Tour de Dixie (Part Nine)

DDT (12)

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Posts: 4120

Sometimes ya just gotta go...

Winter Springs, FL - Occasionally...

Tour de Dixie (Part Nine)

« on: February 27, 2016, 11:44:33 AM »

Tour de Dixie (Part Nine)

Back on the road at last! Sunny sky and the promise of warming temps in the forecast… I’ve learned through bitter experience that a forecast like that can be mighty deceiving. OK, admittedly part of that lies with me, too. I tend to be pretty optimistic, and I also tend to believe what I’m inclined to want to happen will be what actually occurs. For example, …

A forecast of temps in the 60s actually means that is the projected high at a particular place… usually later in the day and only for a brief time, as everybody knows. It would be unwise to leave home early in the morning, obviously, expecting mild riding conditions throughout the day! Unfortunately, however, it is not completely unheard of to find this naïve trekker pulled over someplace adding a layer or two soon after beginning a road trip…

High winds were also predicted, and they were to be coming generally from the west… the direction I was headed. Yep, I had to buck a strong headwind all day, and I also had to give my Gerbigs a serious workout. By the time I’d reached Monroe, LA, I was bushed and ready to call it a day… I did.

I’m not sure, but I suspect I must have looked pretty pitiful when I stopped at the Louisiana Welcome Center to take a much needed break… An older couple who happened by wished me good luck in my travels… their ‘body English’ and empathetic facial expressions spoke volumes! Actually, I believe I was thinking some pretty pitiful thoughts myself right about then, too…

The ride had started off well enough. More than a bit brisk when I looked back over my shoulder to make sure the garage door was down, but also more than tolerable with those wonderful Gerbigs cranked up. Once again I had a good thought for SmokinJoe and the Wild Bunch who turned me on to that fabulous purchase!

The ride from my place over to Meridian, MS, is two lanes part of the way and four lanes the rest. We wouldn’t be climbing up on the Interstate until Meridian, so I took my time and really enjoyed the 130 mile ride. Good thing, too. I didn’t see a lot of LEOs that day, but there were a few out raising revenue… It pays in the long run, I’ve found, to take it easy!

The fines are annoying, of course, but what I really hate are the lectures. I find it difficult sometimes to hold my tongue when some whipper-snapper gives me ‘the lecture’ about the evils and dangers of driving 5 miles an hour or so above the posted speed limit in rural open areas with light traffic and good line of sight all along the route. Shoot son, I sometimes want to say, I was out here doing this before your parents had even entered puberty! I don’t, though.

Nope, somewhere along the way, I usually get a thought about the bad rap those folks get in the media and especially from some politicians, and of how many times they are actually doing really worthwhile stuff. By far the vast majority of LEOs I’ve come in contact with or known personally are stand-up folks doing a tough job. Nope, I just keep my cool and take my medicine… I mean, it ain’t like I’ve ever gotten a ticket I didn’t deserve…

I was hoping for a just right eatery in which to have my morning meal. You know, one with the right look about it and in just the right place, and of course it needed to be on my side of the road… One can be too picky, though, and I’ve certainly confirmed that point many times… like this one.

I finally gave up and pulled into one of Ronald’s places and did the deed. I suppose when I’ve run my tether out to near the end, my standards drop way down and convenience comes to dominate my criteria… Am I alone in this?

The wind had been ‘freshening’ throughout the morning. When ALI and I pulled onto I-20 west-bound, though, it was if a blower had suddenly been turned on in our face! Dang! We’re talking about a full-blown ‘Monica Lewinski’ here, and I immediately knew things about this ride would be much different the rest of the way! I was right!

My first two bikes hadn’t had windshields, and I didn’t give it much thought. However, once I rode a bike with one, I haven’t owned a bike without one since. I was truly amazed in the difference it made in fatigue reduction… I was mighty glad I had one that day, but that fierce wind still wore me slap out anyway riding the rest of the way.

On through Jackson, then onward to Vicksburg. I took a break at the Louisiana Welcome Center just across the river, and took a nice long pause while I considered what might come next. I also did a little map work to more fully get a fix on options for the evening.

I really wanted to get closer to my ultimate target that day, though, so I’d have the option of hitting it early in the morning the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow would be all back roads, so allowance for fewer miles and ‘uncertainties’ needed to be compensated for in advance, if possible.

I was toying with the idea I could make it all the way to El Dorado, AR, that first day, and that would leave me in really great shape. By the time of this stop, however, that prospect was looking far less likely than it had during the planning stages. Monroe was looking increasingly like it might be more realistic, however, and that’s the way it turned out.

Anyway, an uneventful evening in the motel room with the heater cranked up enough to melt plastic, and droopy eyelids that fairly early on slammed shut on me again… Ah, but a great night’s sleep followed, and I felt plumb perky the next morning! Gotta love it when that happens!

DDT


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Bighead

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Madison Alabama