Days 5 and 6 are all about vacation, relaxing, and the beach. Well as some of you probably know, the beach was #1 on the minds of Sharla and Cheryl. I don't mind a little time on the beach, but I usually get enough pretty quick. But I can put on my happy face and endure it as long as I have an umbrella for shade and plenty of cold beer. Its kind of hard to carry an ice chest with you on a bike, so I was a bit apprehensive as to how I was going to attain an ice chest for our beach goings. Well when I was at walmart I saw these blue insulated bags they sell for you to put your frozen items in to take home. They were a bit wimpy to use as an ice chest, but I thought that it may just work. And for $1, I wouldn't be loosing much if it didn't work. Well in the end, they worked great. I put 12-15 cans in them and all the ice it would hold. I never ran out of cold beer.

Both days were pretty much about getting up, having a relaxing morning, spend a little time on the beach and then finding a nice place for dinner.

The first night we wanted some oysters and seafood again, so we picked Dusty's Oyster Bar. Pretty cool place. But obviously one of the best places for Oysters because they place was packed.





R&C on the patio having a beer waiting for a table.





Sharla and I.

The next night we wanted to go somewhere a little nice and let the ladies dress up a bit more. Also, Cheryl's B-Day was coming up and this was her B-Day dinner. So we made reservations at the Salt Water Grill. Very nice place with a very good menu. We were all ready a little earlier than we could get reservations for, so we decided to ride down the strip and see what all else PCB had to offer.





Sharla and I cruising PCB!<br/>

Since we were killing time waiting on our reservations, we stopped in at the Wicked Wheel. Its a really cool motorcycle type bar and grill. Here are a few shots from there:







Sitting at the bar!!!<br/>








On the patio having beers and an appetizer.

Here is a pic of Cheryl with her B-Day dessert after our fine dining at the Salt Water Grill.



Our PCB stay is nearly over. We head out the next day making a mad rush to NW Arkansas. Stay tuned.

 

Just a note on how this leg of the trip came about.
One of Cheryl's wishes for the trip was to make it to a Florida-Georgia Line Concert for her birthday. FGL was having several concerts in the general area between Florida and back home in Oklahoma. One of which just happened to be around Meridian, Ms. on Thursday May 29th which would have been about half way home. We tried to get tickets there, but couldn't. On the 30th they were in Springdale, Ar. The tickets were about half the price that they would have been in Meridian, which was good, but Meridian was about 300 miles and right on the way home and Springdale was about 900 miles out of the way. In our discussions before the trip, Cheryl and I just thought that this would only make for a memory. And a memory it was. To date this is our most miles in one day.

We did not have any set place in mind to stop for the night. Our only objectives was to be in Springdale in time for the concert on Friday. Springdale was nearly 900 miles from PCB. So in my mind, we needed to cover more than half of the distance on this first day because we needed to be in Spingdale in time to get ready to go to the concert that night. I had looked at it on a map, and felt like the Southhaven/Memphis area would be a good place to stop for the night. So in my mind, that was my goal for the day.

Leaving PCB Thursday May 29, the weather called for rain most of the day. Thats just great. We need to cover some miles and now its going to rain. Well I guess it will just add to the memory. When we left PCB it wasn't raining yet, but by looking at the skies, you knew it was going to happen. The farther north we went, the more it started raining. The rain was never so heavy that we couldn't keep going, but it was steady.

Our first scheduled stop was at the HD dealer in Montgomery, but we had to make a pit stop well before there. Cheryl's rain suit had sprung a river. She didn't have a dry spot on her anywhere. She was wearing Frogg Toggs and I have had pretty good luck with those. As a matter of fact, Sharla and I were both wearing them as well was staying dry for the most part. We stopped at a Dollar General store in some small town for her to buy some dry clothes. She felt much better after that, but by the time we made it to Montgomery, she was pretty wet again. She changed clothes again at the HD dealer there in Montgomery and bought a new rain suit. The rain lightened up quit a bit for the rest of the trip with only occasional bouts of light rain.

