Tour de Dixie (Part Ten)

Tour de Dixie (Part Ten)

No clouds, very light wind, and all back roads that day lay ahead, so fairly early on we eagerly hit the road heading northwesterly this time. More than a bit brisk, though, so those wonderful Gerbigs were once again fully employed to ease the chill.

I decided to delay breakfast hoping to stumble upon some mom & pop café to drop by. Once again that didn’t happen… I finally gave up after a hundred miles or so and dined under the omnipresent Golden Arches. But that turned out to be a good thing, actually…

Some of the local folks wanted to chat with this peculiar looking vintage biker dude with wires hanging out of his jacket waist and sleeves. Everyone was pleasant and seemingly genuinely interested in listening to me. Hey, I’m no ham, I don’t think, but I admit I do find it difficult to pass an opportunity to ramble on to an approving audience… And, I like to study them, as much as they study yours truly…

Most folks get trapped into a life with little adventure and few options. Most don’t out right choose that life, but much of it is the result of choices they’ve made, or not made, along the way. Yeah, some of it comes from the roll of the dice in the crap game of life, too. But, for whatever reason, we often find ourselves realizing at some point that we’re far enough along and so heavily invested in the status quo, we can’t risk initiating any major changes… and that’s when we also realize we’ve become more or less trapped. Sad, really…

I think many look at guys like me the same way I once looked at guys like that too… and envy the freedom to wander about. Accountable, answerable, or beholden to no one… Not a wage slave, nor a duty bound ‘partner’, parent, or job holder. That latter description pretty much describes the man I was once upon a time… And, it probably explains why I treasure my current circumstance so dearly.

Mighty friendly folks in these parts! I even received some unsolicited advice on possible routes for riding. I decided to stay with my original route plan, however, as I was on a mission after all. Still, I couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of gratitude for the helpfulness offered… and the generous nature of the folks I was meeting. Talk about getting a lift! I felt great all day.

The roads were in varying states of repair, some in minor states of disrepair. All good, though, and there were absolutely no traffic issues at all… and no road rage whatsoever seen or felt! No elevation attributes to speak of on this stretch of highway, but winding two lane roads and lots of rural territory to soothe the senses and challenge the rider. Once again I was celebrating the life my Creator has given me, and feeling tremendous satisfaction at the way things have worked out. Yep, I’m a mighty fortunate lad!

I rode up to Waldron, AR, and stopped at the same motel Mitch and I had stayed at on our visit several months before. No room! All booked up because of construction crews working nearby.

Another motel across the road had some vacancies, however… But… while that place is marginally acceptable, especially under the circumstances… it for sure ain’t the Hilton! Arguably, its best feature is its proximity to an eatery next door. A decent ‘Country Boy Burger’ and sweet tea did just fine for an evening meal…

I broke with tradition that night, and I uncharacteristically sought help before I actually got lost! Yep, I called Mitch to see if he might remember where that ‘special’ cafe was. I’d narrowed the route possibilities down to a couple, but I couldn’t afford to spend too much time exploring all of them on this trip.

If past truly is prologue, then I possibly could spend a couple of weeks blindly running up and down the many roads and highways without ever finding that special place. I have a couple of scheduled appointments next week, and rain is again in the forecast for Monday at home, Sunday here, so this trip really needs to be more efficient than the one I might end up having to do just for a doggone sandwich.

Well, it was a darned good thing I’d made that phone call! Fortunately for me, Mitch had made a few notes on that original ride, and we soon discovered all of the possibilities I was looking at were wrong! Yep, if I hadn’t called, I would not have found that place… again! Mitch suffers no navigational deficiencies that I know of, so with renewed confidence I could then retire for the evening confident in success on the morrow…

The long awaited and eagerly anticipated day actually had a mixed start. Because I’d fallen asleep so early, I awoke just past midnight… Nothing else to do but get up until I felt sleepy again. I don’t lie in bed awake. And, only rarely do I even watch TV in bed… motel rooms being the principle exception. Heck, I don’t even have a TV in my own bedroom.

Nope, beds are for two purposes only, in my view… Well, spare beds can be used to collect junk, but that’s just a technicality. The good news was that I began thinking about the phone conversation with Mitch a few hours before. Then, a light bulb brilliantly illuminated just above my cranial cavity!

It might have been my ‘beta state’ (that special in-between zone we’re all in when we first awaken: No longer asleep, but not yet fully awake either) that caused that miraculous revelation to tumble out of the archive of my recollector muscle… Who knows, but it was significant… and profoundly trip altering!

What I’d suddenly realized was that we hadn’t departed directly from Waldron, AR, on our original ride at all. Nope, we’d backtracked to Mena to take a picture of Big Foot to send to Gordon (Lucky 13)! That’s where we’d picked up the road we wound up taking, and that’s why it had been so elusive for me subsequently! I’d been using Waldron instead of Mena as the start point. Who says I can’t navigate?

DDT