Never boring... I look forward to it each day.

 

The grin on your face says it all

 

I enjoy reading your daily updates too. Keep up the good work.
I agree about TN, NC, and WV too. I had an awesome 9 day ride down there a couple years ago, and a shorter one last year. Totally riders heaven.
If the bad weather stays south, I'm heading to VT and NH for 4 days of riding next week , 2 other great states to ride in.

 

I enjoy reading the posts also and I'm copying and forwarding them to my "shut-in" riding partner.

 

I know you said you hated interstates. So I am curious if you had to do it again, would you cover less states and take some time to ride 2 lanes? I like taking 2 lanes out and interstates back.

Love your bike. Ride safe.

 

Wow, I would have never thought you could ride this wonderful country in 16 days, but it seems you are well on your way. You've even allowed time for some site seeing. Keep the story flowing. Really enjoying the read

 

Just Awesome!!! Epic ride for this journeyman motorcyclist!!!

 

I hate the Interstates but I gave my self a challenge to see if I could get in done in 16 days. Never could do it without the superslabs. I think it could be done in 14 days if I added about 50 miles a day and didn't take any side trips. I know Ironbutt guys do it in 10 but they don't have to get back where they started from. I don't think I would every do all the states in sightseeing mode but every September for the past 10 years (except this year) I do a 5K sightseeing trip to various states and/or Canada over 14 days.

 

Three more states today, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Left Montgomery, Alabama at 6:30. Got on I65 South, set the cruise control and didn’t touch it until I exited to head for Florida 129 miles later. No Issues.

Rode down to almost Pensacola and the caught I10 toward Mobile, AL. The Cochrane Causeway is interesting. Must of cost a pretty penny to build it. The Bankhead Tunnel was a little disconcerting because traffic was backed up and I didn’t like sitting there with no options to get out of the way if somebody did something stupid. A little slow going through Mobile. Took about an hour. Then on to Mississippi.

It was 80 degrees by noon so meant for a warm ride the rest of the day.

If you're from Mississippi, please forgive me but I’ve got to say Mississippi is my least favorite state so far. Between the bugs, the left lane losers that won’t move over and Highways 98 and 49, it was not fun. 98 and 49 are four lane highways with a speed limit of 65 mph but they have an uncontrolled crossroad about every mile and a traffic light about every 5 miles. I don’t like those uncontrolled intersections where you never know if someone is going to pull out because they “didn’t see you”. I was heading west and there was an accident going east where a car pulled out in front of another car. The one that was broadsided looked like no one could have survived. The other car was about 10 feet down in a ditch and I couldn’t see how much damage was done to it.

The bugs are something else. I think they call them LoveBugs because they are two bugs hooked together. I remember when I was on the Louisiana Bayou with some fellow Marines in 1965. When we got back to the car it was completely covered with the damn things. Well, they’re still here. Once I got to I20 everything was smooth. Some minor construction delays but that was all.

On to West Monroe, LA where I’m spending the night. Probably the most tired I’ve been at the end of a day. Only 524 miles but I think the heat makes a difference. Bike is running great.

More Tomorrow.

 

Four more states off the list. Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Left West Monroe, LA at 6:10. Took highway 167 North. Temp was 61 degrees. Perfect for riding . Nobody on the road so I just cruised along. I was surprised at how green and nice the landscape was. Riding through the hills with all the trees was great. I always thought Arkansas was sort of flat and brown.

At Little Rock I caught I40 to Fort Smith and then I 49 through the Ozark National Forest to Fayetteville. Another great scenic ride. Once through Little Rock I noticed that 2 of every 3 cars had either a Razorback Sticker, Razorback flags or Razorback license plate. Quite the team pride. Then it dawned on me. I’ll bet there is a home game in Fayetteville and I’m heading for a big traffic jam. Well, not to be. There was a home game but they have built a new freeway that bypasses downtown (where the stadium is) and traffic wasn’t bad at all. By the time I made it through Fayetteville it had gotten pretty warm so I ditched the jacket.

Continued on to Joplin, MO and stopped for a short visit with a lifelong friend of my wife's. She and her husband live less than a mile off of I44 which is the road I used to head west out of Joplin.

After the visit I got back on I44 to Highway 166 into Kansas. Haven’t seen a toll road since New York but as I was exiting to 166 there was a sign “last exit before toll”. Ha, I missed it. On into Kansas and then down into Oklahoma and damn, here’s the toll road again. Didn’t miss it after all. But the funny thing is I paid my $3.75 toll and then when I got off at Claymore there was another toll booth where they gave me my money back. Guess they just want to get the people that aren’t stopping in Oklahoma. The best sign I’ve seen on this trip was on I44 in Oklahoma. “Warning, hitchhikers may be escaped inmates”

On to Claremore, OK to end the day. An uneventful 558 miles. Bikes still running great. Only 4 more days to finish the 48.

More tomorrow.