Florida, Dec. 2007

Theresa and I had been talking about making a ride through Florida during her Christmas time off from school. I started to planning things in Oct., making reservations for a place to stay in the Keys. I wasn't worried about a place to stay anywhere else. Told Joe and Betty Jane to go with us but they couldn't plan on having the time to go. So it was just the 2 of us.

As time grew near, Joe said he wanted to go, Betty Jane couldn't go, and he said Mike Youngblood, Mike Sudduth, and Carolyn Gore wanted to join in . I said the more the merrier, come on.

We met up in Greenwood on Dec. 27, 2007 and struck out east on hwy 82 going to Montgomery, Al, stopping to see Linda McIntyre and get refreshments before heading down to Dothan for the night. It was 7:30 when we arrived there and we were happy to be there because the misty fog was getting thicked on us the last 15 miles or so.

Next morning we took hwy 84 east going through Bainbridge, Ga. where our first metal cutting bandsaw was made, on to Valdosta, Ga. We turned south on I-75 going to Lake City, Fl. There we ask a local about where we needed to go to get on hwy 100 because we wanted to take the back roads int St. Augustine. Hwy 100 took use through some pretty country sides leading into Starke where we got on hwy 16, saw some old 30 something cars on the side of the road, also a dodge charger. Hwy 16 crosses the St. Johns River and comes out at the motel we would stay at.

That night we rode up town to see all the lights that were up for the Christmas holiday and ate supper. The next morning Dec. 29th we went on a tour of the old city. The best way to do that is take the trolley ride and the guide will point out places of interest, then you can get off the ride to tour and catch the next trolley to the next destination. We went to the Lighthouse and Mike S. and Carolyn climbed the steps to the top and Theresa took their picture waving down to us.

We left there headed south on hwy A1A towards Daytona. Mike S. and Carolyn couldn't stay gone from work too long so they left the group and got on I-95 headed to Key West on their own. We bid farewell and took hwy 1 to Merrit Island turned west on hwy 520, south 419 to 532 that took us to St. Cloud for the night. It was some good riding, not much traffic, saw a bear someone ran over, some alligators too.

We got us rooms and decided to eat pizzas for supper. Called an order in, they delivered, took the money and left. We opened the box up and it was the wrong kind. Theresa called the guy, told him the problem, they brought us the correct order, no charge, and we ended up having 2 pizzas.

Dec. 30th, Mike Y. and Joe left us this morning headed home. Theresa and I headed south on hwy 27 . This is a good road to see a lot of the different crops grown through the area. We got down close to Lake Okeechobee and started to see vast acres of sugar cane. They were cultivating young plants and in adjoining fields were burning the foliage off the cane and harvesting. I didn't realize they had that kind of acreage, and it was irrigated with water from the Okeechobee. We pulled off at one of the gates and took a gander at the lake. It's was a good ways out to the main body of water, showing the effects of the drought.

We stopped in Clewiston to get a bite of lunch and planning our route. We decided to turn at Belle Glade onto hwy 441 & hwy 98 and go to West Palm Beach to see how the rich people live. We got back on hwy A1A and rode it all the way down to Pompano Beach for the night. The next morning we rode on to Miami on A1A, stopping across the street from Donald Trump's new motel to get a bite to eat for breakfast. Got on hwy 1 up town and headed to Homestead and on to the Keys.

The ride down through the Keys was pretty good, traffic wasn't too bad and the road construction wasn't as bad this year, must have been off for the holidays.

I snap a few pictures as we were crossing some of the bridges, Theresa on left and a section of the old railway bridge that Mr. Flagler built. After the hurricane destroyed the railroad, the government used it to build a 2 lane highway on. Now they are used to fish off of.

I had booked us a bed & breakfast on the Atlantic side of Big Pine Key, 30 miles from Key West for Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. We checked in to our room, unload our bikes and headed to Key West to ring in 2008 that night. We road to the bouy and back to Duval Street, where all the action was to take place. We parked our bikes, went to eat supper and prepare to wait out count down for the New Year. As the night went on the crowds grew bigger. At around 10:30 I told Theresa I could see the New Year a lot clearer in daylight and I had all of this crowd I wanted. So we headed back to our room on Big Pine.

