OK, that was some rain..and mud…and potholes (hiding under the water, too). A full 282 miles on the roads of Northwestern Alabama and across Mississippi. We were traveling through the land of red dirt and pine needles. Small towns with friendly people. Lots of churches. The churches must be busy because there were caution signs pointing out potential traffic delays when church was in session. Methodist, Baptist, Evangelical, AME, and even some one-of-one Ministries operated out of double-wide trailers. Compared to Western Washington, I felt as if we had entered a foreign country!
The ride started under heavy clouds and humidity. I worked to get separated from the pack as solo riding is more enjoyable. There were many opportunities for directions to go askew as the paper scroll was 8 feet long! Fortunately, diligence and patience paid off as no errors were accrued and I did not get lost. We went through Civil War battle sites which are now quiet woods. I reflected on what we have gained and lost over the 160 years since. The rain started with fierce lightening and heavy cloud dumping. Today I put the rain suit over the Aerostitch and actually stayed dry. When the sun came out for 2 hours mid-day, I baked. Of course once I took off the rain jacket and put on sunglasses, the rains returned. Again we rode into a deluge with standing water on the roads. Aggressive wind gusts required careful steering. Lydian was happy…cool, powerful and free of surprises. Lights worked, seat was OK and gas mileage remained about 35 mpg. The rear band brake does require one or two applications when wet before it actually slows things down but the modified Norton front wheel/brake combination did its job nicely.
Attrition was evident yesterday as the field of 88 starting bikes and riders is now less than half of that: only 42 have perfect scores. The top ranked riders are all in Class I and II with pre-1920 bikes. Henderson is well represented!
We are going to Arkadelphia, Arkansas. I have never been but the Mayor is a Cannonball rider and will welcome us to his town:
The hosted dinner tonight is in the historic district so this should be fun.