Once we\u2019d waved good-bye, I headed back towards the mountains\u2026 totally oblivious to her impending plight and totally not lost myself\u2026 Nope, just a return to serene, easy riding for this intrepid trekker, doing what I do love to do.<\/p>\n
I wound up renting a cabin for a few days, which I\u2019ve already chronicled\u2026 I left there and rode over to Lucky 13\u2019s place in Clinton, TN, to exam the progress Troutdude and he were making on the bathroom update currently underway\u2026 Impressive!<\/p>\n
I then got the \u2018all clear\u2019 from my cousin in Morehead City, NC, so I headed over there\u2026 Hurricane Matthew had produced a considerable amount of flooding in the areas of central and eastern North Carolina I\u2019d be riding through, so my original plan to go there had been postponed\u2026<\/p>\n
Now it was time to celebrate birthdays\u2026 Nick and I have birthdays eleven days apart, and we\u2019ve been getting together each year since the late eighties to celebrate\u2026 Celebrate we did! And, we ate\u2026 plenty\u2026<\/p>\n
That guy can really cook, so I must time my visits and limit them to only short durations at a time\u2026 otherwise, I\u2019d have to buy a complete new wardrobe! He and I have some history starting when we were little boys\u2026 He spent twenty years in the Army, though, so we sort of missed out most of that time, but since his retirement we\u2019ve pretty much picked up where we\u2019d left off\u2026 Cousins biologically, but brothers in all other ways\u2026<\/p>\n
I left Nick\u2019s place after about two weeks and headed west\u2026 I\u2019d delayed my departure for another reason, but that was just enough so I wouldn\u2019t be able to make Mac\u2019s Veterans Day ride on time, but I still could make the last night with the gang if I rode straight there\u2026 so I did\u2026<\/p>\n
I cruised in Saturday afternoon, and got another surprise when I learned something by doing things this way. I can\u2019t party like I once did, but I can still party once like I always did! By missing the first evening\u2019s follies, I was fresh and really in the mood\u2026 and the rest is legend\u2026<\/p>\n
Apparently, some others present are serious party animals too\u2026 There were reports of varying degrees of cranial discomfort the following morning, and there was even a tale of one of our guys ending up in the wrong bed in the wrong room on the wrong floor of our motel (he apparently got that last part right)! Fortunately, no spouses or girlfriends or SOs were involved, so no bloodshed occurred. Alas, hanging out with our bunch can be such great fun\u2026 and very adventurous, too!<\/p>\n
Sometime during the previous few days, I\u2019d spoken with Punisher on the phone. He was in Arkansas riding around, and he\u2019d invited me to come on out and join him\u2026 I did. I left Mac\u2019s group in Cookeville, TN, and headed for the state that had given us Slick Willie\u2026 I probably shouldn\u2019t mention that\u2026 some folks there ain\u2019t all that proud of that factoid\u2026<\/p>\n
I rode to Forrest City, AR, fifty miles give or take west of Memphis, TN, the first day and got a room at a motel I\u2019ve stayed in several times in the past. It has a Mexican restaurant and a bar on premises, so it just seemed so right\u2026<\/p>\n
Once again it was confirmed to this naive novice trekker that one can \u2018never go back\u2019\u2026 This visit to the bar where I\u2019d had a grin or two in years\u2019 past was nowhere near what my hopes had been, so\u2026 a meal and a couple of cool ones, then it was time to turn in\u2026<\/p>\n
I rode to Clinton, AR, and met-up with Punisher at the Huddle House there\u2026 he was having a late breakfast, so I joined him\u2026 I\u2019d departed very early that morning so we could meet-up early enough to still get in some riding, which we did\u2026<\/p>\n
We then spent the next seven days riding together, starting with that state, then a jaunt up to Branson, MO, which I\u2019d consciously always avoided due to reports of traffic and crowds. It wasn\u2019t bad on our brief ride-through, but we didn\u2019t dawdle\u2026 Nope we rode up to a town about thirty miles north and had dinner at Lambert\u2019s Caf\u00e9\u2026 home of the \u2018throwed rolls\u2019. They really do throw those baked items to you; I even caught one myself!<\/p>\n
We rode a ferry across a lake in Northern Arkansas on our way to Branson, then we rode down through Story, AR, to Mena for the night following that. We returned to Story and the Blue Belle Cafe the next morning, but\u2026 alas, this visit didn\u2019t yield a happy result, just like all but my first visit there.<\/p>\n