The next morning, Jan. 1, 2008, we ate breakfast with a couple from Germany and a couple from Canada that were on vacation, saying with the dollar weak they could come here for a little of nothing. We went back down to Key West to take the sights in. We did the picture taking, souvenir shopping thing and got lunch. We made it back to the B&B that evening and sat out on the beach sipping a cool drink talking to a guy from Washington State that was also staying there. Theresa ask if there was a place close by that we could eat at and he recomended The No Name Pub. Told us he and his wife found it the day before, said a lot of bikes were there and the food was good. He gave us directions to it.

It was starting to get dark when we went in search of the pub. We didn't get turned around going the wrong way but twice. As it got darked the deer started to cross the roads out of the trees and people's yards, which slowed us down a bit. Then all of a sudden there it was.

This is where they have all the money hangin on the walls and ceiling. They also have a great meal. We should have got one order and split it. Neither of us could get close to finishing all they put on the plate. Seafood plater was $17.00, and I can eat a lot but it was too much for me.

Jan. 2nd is one I will not forget soon. A cold front had moved in from the north, bring in the wind and cold. I was following Theresa and as we crossed the bridges back to the mainland the water spray was getting on us and the wind was blowing us sideways. We stopped in Homestead and ate a bite and rested for awhile. Then it was on up hwy 997 that runs into hwy 27. This was a change to our planned route, because of the weather. We were planning to go up the Gulf Coast on our way home.

As I said the temp was dropping and the farmers were gathering everything they could, fruits, tomatoes, and etc. We made it to Belleview, just south of Ocala for the night. It was getting colder as the sun was getting lower. We Heard on TV that night the Governor of Florida lifted the weight limit on trucks hauling farmer's products just to try to get the crop out.

Jan. 3rd, temperture 27 degrees this morning. We put all the clothes on we can and head out. I thought this was sunny, warm Florida?? We would go around 50 miles, stop, warm up and go again. We did this until we reached Crestview and Theresa said she wasn't going any futher, I didn't want to either. Boy a hot bath and warm room felt great that night.

The next morning wasn't as bad cold, temp when we got to Mobile was mid 40s. No problems on the way home, got to Minter City around 4:00, helped Theresa load her bike on her trailer and she headed back to Silver City. We had a great time, excluding the cold temp. Wish all of us coulkd have done all the trip together. Maybe next time.

Well , till later.

On Father's Day.....

mary peyton got to actually ride - not just sit on - the motorcycle with big daddy. every time he made a loop around the yard and it was time to stop, she started crying and said she wanted to ride more.

guess he's got a future rider!!!!

a note from the daughter....

daddy~

look down to the right. i've added 3 pictures - and i think i've got them in the right order! sorry it's taken me over a week to get them on here......

i love you!

suzanne

Trail of Tears

On Sat. Sept. 16, o7 we had caught up with what beans that were ready to cut, so I went to Memphis to a Hog meeting at Southern Thunder Harley. Afterwards I rode to Florence, Al to see the riders coming in to town from Chattanooga, Tn, the starting point of the Trail of Tears ride. I would have ridden that stretch of the ride but Suzanne and family came in that Friday and I wanted to visit with them.

I stopped in Corinth to eat dinner and saw 2 old friends I had known from my Farm Bureau days, Dudley & Fay Kelso from around Mantachie. We had a nice visit and then I headed to Florence.

The Trail of Tears was a forced movement in 1836-37 of 14,000 mostly Creek Indians from Alabama and Georgia to Okmulgee, Ok.

There were so many bikers you couldn't get into the park so I pulled into a Walgreens where some more bikers were, 2 were from Columbus, In. and the other 4 were from Nashville. I ask them about how to enter the park and they said they were going to head out to Waterloo, the original end of the ride. I told them I was going to tag along with them. Waterloo is a small town on the Tn. River and that is where the Indians were loaded on steamers. After catching all the action , there were Indians dancing, lots to eat, and vendors selling, I told my new friends I was heading back to Florence to find a place to stay. They were staying in Corinth and would join the ride when the bikers stopped there for a break.

