40W.
Memphis proved to be much easier to get through than Nashville but by now it was past getting hot and well on its way to being Damn Hot.
The Arkansas state line was a welcome sight, mostly because it meant that I was finally out of TN.
(There's always something cool about crossing the Mississippi River).
I hit the rest area to take a break and pick up a paper map of Arkansas.
By now the heat was becoming brutal.
For the first of what would be many times throughout the rest of the trip I used a spigot to drench myself with water before getting back on the road.
This helps but not for long.
By the time I got to Little Rock, AR the heat and the sun were so bad that I was riding beside 18 wheelers for as long as I dared just to be in the shade that their shadows were creating.
I was tired and getting hungry but traffic was really heavy (I had hit Little Rock during the evening rush) and I decided to wait until I got into thinner traffic to stop.
By chance I wound up getting off at the exit for JJ's truck stop.
Usually, I avoid truck stop diners but I was ready for a break and some AC.
It turns out that the meatloaf special wasn't bad.
After an hour or so in the AC and a pitcher of Iced Tea I was ready to finish the ride to Hope, AR.
The AC was already on in the room which was welcomed.
I turned it down to a nice 66 degrees and proceeded to sit down in the recliner in front of the AC unit for a few minutes.
That few minutes turned into a 2 1/2 hour nap.
No problem, there was a convenience store near the hotel where I could grab a beer.
It turns out that Hope, AR the home of former President Bill Clinton is in a dry county.
The clerk informed me that the nearest place to get an adult beverage was 30 miles away.
I was really looking forward to ending my day with some cold beer but I didn't have 60 more miles of riding left in me.
Total miles covered on day 2: 404
Serk and I were meeting in Atlanta, TX which wasn't far from Hope, AR.
So I could sleep in or do a little exploring, I chose the latter.
It turns out that I wasn't far from Broken Bow, OK which is on my short list of places to move to when the wife and I finally retire.
So I thought, why not check out Broken Bow, OK?
This would be the first time that I had been to Oklahoma.
While most states have rest areas or official welcome centers at their state lines:
Oklahoma has a genuine roadhouse bar.
Between that and the speed limit on this 2 lane road going from 55 to 65 mph, I'm thinking that I'm going to like Oklahoma.
Broken Bow is a small quaint little town and the few people that I met there were friendly.
I see a vacation there sometime in the near future.
Leaving Broken Bow the intention was to head to Atlanta, TX with a quick detour through Texarkana, TX to pick up some Coors beer.
Somewhere along the way the gps rerouted me without my knowledge (thanks a lot Google) and I missed going through Texarkana.
I rolled into Atlanta, TX to meet up with Serk right around noon as planned.
It was definitely getting hot, I don't think that I've ever been so glad to walk into a McDonald's.
We kicked tires for a minute, exchanged paperwork, license plates and conversation and the deal was done.
Serk was now the proud owner of a 1999 Interstate and I a 2004 ST1300.
It's really funny how these Phat Gurls become a part of you.
I bought the 99 in 2006.
She was my first Valkyrie and the best running one of the three.
My emotions were mixed, I was a little sorry to see her go.
If I only had 2 Valks I doubt that I would've let her go, but I simply had no need for 3 Interstates.
Knowing that she was going to a good home and was essentially, "staying in the family" brought me assurance that this was a good trade.
So, Serk and I said our goodbyes and set off on our separate ways.
It wasn't long before my new stead and I were in Louisiana:
(Take notice of the cooler on the back)
While, I was taking the obligatory state line pic an elderly couple parked across the street got my attention and told me that I might want to take a picture over there.
From across the street what they were talking about looked like an ordinary highway marker.
It turns out that it marks the exact spot that Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas come together:
My goal for food was to enjoy some fine Cajun cuisine.
Through the internet and some suggestions from here place that I had picked was Herby K's in Shreveport, LA.
By the time that I made it there the temps had soared to 106 degrees and the sun was brutal.
