Fall Road Trip Day 5

    The music of the day was actually pretty random.  I have no idea what the Garmin is up to now.  I think it is trying to lull me into a false sense of security, then play the same song over and over for the next 6 hours. 

    Today's ride was a little bit of a grind.  I really haven't had a burn day yet, and I have a long one tomorrow also.  I am most likely going to Denton, and then on Thursday go to Ft Worth.  That will be as good as a burn day.  Then I will be heading for Hamilton, TX for Roll the Bones III.  I actually get so sit in a sidecar and just hold on.

    The day started off in a little town called Cordova, TN.  After talking to the desk clerk, I decided to get up at 6 and be rolling by 7 to beat the traffic.  That also put me out early enough to stop by the Starbucks south of town to get coffee.  While I was sitting there, I spoke to a very nice police officer, who told me that if I waited until about 8:30 or so, the traffic would die off, and I would be less likely of seeing deer.  Then he added that there had been close to 300 deer/vehicle collisions in October so far.  That pretty much convinced me to stay until 8:30.  I was pleasantly surprised that traffic was fairly light, all things considered, and it only took me about an hour and a half to get to the Mississippi River.

    This brings me to something interesting that I have discovered.  After crossing that river 3 times in 2 days, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it was the scariest thing I have ever done on a motorcycle.  I know that you need to stay loose on the bars, and let the bike roll straight.  I know that you just have to stay loose and don't fight the wind. I also know that my entire body was relaxed....except for my toes....they had a death grip on the pegs, through my boots.  I also learned that if I look at the relation of the middle section of the handle bars to the part of my visor that meets the chin bar, I can gauge how heavy the cross wind is.  Shortly after that, I stopped looking at that......

    After my trip through Suburbia, TN today, I figured out how to spot vehicles that are just dangerous.  The more of those stupid stick figure kids on the back, the more room they need.  The more of the sport or cheerleading kid stickers, the more aggressive they tend to be.  On the whole, I am going to be glad to spend tomorrow on pretty deserted back roads all the way to Denton.  I plan on doing the Talimena Skyway, and shooting video.  Then I am just going to burn it all the way back to Denton.

Here is today's route:


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Have fun

Dave