Another typical morning with the exception that Phil planned to leave with us today, since we were all going to split up around Nashville anyway. He decided to stick with Allen and Dennis to finish the route home. We gathered that the one day that he traveled 650 miles by himself pretty much proved to him that 500 miles a day was enough.
While we were waiting to leave, we met a group from Ft Walton Beach, FL. They had had the same idea to travel as a group and they also had said that they had such a good time that they were maybe going to go to Laconia, NH next year. I gave them my email address and a link to the website and told them if they were going to Sturgis again to keep in touch.
We left the hotel. The weather was 57 degrees. Now wait a minute, we're going south, shouldn't it be getting warmer rather than colder? At this point, I have on 5 shirts and it is too cool for me. So at the next stop, I added my rain suit jacket and my leather gauntlets. The guys were happy about that si it seemed to them that when you wore your rain gear, it didn't rain. They said I was taking one for the team. Great, where is my prize? No prize, just a pat on the back. We're ready to leave the gas station and Allen and I take off with Phil behind us. We get to the traffic light and before I57 and we see Ricky and Dennis are still in the parking lot with Ricky waving his arms. So I waved back. Then he motioned us back. We turned around to find them still in the parking lot and Dennis can't get the Bullet started. All this trip he has been saying what a great bike it is, no problems, won'te break down, yada yada yada. Now it won't start up. So the guys rally behind the bike and push it around the parking lot and can't pop start it. A fellow in a truck walks over and asks if he can help and says he has some tools. They check and find that it appears to be a bad spot in the starter, just like Allen had in Memphis. So Dennis takes off the cover, puts the magic screwdriver in it, presses the button and VA-Roooom, off it goes. So much for the perfect bike. Off and running we head on down the road.
We made a stop for gas in Clarksville just on the north side of Nashville, TN. Ricky and I decided that we really didn't want to tackle Atlanta traffic around rush hour by ourselves and with the storm coming in and moving east figured if we got behind it we would have a better trip home. We all said our goodbyes and talked about what a great trip it had been and thinking we should do it again but mabye to a different location next time. We got on our bikes and headed out onto the highway. Allen took off and nearly left Dennis and Phil standing. Ricky pulled up to me, shrugged and said "Nearly 4000 miles and he just now finds the gas?" I don't think I've ever seen Shirley run so fast. In no time, they were out of sight.
Ricky and I just took our time, not like we were going to make it home tonight anyway. We still had some 800 miles to cover. We went through Nashville and took I65 south toward Alabama. We decided to get try to get to Birmingham and cut off the SW corner of Georgia and make a diagonal route for home. We had barely made it into Alabama when we hit rain. It was slow going, lots of traffic and the wash from the truckers was just not something Ricky wanted to continue on in. We got around Cullman and it was not letting up. Just that drizzling kind of rain that is just plain annoying. We pulled off under a bridge and added the rest of the rain gear and set off again. We stopped for gas just north of Cullman, AL and both of us got ripped off at the pump. It's only a few cents but it is the principle of the thing you know. It's only a little after 3:00 pm in the afternoon and we getting wetter. Ricky pulls off under another bridge. He says "I'm ready to call it a day, I am literaly falling asleep in this rain". I'm thinking how is this possible, I'm too cold to fall asleep. So we get off at the next exit and check into an Econo Lodge. We had only gone about 350 miles that day. We got to the room, turned on the weather channel only to find that we were smack in the middle of this storm. Not only a storm but there were tornadoes about 100 miles south of us. Whe he said he was tired, he wasn't joking, he was out cold by 4:00 pm. I think I dozed off for an hour myself. But I got up and started working on the computer. Allen called us around 7:00pm to let us know that he had gotten home around 5:30pm and that woke Ricky up. Then Dennis called from his rehearsal to let us know he was home and to check on our status. We told him about the rain. Rick said "It's Roy's fault, cause he left us". Then it was my fault for taking off my rain gear. Then it was Dennis' fault for leavuing us in Nashville. It's "Everyone's fault BUT MINE"! he says. Seems to me I remember the rule No Whining!
All the time that we had known Dennis, he had failed to mention that he was also an ACTOR! We knew he was funny but he could act too? The reason he wanted to be home was because he had rehearsal for a play that he had planned to participate in. The play is to be in October and we are considering making a trip to GA to suppoert our fellow Pinkster with his very own cheering section.
A few hours later we walked up to the Waffle House (still in drizzling rain) and had a cheeseburger. Seems like we're going to be in rain the rest of the way home at this point. Grumble, Grumble. Rain, one of the hazards of riding a motorcycle. We got a good night's sleep and hoped that the weather would change before morning.