With the rain having subsided and we were making better time, the last half or so of the day wasn't too bad and was uneventful. With this being the longest ride to date, we were all getting pretty tired before we reached our goal. The last 100 miles was was pretty tough, especially since night fall was looming in on us. By the time we reached the outskirts of Southhaven with darkness falling on top of us, we just took the first exit that looked like it would have a motel. Any motel would have worked, but there just happened to be a Comfort Inn & Suites right there. So we pulled in and luckily there was room at the inn. Better yet, there was a steak house right out the front door, so we didn't even have to get back on the bikes to go get something to eat. I really feel like had there not been something to eat that close, we may have not even bothered with dinner that night.

Next up, Southhaven to Springdale and FGL Concert.

 

Day 8.
This day had a few challenges. We had about 340 miles facing us. Not a lot for a days ride, but we needed to be in Springdale, checked into our motel, freshen up and at the concert by 7 pm (or earlier if we don't want to stand in line to long and get good seats). Google maps shows the route to be 338 miles and a touch over 6 hours. On paper, this seems very doable.

Rick and Cheryl weren't real happy with their mc luggage and they liked the HD luggage we had. So they had bought some like ours while on the trip. Here is a shot of us trying to find the best way to strap it on the bike.



There were 2 Harley Dealerships we wanted to hit (there are several in Memphis, but I figured we will hit those on another trip in the future). The first one was in Southaven, so that meant that we couldn't get out of town till after it opened at 9am. Still plenty of time... right? The other dealer we are going to hit is in Jonesboro. Going this way will take us on a more northerly route, but that aids in staying off of interstates.

We stop at Graceland HD in Southaven. It is a very nice dealership and the first thing we see when we walk into the door is a custom painted bike that is out of this world. So we have to find out what this is all about. Well, this dealer has this fund raiser every year. They customize a bike and sell it or raffle it off or something. (I can't really remember the details now) But this bike is awesome. A Street Glide if i remember right with some awesome artwork done by airbrush. Its all a military theme. And you guessed it. I have NO pictures of the bike. Go figure, that's how we roll I guess. Well even though we are limited on time, we all 4 get lost in the store as usual. We spent an hour in there at least. I don't really recall us coming out with anything more than our customary poker chip. Here is a pic of the cool water tower they had out front.



It had rained a bunch on us the day before and the weather forecast was for more on this day, but it wasn't going to be total coverage. It would just be little spots here and there moving through the area. Here is a pic to give you an idea of the kinda day we had.



I tried real hard to find a route to get out of Southaven and thru/passed Memphis without using the interstates. But there were none that would even remotely get us started in the direction we needed. So we had to get on I-55 to go around Memphis. We hit it perfect with what seemed like a hundred big trucks carrying loads that looked like they would fall off and take us out at anytime. Then throw in the texting driver that decided he needed his lane and mine about the time I was passing him. It was dreadful to me, so I'm sure Cheryl was in a real tissy. But we made it through without any loss of life.

Our next stop was HD dealer number 2. Harley Davidson of Jonesboro. A really small dealer that is not very easy to find. Its not far off the beaten path, but there were no signs leading to it. I finally stopped and went back to big orange metal building that I had seen. It crossed my mind that it may be, but there was not the expected Bar & Shield to be seen from the highway. As I said it was small. Only had about 3 people working and the fewest bikes in the showroom I've ever seen. That being said, they were very friendly and helpful. I'm sure it would be a good dealer to deal with if you lived around there.

With the 2 dealer stops out of the way, we just needed to cover some miles and get to the concert on time. We only rain into rain one time and of course it was the usual... it starts raining, you find a place to pull over and put on your rain suits and then it stops and you burn up till you stop and take it off again. The rest of the trip was questionable. We would see rain showers in the distance, but by the time we got there, the rain had moved on and left only wet roads.

We didn't make great time. With spending an hour or more at each dealer, the rain and wet roads slowing us down, and our reservations for the night not being right, we were running way late. I had made reservations in Springdale way before we even left. Actually during the initial talks of making this trip. I guess I had gotten confused with the dates. Well anyway, we get to this pretty cool place that I had found. Here is a pic...



