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