I went back to the park in Florence, there was still quite a few bikers there. Robert said Pridgen and Mark Taylor were there somewhere. I called Pridgen,s cell. They were camping that night a a camp site I had passed on the way back to Florence. So I missed hanging out with them because they were heading home the next day. That night Theresa gave me Rip Nance's cell number. He is a cousin to the McIntyres and lives in Franklin, Tn. I had met him the previous year at Dr. Flautt's house where he is the Official Fried Turkey Guru for Thanksgiving Dinner. He also carries the Mississippi Flag at the front of the ride. He told me what time and where to meet for the Sunday morning departure. It was still dark when I left the motel, had my light on bright and all of a sudden, no bright light. It had blown, so it was low beam from then on.

We had an Al.HP escort to the Ms. state line where we were joined by 6 MHP on motorcycles, boy they could handle those bikes. We stopped in Corinth, for a break and for other riders to join the ride. Saw and talked to my new friends. And then we were off again.

We took hwy 72 over to hwy 7 and headed to Holly Springs. There were by count 150 bikes that left Florence and another 30 joined up at Corinth. Going down hwy 7 there were people lining the road waving as we passed by. You could see people talking on their cell phones undoubtedly calling ahead to other people that we were on our way.

Hwy 4 took us to our gas stop in Senatobia, then over to hwy 61 and hwy 49 into Helena where our MHP escort stopped at the bridge a bid us farewell. We really made some good time with them stopping traffic for us along the route.

At Helena we were able to eat dinner up town where the Musicfest is held each year. For a small fee that supported Abate we had a good meal, everyone went to fuel up and headed out for the next leg of our trip. Rip had to head back home because of the death of a relative so I was riding off on an adventure with a lot of people I didn't know anything about other than they were like me, enjoying the ride, scenery, and comradery of being together on the open road to commemorate the memory of the Trail of Tears.

The road took us through Pine Bluff where we fueled up, on to hwy 270 into Hot Springs where we spent the night. Found a place within walking distance to eat, I was tired of sitting, had a good meal, went back to the room. I was planning on leaving for home the next morning but got to thinking that this may be my only chance to ever make the ride so I called the Days Inn in Okmulgee and booked me a room. And then I got me a goodnight's sleep.

The next morning, Monday, we fueled up , premium gas was $3.09 a gallon, met up at the horse track parking lot. They gave all the riders on this leg of the ride a 2007 sew on patch before we headed out. We took hwy 270 through some beautiful mountain scenery into Ok. Stopped at Heavener, Ok. for gas and lunch, then we were on to Okmulgee, 120 miles away.

We were escorted to the Creek Capital for refreshments and a ceremony where the Assistant Chief of the tribe thanked us for coming and for the money we raised for the college fund. Afterwards we were treated to a meal prepared by the tribe. They also had pulled pork and the fixings to go along with the authentic Indian food, which I tried a couple of. I didn't know what some of the stuff was.

I left Okmulgee at 6:30 the next morning on I-40. I made a detour to the Harley dealer in Fort Smith and replaced my headlight, ate breakfast, fueled up, and on to Little Rock. I stopped in Little Rock for dinner. Robert called, said he may cut beans. I said I'd be there in a little while. I don't think he knew where I'd been. I-40 to Brinkley, south to Helena, Clarksdale and then home at 2:30 that evening. 462 miles since 6:30 that morning.

Went to Robert's, didn't cut beans, combine broke, so we worked on fixing the problem.

I would have liked to have ridden the first leg of the ride, maybe another time, but the park I did ride was great.

Till later

A few rides in 2007

I'll start off with the ride in June. Theresa, Eva & Fred Champion and I made a trip to Lynchburg, Tn to a motorcycle rally. We met up in Greenwood at 7:00 the morning of June, 15th , headed east to the Natchez Trace, on to Tupelo for dinner, on to Florence, Al, east to Huntsville, then north to Fayetteville, Tn where we had rooms booked. The ride was pretty good going, kind of on the warm side as the day grew longer. You have to remember that northern Ms, Al., and Tn were at that time extremely dry and still below nornal rainfall . All the crops we saw at that time were pitiful.
We went over to Lynchburg the next morning to the rally. It was a little cool that morning going but it quickly warmed up. We took in everything at the rally, lots of vendors, cool drinks, but no alcohol in Moore County, and food. We toured the Jack Daniel's distillery in the dry county. You can now buy a commorative bottle in the visitor's building, we didn't to costly.
When we left there that evening we took hwy129 to see the country side. The roads were a delight to travel, just enough curves and shade to make enjoyable. We made it back to Fayetteville that evening and found a place up town to eat. It was called The Cahoot, it use to bee the old jail house and if you wanted to you could get a table in the cell. We declined that eating area. I can't remember what we ate but everyone was full when we left.
The next morning, Sunday, we headed back home vie the Trace. It was really hot coming home, we stopped several times to drink liquids. We made it to hwy82 and headed to Greenwood looking at some bad looking clouds. We made it to Stewart and the bottom fellout. We pulled over at one point and there were some bikers there that were heading to Dallas. They had been to ride the Dragon. The only lady in the group said she took her time going the I think 318 curves in 11 miles, I'm not sure about that but I saw a girl at the distillery wearing a t-shirt saying 318 in 11 miles, and said she would never do that again. Theresa and I had to stop several times on the way home because of heavy rain but when we got to within 1 mile of the house, the rain stop and we got dust on our bikes coming down the driveway.

