October 26, 2013

           I forgot my little card reader and trying to find one on the road--forget it. If you eventually see pictures here, that is a good sign. This begins Day Three of my trip, I made the short hop into Demopolis for a Saturday night visit with Joe and Dale. That's the hospitable folks that helped out when I broke down on the way to Colorado last year. They called it right when they said, "You'll always come back to Demopolis".
           Let me check if this photo passes the censors? Yep. This is reading the blog, laptop on the actual lap, Demopolis, Mississippi. The gang was leery of the camper and put me up in a van. This is a normal reaction to anyone who does not know how carefully sized the inside of the camper is. It is, I stress, twice the size of a pup tent which most everybody has slept in without a hitch.

           It's true, I was miles off the path but the Honda knew the way and kept me right on track till I got there. They were at a bike rally. That's me, pulling into town on a conspicuous ride in the middle of a motorcycle show when the highway patrol is watching everybody. It was a great visit, they put me up in a camper, which was nice. My rig is a might cramped due to using blankets instead of a sleeping bag, but I'll have much more to say about that in a day or two. Thanks, Joe & Dale. See you again.

           I took the old Alabama State Highway to York, beware of towns on the map that no longer exist. Or like Cochrane, towns that never did. Somehow the GPS got set on "eco-route", sending me down old farm roads with potholes so bad I was doing 15 mph. Eventually, the GPS send me on a wild goose chase through eastern Mississippi. I'll have to make this fast, the meter on this computer is running. I hit rain near Yazoo City (do you know what a yazoo is?), which got me suited up for the jaunt up to the nearest Mississippi Bridge. The area is taking on a prairie look. The sunset was red, but otherwise quite ordinary.

           My travel is limited more by daylight hours than fatigue. Greenville was a rough looking place. I not only did not stop for the night, I did not stop there period. Mind you, some nice young black men pulled up beside me to warn my tag (license plate) was working lose. Sure enough, and thanks, guys. That would have been fun on the road. Must buy some nylon bolts.

           Daylight is around 12 hours, 6:40 AM to 6:30 PM. The Honda is behaving but the rear tire, just replaced a few months ago, is bald again. At only 3,000 miles, it proves there is some dynamic with the side car at work. At least I know. (I was eventually to average 5,000 miles per Dunlop tire.)

           The trade-offs with the camper are showing up. It is cozy enough to tempt sleeping in. It is nothing to roll over and nap another couple of hours in that thing. The "rumble fatigue" of the road contributes to this and you get a really deep sleep. I don't get as tired like last year, probably due to better posture and enforcing a break every two hours.
           By popular demand, here is a shot of the Subway sandwich I didn't care for. The one from last day that was "mostly grass". There was meat there, but not enough to impart any meat flavor. It's shit like this, Subway. You know how to lose customers. Calling that a sandwich, I mean.
           What's that object I can see in the upper right out the window?

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