Nope, the burner was out on the stovetop this time, and the owner, Lori, had gone to get another one. As bad as that was (Lori\u2019s a card), it also meant the ham in that much-anticipated mega ham \u2018n cheese sandwich couldn\u2019t be fried, so\u2026 Am I going to have to return yet again? I may be nearing the point where I\u2019m going to have to consider giving up\u2026<\/p>\n
We rode the Talimena Trail into Oklahoma, and that did produce good results! The Fall color was still glorious, traffic was very light, and the road surface was good. The ride down from there to Marshall, TX, for the night was also great, with lots of sweepers free of debris and light traffic there, as well. Even though we didn\u2019t arrive at our motel until an hour or so after sundown, we still managed an exhilarating ride, and we never spotted Bambi or any of her family members the entire way.<\/p>\n
From Marshall, we raced the rain laden cold front that was closing in on us all the way to Winnie, TX, for the night. We arrived this time about an hour or so before the negative event, so I suppose things do have a way of balancing out\u2026 Rain time also gave us an opportunity to do laundry. Dinner and a couple of cold ones at Al-T\u2019s once the rain ended, but no party occurred\u2026 Sometimes things just work out that way.<\/p>\n
From Winnie, we rode to Lafayette, LA, where we\u2019d planned to party for sure\u2026 Punisher\u2019s ride partner couldn\u2019t muster the wherewithal and\/or enthusiasm to engage in any of that by the time we\u2019d arrived, however, so delivery pizza and football became our night\u2019s entertainment\u2026 About that\u2026<\/p>\n
It was on this stop that I did some serious pondering about a couple of things that had been rattling around in my vast cranial void\u2026 sort of like a pair of b-bs bouncing about inside an otherwise empty boxcar\u2026 Anyway, I\u2019d gotten another of several surprises on this outing\u2026<\/p>\n
Among those items was one about the pacing of activities as I\u2019ve aged\u2026 I\u2019d been riding harder and longer each day on this ride than what I\u2019d been doing the last few years\u2026 and, I\u2019d held up rather well! Punisher even mentioned to me that I was underestimating my stamina, and it would appear he was right!<\/p>\n
Perhaps my activity level decline has more to do with bad habits, possibly even laziness, than it does with the passage of time\u2026 Could it be that my ruinous recliner has had something to do with this\u2026? More likely, it\u2019s the result of \u2018expectation of need\u2019 rather than some fact-based choice of necessity\u2026<\/p>\n
Another surprise was the discovery that there really are indeed good travel companions available to ride with! Truth be told, this wasn\u2019t a new revelation by any stretch, as I\u2019ve ridden with some mighty fine partners throughout my riding career\u2026 I just thought I\u2019d mention it this way as a segue to the fact Punisher is a truly great travel buddy! As for \u2018his\u2019 travel partner this time\u2026 well\u2026<\/p>\n
We ended our ride together at his house near Hattiesburg, MS. Jackie had made dinner for us, so there was no need for us to go out to eat.\u00a0 We had a nice visit for several hours chatting about all kinds of stuff while sitting in front of a roaring fireplace, then we turned-in for a much-needed rest.<\/p>\n
Next morning, coffee in front of the fireplace, then I had to tear myself loose and head towards\u2026 my rendezvous with that sinister, leather, body-embracing, energy zapping, enthusiasm sapping, eyelid dropping, and spirit draining oh-so comfortable tush respite station\u2026 One more night on the road, then I would be planting my weary, delicate derriere right where I so didn\u2019t want it to be, and\u2026 you know\u2026 no surprise, huh\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Once we\u2019d waved good-bye, I headed back towards the mountains\u2026 totally oblivious to her impending plight and totally not lost myself\u2026 Nope, just a return to serene, easy riding for this intrepid trekker, doing what I do love to do. …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meanderings-by-ddt-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=786"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":787,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786\/revisions\/787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}