The next trip was the 3rd week of July. We had 2 weeks of rain and I told Theresa pack your bags and get your motorcycle ready for a road trip.
We left out on July 21 and headed to Bryson City, N.C. We got there at dark, 562 miles, and was lucky to find a room because the Indians were having a Powwow and had all of Cherokee and the surrounding towns booked up. When we left home the temp was hot so we only packed light clothing, But I did put a couple long sleeveshirts in my saddlebags, lucky me. The next morning we ate breakfast, The temp was a little cool but not unbearable so we headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The higher we got the more shirts we put on because it's July and we didn't bring any coats. It was pertty cold at 6,000 feet up the mountain.
We got off the Parkway at Ashville, got on I-40, went to Statesville, turn north to Mount Airy, home of the Andy Griffin museum. Took the back roads into Virgina, going by the race track at Martinsville, spent the night at Danville and the next day hit hwy29 north.
Our first stop was the town of Appomattox. This town, which was formed after the War of Northern Aggression because the town folks didn't want the stigma of being the site of the surrender of Lea to Grant, is about 3 miles from Appomattox Court House. The house that the signing of the surrender was after the war taken apart and was to be shipped to Washington to be reassembled as an attraction but the cost of the war was so great they couldn't get the money to do it. Later on they put it back together at the original site with some of the bricks missing , people were needing them to rebuild other buildings. I think there are 8,000 of the original bricks in the house today. There are 2 vases and a couch original to the room on display. The chairs and table Lea and Grant used are at the Smithsonian.
We left there and headed to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. We toured the gardens, cemetery, which is still a burial place for Jefferson's decendants, and the house. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house because of security reasons. They don't lock the doors at night and no guard on duty.
Up the road is James Madison's home, Montpelier. The Duponts had bought the house years ago and added wings and upper stories to some of the home. When The old lady died the house was left to a preservation group. Then some old guy, who was an admire of Madison, died and left $250,000 for a study of how to put the home back to the conditio it was when Madison was President. The study was done and the his estate gave the $25,000,000 toget to work with, and another $25,000,000 was added to that. We were able to see how the house was built, as the plaster was removed and the hand cut latice was expose as was all the wood work. The nails used in the house were made at Jefferson's Plantation, which is about 30 miles south of Madison's.
When Madison built the house it had 2 front doors and a wall down the middle, making it 2 houses under one roof. On on side he and his wife lived and the other side his mother lived. When additions were added to on side of the house , additions were added to the other . That was to keep both women happy.
After spending the night in Charlottesville, the next day we crossed the Skyline Drive ,which is the upper part of the Blue Ridge, and drove the Shenandoah Valley down to Lexington, turned west toward Beckley, West Virgina.
The next day we took the road north to Charleston. It was a beautiful ride, mountains on both sides, a river running the length along side the 4 lane highway. Sometimes it was enough room there would be a few house now and then. The sun was at our back when we entered Charleston and the dome of the Capital Building was shining like a polished gold bar. Ther was a lot of barges and railcars loading with coal.
We made it into Kentucky, scenery was pertty good to Lexington, but from there to Eddyville traveling the Blue Grass Parkway , it's nothing but road. Spent the night at Eddyville, next morning turned south and went through the Land Between the Lakes. It was nice scenery from there down through Tennessee on hwy79 to Memphis.
We got to Memphis, run in a light rain shower, I got home early evening, Theresa got to her house about a hour later. I called her the next morning and told her I checked my biker and the back tire was flat. I guess that little bell that I have on my bike that Theresa gave me to keep the gremlins away really worked this time.