Its called the Inn at the Mill. If you ever in the Fayetteville area, you might want to give it a try. I'm not really for sure, but it looks nice. Anyway, we walk in to get our rooms and I tell the lady our name. She says we don't have a room for you. This isn't good. We are in a hurry, remember. After some checking, she says you reservation is for tomorrow and we are booked up for tonight. This lady went way out of her way. With the concert in town, everything for miles was booked up, but she kept calling everywhere trying to find us a place to stay. How many people have you seen that would do that? She finally found us a B&B on Dickson St. in Fayetteville. Now if you don't know Dickson St. in Fayetteville, it is the main street down from the University of Arkansas. Every other business is a bar and I'm thinking this won't be good for sleeping.

By this time its like 6pm or so. We finally find the B&B on Dickson St. and check in. We had seen the place before. There is a bar right next to it that we had been to the year before while at BB&BBBQ. It is just an OLD house that they have turned into a B&B. It looks like it should have been on some plantation in Louisiana complete with the wrap around porch. The rooms halls and rooms were really tight and it had all wood floors that have been there since the place was built i'm sure.

We check in with our host. He explains that there is not really any parking except on the side street off Dickson St. I'm not real happy with that, but what are we going to do? Sharla and I get the room on the second floor. Sharla and I go up the stairs and start changing to go to the concert. While i'm waiting on her to finish, I look out the window to see what I can see. Now I know that the bar is next door, but I had no idea that the upstairs balcony of the bar is going to be connected to our room. Really... I could actually walk out on our balcony and step across the railing and join the bar guests. My OCD kicks in at this time. I'm ready to leave and do something else. But again, no time. Heck the concert is about to start now. On the "up" side, there would be no chance of a DUI if you drank too much at that bar.

We finally get ready and head out to the concert. When we get to the venue (a baseball stadium), it is packed and the lines are long to get in. Being on bikes and Rick being an amputee, we finally finagle our way in and get up close parking. By the time we get into the stadium and find our seats, we have missed the opening act. I can't remember who we missed, but we still had a great time and FGL puts on an awesome concert.
The girls having a good time. Happy B-Day Cheryl!!!!







After the concert, we made our way back to Dickson St. and the B&B. Our plan was to hit a couple of the bars and get something to eat. Well the crowd was a bit to young for us, so we chose to break out the crown and just sit on the porch and people watch. One of the bars across the street was playing the music loud enough that we could hear it just fine.

All in all it was a long day, but we had a great time and I think Cheryl's B-Day was a good one.

The next installment will be the final day and the ride home.

 

nice write up and pics. Thanks

 

Looks like a good trip and good times. I'm sitting here on a Saturday morning, getting ready to work all day, weather not so great, and reading these trip reports is always nice break. I can't seem to find the time to put any of our trips up but I do enjoy reading and seeing other's adventures. Gives me lots of ideas about places to go. Now to find the time....

 

You said you weren't very good at taking pics! That's a whole load of bull pucky. Great pics. Probably the only way you could've done better is mount a few GoPros on the bike and add some video of the ride portions itself.

After my solo ride, I really wished I'd bought the $400 GoPro I had in my hand the day before I left. But I was cheap and thought, "You know what? If anybody gave a crap what I was going to see on my trip, they'd be coming with me!" Now, I'm pissed I don't have video of the ride.

 

Great pics, and feel like I have been on a vacation. Very cool.

 

Awesome write up Mike! I'm really enjoying it.

I agree with the others - great pics! Great narrative!

Now bring us home! (finally I get to crack the whip! )

 

The wifey bought me the GoPro Hero 4 Black for Christmas. Will have videos of any future rides. And I'm very excited to try it out. I'm a little nervous as to the editing part and learning that, but I will figure it out somehow.

 

Thanks Bob, and I'll get to the Ride home (maybe in the morning). I didn't really think anyone was still paying attention, so I kinda quit didn't I.


and thanks to the other guys that have made comments. I know its not as good as Bob's reports, but hey, at least it gives you something to look at and read while snowed in or at work.