The food was excellent, and the beer was good and cold:
Leaving Shreveport my goal for the night was Natchez, MS
I wanted to see some of Louisiana so my plan was to stick to back roads.
My phone was getting pretty low on juice so I had written down the turn by turn directions before leaving Herby K's.
The heat was still brutal which resulted in a lot of required stopping for breaks.
This was a welcomed one:
I contemplated going for a swim but opted not to.
I've watched enough Swamp people to know that there are lots of Alligators in Louisiana.
It turns out that in Louisiana the pavement seams turn into speedbumps.
At this stop I discovered that one of those "Speed bumps" had relieved me of my cooler and the cold drinks that it contained.
Another thing that I discovered about northern Louisiana is that convenience stores are few and far between.
It would be awhile before I found that much needed cold drink.
I never knew that I could drink a 32 oz Gatorade in less than 2 minutes.
Somewhere along the way I began to think that maybe I had missed one of my turns.
So, I began to inquire of people how to get to Natchez.
It turns out that there is a place called Natchitoches and that when listening with Virginia ears Natchez and Natchitoches sounds a lot alike.
It seems that I may have spent a lot of time zig zagging first towards one and then towards the other.
This ate up a lot of time and kept me from making it to Natchez before stopping for the night.
The only thing that there is less of in Northern Louisiana than convenience stores apparently is hotels.
After asking several people (all of them friendly and helpful by the way) I found a room at the Motel Maxx in Pollock, LA.
It was clean and I had purchased a couple of adult beverages when I got gas so I was set for the night.
Total miles for day 3: 364
Getting an early start was essential since I needed to cover some miles and cover as many as I could before it got unbearably hot.
With a full charge on my phone I was headed for Natchez, MS and the Natchez Trace.
Crossing the Mississippi River for the last time on this trip I left Louisiana behind and said hello to Mississippi:
Finding the Natchez Trace was relatively easy:
(notice that the cooler is now missing?)
Similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway in design, the Natchez Trace was on my bucket list of roads to ride.
So, I wasn't going to be this close and not take a little spin on it.
The Natchez Trace is all about the history of the Trace itself:
One of the more interesting things is the Sunken Trace:
It's pretty wild how centuries of people and animals travelling along the same path eroded it so significantly.
I would've liked to have visited the Windsor Ruins but with being pushed for time and the heat of the day starting to build in, I just couldn't manage the 22 mile detour.
Oh well, at least I have an excuse to come back someday.
I only rode the first 70 miles of the Trace to the exit for Jackson, MS.
I'll come back and finish it sometime, for now I needed to cover some miles.
In Jackson I found a little hole in the wall that served up some really good Catfish:
Riding Interstate was the best way to cover some miles, so I-20 East it was.
It wasn't long before I was in Alabama:
But by now the heat was beyond brutal, hitting 106 degrees.
I found myself stopping at every rest area along the way and drinking and drenching myself with water.
Just as an FYI: Driving through Birmingham, AL is not an experience for the timid or the faint of heart.
When the sun finally went down the temp reduced to a cool 95 degrees.
I really wanted to get as many miles behind me as I could before stopping for the night.
I gave up the ghost in Cleveland, TN around midnight and got a room for the night.
Total mileage for day 4: 645
I wanted to stop at Cycle Gear in Knoxville, TN to get me some new rain gear.
I wasn't far away and they didn't open until 10AM so I slept in a little bit.
It turns out that was a bit of a wasted stop because they didn't have any rain gear that I liked or was a comfortable fit.
Day 5 brought relief from the heat in the form of rain.
Normally, I don't like riding in the rain but the ST 1300 provides a good bit of rain protection and it was good to be out of the heat.
I made a detour through Pigeon Forge, TN to get a Fuddrucker's Burger, I Love me some Fudd!
This also let me try out the ST1300 on some twisties that are along the back way out of town.
It likes twisties!
I rolled into the driveway about 9:30 PM, glad to be home and completely worn out.
But it was a good trip and an adventure!
Total miles for day 5: 393
Total miles ridden: 2,101