I guess that's all for now. I'll tell you about my Trail of Tears ride and our New Year's day Key West trip later.

Nevada Trip

I wanted to mention our trip to Las Vegas in Nov. 2006. Theresa checked with the Harley dealer in Vegas about renting a couple of bikes. No problem all you need is a credit card, motorcycle endorsement on your driver's license and know how to ride proficently.
We caught a flight out of Jackson, which was late on leaving, flew into Dallas, and on to Las Vegas. It was night when we finally arrived, but the lights of the town lite up the otherwise barren country side as we approached the airport.
We got a rental car to use on the trip to the Grand Canyon, that is something I think we shouldn't have done. We should have got the bikes instead for that trip too. Live and learn. We drove down to Needles Ca., stopped for gas, bought a map and went to planning a little detour. I saw that Route 66 was just north of there so we struck out. The Colorado River runs along the west side of the same road. Each side of the river had lush green crops growing, but you could see on the east side of the road nothing but desert.
The road took us to Oatman, Az.. Signs along the hwy were warning drivers of wild burros crossing. The town of Oatman consist of hwy 66 and some old buildings on each side of the road. You could have stuck the whole town in between the driveways to my house. The road was blocked of with people everywhere. We couldn't go anywhere, it's the only road ,at first I was thinking accident. We parked and ask for some info. A lady told us it would be opened back up after the gunfight. Sure enough, after the smoke cleared, we saw tour buses on the other end of town. You had to watch out for the burros, they would sniff at your pockets for something to eat, and they were in the middle of the road and on the front porches of the buildings. The burros were let loose by the miners after they had given up prospecting. It was a really neat little town.
When we had an open road we headed up the crooked and narrow hwy 66 pass old gold mining places. There was one functioning gold mine you could go down into but we were running low for time so we forged on up in the mountains toward Kingman. The road had a few places you could pull off to view the terrain and it was pretty.
Hit I-40 at Kingman to speed up where we could see the sunset at the Grand Canyon. Almost ran over some kind of goat with horns as we drove into the park. He was blending in with the terrain and the fool though he had the rite-a-way. After watching the colors of the canyon in the fading light, we went to check in at the lodge. No parking space so I let Theresa out to check in ,circled the area. I saw what I thought was a full mounted mule deer standing in a fenced yard because it wasn't moving. Another loop around the area and the son-of a-gun was standing on the side of the road. I could have tapped him on the nose. Later on there were deer all over the place. I guess because it was the only green grass around.
Our room was about 30 steps from the rim of the canyon. That night at 2:00 I heard a noise out side the window, it was 2 elk clattering their horns together. Pretty neat.
Next morning we saw the sunrise colors of the canyon. It was pretty cool that morning. Ate breakfast with a couple from Virgina who worked in Washington,D.C. Took in some of the sites, too many for us in that short of time, and head to Boulder Dam on our way back to Vegas.
We picked up the motorcycles the next morning bright and early, we were headed to Death Valley. Theresa was riding a Heritage and I a Fatboy. The dealer has 600 bikes that they rent out.
Left Vegas, went through Red Rock Canyon, on to Pahrump which was having a big powwow. Met and talked to a couple of Indians on motorcycles that going to it and told us about it. It was a lot of people there, big rodeo, and carnival rides.
We road into the valley at Death Valley Junction . There was an info building, restroom and telephone. Theresa wanted to find a place for the night but the phone didn't work. Neither does your cell phone anywhere in the valley. I told don't worry, she could stand guard while I slept and I would do the same for her. We did make it to Stovepipe Wells where they have a kind of motel. Can't drink the water in the room, you have a water jug to take out side to a faucet.
It was a desolate place out there, but at the same time had a beauty to it. Where we went into the valley, rocks, boulders were everywhere. At Stovepipe Wells you had the sand dunes . And at the south end there was the salt lake.
The next day we went to Scotty's Castle, went to a hydraulic volcanic eruption site, and came back through the Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America. It was getting late when we made our way out of Death Valley by way of Shoshone. The lights were shining bright in Vegas and the air was cold as we came down the mountain. We took the bikes back to the dealer around 10:00, called a cab and headed back to our room at the casino.
Next day we flew out heading home. I still want to go back, It's so much more to see. We didn't spend much time in Vegas because I wanted to see what was in the country. And it's still a lot of country to see.
There's so much you can write about on a trip like this, but I'm not a good enough writer or typist to do justice to it.
Till later.

