Atlanta to Little Rock #Atl2Arctic

I will quickly dash this post off just as a quick update.
[Update: I got carried away and wrote the entire post.]

The ride was good, but it was a VERY hot day. I did not put on sunscreen. I had removed my left glove to be able to maniplate things more easily, like zippers, the camelbak tube, touch a button the gps or touchscreen phone.. etc. My right wrist was also exposed. Both got SCORCHED. Fun. New rule. Sunscreen whether or no I think I need it.  So there.

I tried to visit Wortmann in Highland Park Birmingham, but I missed the one and only exit off I-20 in downtown Birmingham, and a 4 minute drive off the expressway would now take 15-20 minutes to get turned around and back again.  I wonder how much economic activity is stifled by this road design? Something to ponder.

So, relying on my overpriced Garmin Navigator 5, I was trying to get on the relatively new I-22 to Memphis from Birmingham. That did not play well. The Garmin took me around 20 miles out of the way, and then mapped me thru a “tricky” neighborhood, putting me on Tin Mill Road to get all the way up to I-22. Miles of secondary road, thru some questionable areas.

So, I made a point of using BOTH the phone GPS (Android LG4 on Verizon) and the Garmin. Guess what? The Garmin continually fouled up routing procedures. Along I-22, it kept routing off into the middle of nowhere, backtracking northeastward into rural areas.. doubling the drive time from 2.5 hours to ~4-5 hours. I really did not need a GPS riding on I-22. I was simply product testing.

Brilliant Garmin. Great stuff. #fail

[I will write another article about Garmin/DeLorme Inreach. Horrendous product, requires activation before the device can be used at all, it was DOA, no tech support after M-F business hours for a Search & Rescue device (Wow, right?) and then they have a NO Refund policy even if the device was never able to activate. I smell a federal level ICC fraud cause of action. That’s just theft, pure and simple. From the articles I have read, Spot3 is NOT much better, so..it must be endemic to the culture of the GPS industry. ]

I digress. Moving on.

I-22 is a beautiful stretch of road, with no traffic, good services, and nice views. You can really lay down miles. I ended up driving through Oxford. A good friend’s family is from nearby there. I had him on the phone as I drove thru, and he gave me the low down on all the stuff around there. The phone is the only thing I can do on the bike in terms of communication. I can voice command the calls, and the call quality is pretty good. Folks really can’t tell I am on a bike doing “55mph”. 😉

Pitstopping for fuel and food at the Love’s Truck Stop in Jasper Alabama. There, I met some nice people. #ShoutOut to Charles Wilson and also to Oscar! Oscar was on his way to Florida to take delivery on an RV. They are taking that RV with his kids and grandkids up to Alaska for FOUR MONTHS. Small world, right? Oscar, drop me a line after I get back, would love to share the experiences for your trip planning.

The Garmin made a further solid effort to foul up my approach into Memphis. I-22 inexplicably ends before it connects to another expressway. So, it’s lights, and surface traffic for 5 miles before you are back on the Interstate highway. Luckily, the Google Maps GPS worked just fine.

I visited my cousin who lives near Germantown. She and I are in the same industry. I had a taste of my own medicine when I pulled up. She was tangling with a HVAC engineer for an office building she deals with. She had a crew of landscapers working late. And she had a relative dropping in out of the blue on motorcycle. I so laughed. I have the same thing happen in my life.. at 8pm at night.. and I wonder why I am stressed out!

Anyway, she is super cool, and we do not get to see each other much at all. We have a lot in common. We have similar dogs, similar colorings at least. We both like Ms. Pac Man, she even has a full sized vintage cocktail model. We are both perennially single. We are 4 days apart in age. We do a lot of the same things, and both work in commercial real estate in similar functions and capacities. She has started a burgeoning business making woodcraft products. Once she sends me a link to her Etsy.com store, I will share it here. She makes some neat stuff! Totally forgot to take pictures of her samples. (I am an #AirHead! lol)

We had a quick hello and good bye, then I dashed across town visit her mom Bunny, my dad’s cousin, and her partner Cee. It was great to see them.

I had been told Little Rock was only 1.5 hours from Memphis. Au Contraire. More like 2.5 hours, and there were about 2 dozen 55-60mph construction zones, and endless large semi’s generating dangerous turbulence, especially with the aerodynamics of my bike’s load. Given the highway is more narrow than most, this rendered a memorable white knuckle ride thru the darkness of rural Arkansas.

I arrived at Midnight shaving 20 minutes off the GPS ETA, even with a gas and body break at an exit that would give the Heeby Jeebies even to David Lynch. Nice folks, chatty even, but.. just a bit “differint”.

My destination was Buddha’s place, way on the other side of Little Rock. Cheron Valley Road was a nice treat, beautiful curved parkway. Great way to end a stressful day. Even better, Buddha had lined up a garage space for the bike, pizza, cold beer, a cushy spare bedroom, and two friendly large dogs that took a shine to me. He has this amazing “museum” of his rugby memorabilia. Buddha has served all of the Old Boys for a long while, orchestrating those ORBS Freeport Bahamas trips of fame and renown.

Here are some of their past exploits. An era of Atlanta Renegades heading to Freeport for Memorial Day seems to have petered out, the younger crew not joining in the tours every year. Hopefully, there will be renewed interest. It was a solid run, 15-20 years of Freeport Frenzied Fun.. I only went three times, but.. those weekends really were Memorable.

The 2008 Market Collapse really hobbled my travel abilities. It’s a funny thing, life. Then, I could no longer afford to book a flight and share a hotel room to go and make some amazing memories and play my favorite sport. Now, 10 years later, I am lighting out on a 30-40 day adventure with a big old bike and tons of gear. Life does have it’s changes and seasons. I am looking forward to this season!

ORBS Elvis Tour. Buddha is in red.

I woke up early, but lost my wall charger for all the gadgets. I had to mine thru all the gear, and repack. Actually, it was where I packed it, I just overlooked seeing, and kept on unpacking until I found it.

So many people have been jotting down the blog’s website, I also really need to get this blog filled in with some preliminary content.

Now,  it is fast approaching 2pm. I may just camp here one more day, and enjoy Buddha and D’s company. Still, the longer I linger here, means the less time I have to enjoy the Rockie’s on the way to Salt Lake

City BMW MOA.

However, that pool is looking good..