(Brief) ride report... a good time was had by both.
Day one - Central Texas to Hot Springs, AR, via the Talapia (sp) Scenic Highway or Byway, or whatever. Good ride, ran though a little mist around Waco, rest of day was clear. Stayed in downtown Hot Springs, at the Springs Hotel and Spa. The rate was great, ($60), location great, hotel is an absolute dump. Wi-fi didn't work, picked up the phone to call the front desk, the phone didn't work. Oh well, like I said, the location was great, had a nice dinner at the Ohio Club.
Day two - Hot Springs, AR to Memphis. Pretty good riding for the first half of the day, except for the 0mph tipover, while doing a U turn on a cambered road. Minor scratches on the side case and mirror, but the replacements are on the brown truck for replacement today, as I'm kinda anal, and Garauld's can of Colorite isn't the best match for the black cherry. The only good thing about the tipover is that my buddy also tipped his, at the same time. A car went driving by, and we were laughing at what they must have been thinking. As a sidenote, the tipover wouldn't have happened had it not been for some Garmin chicanery, but that's another story... The second half of the day was pretty much slab into Memphis, after we had our bikes "blessed" at a gas stop, by some fellow Texas riders who were heading to WV. The blessing didn't prevent us from driving through three rainstorms down the road, but maybe we got the Noah version.
Memphis was interesting; we rented an apartment about 9 blocks off Beale Street, and were looking forward to Bikes on Beale, a Wednesday night occurrence. Due to the earlier rain, the event was cancelled, but we still managed to sip a few beers at BB King's. Beale Street reminds me of the tourist trap that is 6th Street in Austin, or Bourbon Street in NO, but without the urine and vomit stench of both of those places. Well done.
Day three - Memphis to Natchez, MS. As a big blues fan, I was looking forward to riding the Blues Highway, and seeing the birthplace of my favorite music. Meh. The first part of the day, running down Hwy 61, made me yearn for the twisties of central Kansas... We did stop in Clarksdale for breakfast, at the local McDonald's. Where Robert Johnson traded his soul to the devil, I traded $4.74 for a #4, medium.
The second half of the day was a bit more interesting, as we ran down a portion of the Natchez Trace. Some folks think this is boring, but I'm a guy that loves untrampled nature, away from all the 24" rims and Dollar Generals. We ventured off the Trace in Port Hudson, in order to take a peek at Windsor Ruins, and that is a very cool stop. Got back on the Trace and stayed at a nice Hampton Inn right on the Mississippi, only blocks away from Bowie's Tavern, where I mentioned to our waitress that it's spelled "Lagunitas", not "Langunitas". She had to bring up this misspelling to the manager, making sure my burger had a fair amount of spit in it.
Day four - Natchez to the house. Yuck. No offense intended, Pants, but the roads in Louisiana SUCK! My kidneys were never more grateful than when we saw the Welcome to Texas sign. Of course, that led to another half day of riding in Texas, which, let's face it, outside of Central Texas and Big Bend, ain't that much to speak of.
All in all, the trip was fun, and the Feejer ran like a champ. Like I mentioned, new plastic is on the brown truck, and I also have Canyon Cages, front and rear, on order. It's an '07, but rides like this reminded me of why I'm glad I have it in the stable, to go along with the new F6B.