A little about our Arkansas trip

We had caught up with things on the farm and decided to take a short trip up to Eureka Springs. It was July 19th 2006 and the temperature was pushing 90. We could go up in the mountians and cool off. On the 20th, Joe, Betty Jane, Theresa and I left home, headed to Indianola to meet up with Mike and Carolyn, and continued to Greenville to cross the river into Arkansas looking for that cool air.



Everything went as planned. To Pine Bluff, temperature rising, across to Malvern, still rising, on into Hot Springs. Ah, surely the temp would drop at any minute. Boy were we wrong. The thermometer had been rising ever since we left home and now at 3:30 it was showing 104. What made it worse was fresh black asphalt. Where was all that cool air we were headed for?



We stopped in Russellville to spend the night. Everybody got off to find cool air in the motel. Everybody except Carolyn, she had got so hot she couldn't get off the bike. After supper and a good nights sleep in a cool room we were good to go on the next leg of our trip.



Next morning we looked at the map I had planned for the trip. We would go hwy 7 north to Harrison with detours east and west of 7 to see the country. We took 164 over to Hagarville then up 123 which is a scenic winding road. Hwy 123 runs into hwy 7 at Pelsor and get back off at Lurton. This stretch of road has a lot of curves. We had stopped to rest , also Joe "had to go", and we could hear a log truck coming. You could hear the truck shifting gears and using his jake-brake as he was coming through the mountains. I said we need to kennel-up to stay ahead of the truck. We came down one side of a mountain that looked like straight down. The road had, I think, 6 different 360 turns and I couldn't figure out how that log truck was going to make it.

We made it to Mount Judea a little community with a school and an old grocery- gas-eating all rolled into one place. As we talked to the lady who own the store the log truck came by. She said it was a common thing for the trucks to wreck coming down the mountain and advised us not to be in the way. She was a transplant from central Florida, having come up here for vacation for several years, she saw this place for sale, soldout in Florida, bought this and was happy as a lark.



After leaving Mount Judea we stopped at Marble Falls, took the tour went through Harrison and hit 62. Before we got to Eureka Springs we saw rain. Pulled into a monument engraving place and waited out the rain. The folks there were nice and let us park our bikes in their shop.



At Eureka Springs we took in as many of the sites we could. The following morning we went to Beaver Lake Dam which had some scenic roads. We left Eureka Springs down hwy23. We ended up in Ozark where Carolyn had to have her a watermelon. Mike strapped it on the back and off we went. We stopped at some scenic out-look on the mountain looking at the valley below. While parked we heard motorcycles coming. All of a sudden we heard someone yell out to the others in their group,"Look , they got a damn watermelon on that bike". Well we went across to Russellville to spend the night, with watermelon in tow, went up in the lounge area , ask for some plates and ate that damn good watermelon. We did share it with the other people in the lounge.



Next morning we decided to cut our trip short and head home to check on the crops. Stopped in at Lakeshore Cafe at Lake Village to eat lunch. Saw some fellow riders there from Cleveland we knew. Got home early afternoon.



There were a lot of places we would have like to gone to but that's for another road trip.



Till later.

