This is exactly what life is about! Enjoy the heck out of every mile and every stop - Nothing better!

Congrats to the family on the newcomer!

 

Something about this story, (riding a sportster on first road trip to see grandchild, stopping to smoke every hour,) that is just cool. Congrats by the way and keep writing.

 

Congrats on the grandchild and I hope you're enjoying the trip. There's something about a solo road trip I kinda like. Going at your own pace.

BTW I have a 5 gallon tank and stop about every hour, sounds like a lot, but still ran 877 miles coming back from Daytona in 15 hours!

 

Congrats.

Grandkids are fun..........

Ride on...

 

Congrats gramps and enjoy the ride!

 

Congratulations Grandpa. I smoke too so every hour sound good. Have fun and safe trip

 

Cool story. I LOVE an adventure. It makes me remember my first overnight trip. It felt like Christmas morning when I was 10! All the better that you have a new pkg to visit! God bless you and your grandbaby and be safe! Cherish it all.

 

One thought comes to mind when I see you all geared up for your road trip.

'Hard Core Biker'

People would call me that when I road 5 miles to work much of the time.
LOL...

Good luck and I hope you dodged the snow , I just saw a report where the western Tennessee area got their once in a decade snow fall.

 

Well Ive been back for a while. It was a great trip and cant wait to do another. I did learn a few things, the main one is that about 40 degrees is my cutoff temp. I was bundled up pretty good with my riding gear and layers underneath but below 40 I was cold when at speed. So I always got late starts and as soon as the sun went below the trees the temp would drop so fast I would stop at the next motel. Im sure the touring guys would chuckle but it took me 3 days to go 750 miles

As I mentioned above next trip Ill take a separate camera, unpacking, unhooking my phone from the tank bag made it so I didnt take many pics. I did take a few though, this is some big lake in Mississippi.



Some of the best riding with a lot of twisties was in the Ozarks just southeast of Fayetteville AR. Theres a whole lot of nothing out there, every once in a while I would come across a little town that would actually have a post office



One thing that made the trip very enjoyable is not only taking nothing but back roads, but my little 2 gal tank making me stop about every hour. Im not a real social guy but at every stop in these little towns with ancient gas pumps people would always come up to me to chat. The further I got from home the more amazed they were about what I was doing. And they always asked "why didnt you take the interstate?" Just over the MS AR state line which is nothing but farm land, I had been following a truck for several miles doing about 60. This place reminded me of Kansas, flat, few trees, a lot of crops. The road widened to a passing lane, I opened her up to get around the truck. Before it went back to one lane I saw blue lights in my rears. WTF! where was he hiding? He busted me doing 80 in a 55, Im screwed. Long story short, we chatted for about 10 minutes about Harleys, his last words as he handed my my WARNING was "ride safe buddy"

Now the worst part of the ride but the part that I will always remember was in the sticks of the Ozarks. With my little tank, every time I got to a gas station I would look at my odo to see how many miles till my light came on. Got pretty hairy a few times. Well one time I pushed my luck, my light came on, no gas in sight, 5 miles no gas, 10...20....25, Im sweating bullets. Hallelujah, a gas station!



Place hadnt been open in quite some time Get back on, head down the road, 5 miles later......blaha blall blugh..........out of gas. Park her on the side of the road, decided to leave my gear and hope someone doesnt want my stuff more than I do. Now I had only been seeing a car about every 10 to 15 minutes, thats how secluded this place was. About a 1/4 mile down the road I hear a car behind me, I stop and stick out my thumb. I was thinking, yeah, this will never work. In this day and age, Harley on the side of the road, biker completely dressed in black hitch hiking........yeah ok. Car passed me, I saw brake lights, I started running I get to this mid 80s Mercury, inside is a little old lady in her 70s and her 10 year old grand daughter! She takes me to the next one pumper gas station. She said she would wait for me and take me back to my bike! Get inside, this "store" had a couple loafs of bread and a can of beans Old lady inside said she hasent had gas in a couple of weeks........ dammit! Go back out and thanked grandma for her help but I had figure something else out. She said, get in, we have gas at the house! Head back the way we came, passed my bike, went another 5 miles to a dirt road. A couple of miles on in we come up to an old farm house. She said go in that shed there should be a gas can in there. I grab it, get back in and we head to the barn that had a big tank on stilts. Get back in, she takes me to my bike and I fill her up. I thanked her and offered her a 20 for her trouble, treat you and your grand daughter to lunch I said. She said "son, do this for me, the next time you see someone in need......lend a hand" Ill never forget that little old lady

Oh, and the whole purpose of the trip.......my 6 pound grand baby Chloe.........she was so happy to see me all she could do was fart



Next trip will be to the FL Keys late spring early summer (Im too old for the cold ) It will also be nothing but back roads. This time no motels, tent and sleeping bag

 

Good for you on the trip.

Thanks for posting the pics.

RIDE ON................