Starting Out

Well I guess since Suzanne set this thing up, I need to write something down.
It all started out in May 2004 as a trip to Memphis. I called Robert Lea to see if he wanted to go. He ask if I was going to go buy a bike, I had helped him build his Chopper, I said maybe. I really wasn't, I was just going "window shopping".
I went by Mama's and told her where we were going. She said, "Well for goodness sakes ya'll don't go buying lottery tickets while up there." OK Mama no lottery.
Went to Bumpus, saw the Lava Red Harley Fatboy, got the paper work done, and looked for a trailer to buy, but to no avail. It had been a long time since I had ridden, so I got Robert to ride it home for me.
Pulled into the yard at home, Mama and 3 of my sisters were sitting outside. They were trying to figure out what was going on. I walked over and told them of my purchase, Mama was speechless and I think a little disturbed. I said "Mama you said no lottery tickets so I spent my money on a motorcycle".
And that was over 41,000 miles ago.
As I got more proficent with my riding, I started planning a trip after the crops were harvested. At that time of the year the only place to go is Florida. I saw there was a rally in Fort Lauderdale starting Dec. 1,2004. Robert couldn't go so, going it alone, I decided to trailer my bike down.
The rally was at the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood. It was good. Steven Tyler was there for the ride, boy I'm glad his daughter Liv didn't get her looks from him. The casino had the women's professional billard champions playing, I bought tickets to see that.
I rode down A1A along the beach, went through Miami by the arena the Miami Heat play at. That was the year Shaq was acquired. They had a 60 foot picture of him on the side of the arena.
I spent one day in Key West seeing the sites and boy you can see some strange sites there. I got someone to take a picture of me and my bike at the Southern Most Point in the U.S. bouy.
After spending 8 days traveling, I was hooked and when I got home, I started planning another trip.

At Christmas, my cousin Janet called to say she knows a girl I need to meet who also had a motorcycle. I told her I wasn't interested in going out yet. But a couple of weeks later I get a call from a Theresa??? saying call her and let's ride. Few days later I call her back and ride to Silver City. It's a cool 40 degrees. To cold to ride. We go to Jackson, freeze our tails off all day, but neither wants to be the first to holler calf rope. I figured if she was that gritty, then we could travel some miles together, and have.

The next big trip was at the end of Feb. 2005 to Daytona for bike week. The group of 6 was composed of Jim Tackett, Eddie Fancher, Robert Lea, Skipper Grantham, Mark "Pug" Bowie, and me. I'm not going into details about this ride, only to say we did have a great time. Even if Eddie got in trouble with the Law. Also, Mark became known as Pug. We even ended up with the group picture of us on the beach hanging on the wall of Flatlands .

Next trip was to Lafayette, La to the State Hog Rally. Robert, Jim and I were making the trip. We stopped in Vicksburg to eat lunch, making it to Baton Rouge at rush hour time for the bypass around town. Also it was falling a flood, all you could see was red taillights in front of you. Traffic was running 70-75 mph and we were too just to keep from getting run over. I was not a very happy motorcycle rider at that point. We had about 15 miles of that before breaking into the clear weather.
We saw Tony, Trike Mike, Dan, and Walter from Greenwood at the Harley dealer in Scott. They were camping out just down the road. So far the closest I've been to camping is the Holiday Inn but I have bought me a tent.

When we left headed home, I left the group at McComb and went to meet Theresa at Hattiesburg for a rally there. The temperature plunged that night. We were south of town at the fair grounds, Theresa had us a place to stay in Collins, 12 miles away she said. I got so cold I was putting my hands on the exhaust pipes for warmth. I was counting the miles off on my odometer. At 12 miles we were coming into Seminary, it was still another 7 miles to go. She didn't take in account we were on the south side of Hattiesburg and the 12 miles started on the north side. Trike Mike and rest of their group were there camping. The next day anything that was wet was frozen.
We made it home without any of us catching the flu.

For the Dec. ride I got another rider, Joe Fennell, my brother-in-law to go with me to Key West. We rode our bikes all the way this trip. We took 75 to Tampa, crossed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge at St. Peterburg, boy it's a beautiful bridge. Joe and I were nervous at the height and wind while crossing it. Went across Alligator Alley. into Fort Lauderdale, on to Key West. On the way back home up 95 we took the tour of Kennedy Space Center.
Bad weather was headed to us and when we left St Augustine the next day I told Joe we need to get as close to home as we could. We ended up in Hattiesburg at 8:00 that night, the temperature was falling and we couldn't find a room. Betty Jane and Theresa went to calling around and found one in Magee, bummer, another 20 something miles to ride in the cold. The next morning we scraped ice off the seats before heading home.

Well I guess I'll leave it here for now on the posting. It has been rewarding experience so far for me to see so much.

And remember "Money can't buy happiness, but it can substantially upgrade the quality of your misery".

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

so for father's day, i have set you up your own blog. now we can keep up with you, too! thank you for being such an incredibly important part of my life. God has blessed me beyond measure by giving me you for a daddy. not only are you my daddy, but you are one of my best friends. thank you for always being there for me.

i love you.