Lost another hour!

DAY 5, Thursday, June 6, 2013

My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM.  Greg also woke up with the alarm.  We got up and got dressed.  Packed our bags and I took a couple of bags out to my Motor to start getting ready.  As I entered the lobby and passed by the breakfast area, Chuck, J.B., Jan and Bruce were already there eating breakfast.  I went out and took the cover off of the Motor and packed my bags.  I cleaned up the Motor and then went inside to have breakfast.  Everyone finished eating and packing so we were ready to leave.  C.E. needed gas so I led the group south on I-55.  We had checked the internet and found that there was a Love’s Truck Stop about 10 miles south.  We left at 8:27 AM headed for the Love’s.  We arrived at 8:36 AM and it was 12 miles.  We gassed up and lined up to get ready to leave and I had this sick feeling in my gut.  I realized that I had left something very important at the hotel in my room.  I left my “baby” there.  I told the guys that I would be back.  I rushed back to the hotel and got there in about 6 minutes.  I went up to my room on the second floor, entered and realized that the Maids had not cleaned yet.  I searched around the room for my “baby” but it was not there.  I returned to my Motor and checked my bag in the trunk.  It was packed!  Talk about relief.  I texted Chuck that I had found my “baby” and that I was returning.  For those who don’t know what the “baby” is, it is my .40 caliber “baby Glock.”  I had forgotten that I had put it in my bag before breakfast and was not carrying it.  I returned to the Love’s Truck Stop at 9:15 AM and everyone was ready to go…after I explained to the group what had happened.  I may be a little forgetful; however, I do practice safe gun habits.  I’ll blame it on my “lack of sleep.”  We left at 9:17 AM with Bruce in the lead.

Bruce led the group south on I-55. We continued riding and rode out of Missouri and into Tennessee.  Soon after entering Tennessee, I was riding at the rear and I thought that it was time to take individual pictures of the group.  I made my way from the back to the front taking pictures of Jan, Greg, C.E., Chuck, J.B., Ken and Bruce.  I returned to the read and then went up again taking a video of the guys.  We stopped for a pit stop at a gas station/mini mart in Friendship, TN at 10:27 AM, after riding 84 miles.  We didn’t stay too long there and left at 10:43 AM.  After riding for a few minutes, Ken, Chuck and I were riding on the right side of the curb lane.  We each ran over a pot hole in the road.  Ken told me later that he was doing his best to hold on after hitting the pot hole.  Chuck told me that he “bottomed out” his Motor.  He said that there may possibly be some damage that he might find later.  I hit the pot hole very hard also.  Soon after, I felt the front end very unstable at slower speeds.

The countryside in Tennessee is very beautiful!  It is very green and has a lot of trees.  We continued for another 89 miles and entered a little town called Adamsville, TN.  This is the home town with a museum of Buford Pusser of Walking Tall fame.  We rode the Buford Pusser Highway.  We stopped for gas at 12:20 PM and then rode about .2 miles to the nearest Subway for lunch.  We all enjoyed our sub-sandwiches.  We needed Subway after we had eaten yesterday with the Retirees lunch at Golden Corral and dinner at Lambert’s.  While we were having lunch, Bruce had been leading, with Ken behind him.  Bruce told Ken that he noticed that one of his headlights was not working.  Ken went out to his Motor and noticed that the left headlight wire had come loose, possibly from the jolt from the pot hole.  He fixed the light and we were all ready to go.  We left at 1:25 PM with C.E. leading.

Chuck had given C.E. directions from the map as to where we needed to go.  We were going to continue on US 64 East.  C.E. led us and after 56 miles we stopped at a gas station/mini mart in Deerfield, TN for a pit stop.  While we were taking a break, Ken took the opportunity to work on his left headlight with Jan’s assistance.  The bulb had burned out and they replaced the bulb.  I checked my front tire and tightened two screws and noticed that a tire weight was loose and I knocked it back into place.  I saw only one weight, there may have been two.  We left at 2:51 PM with C.E. still leading.

We continued on US 64 East and entered Lawrenceburg, TN, home of Davy Crockett.  Here we rode the David Crockett Highway.  We rode into the heart of the city and stopped at a red light.  There were signs at the corner next to us that indicated US 41 South right turn and US 64 East right turn.  As the light turned green, C.E., in the lead, started off and went straight east.  Ken and Greg, who were both behind C.E., honked their horns to get C.E.’s attention that we were turning right.  We all turned right and pulled off of the road onto the parking lot of the Crockett Hospital just south of the intersection at 3:14 PM.  We had ridden 15 miles.  As we waited in line, we soon saw C.E. head west and stop for the red light at the intersection.  He continued and met us in the parking lot.  Chuck and C.E. had a little discussion while looking at the map.  We left at 3:18 PM. 

We rode for a short distance and turned left onto US 64 East.  As we continued east, the sky looked pretty dark ahead of us.  As we were riding and it was getting darker, C.E. stopped by the side of the road.  He asked us all if we should put on our rain gear.  We opted not to.  We continued.  We hadn’t gone more than a mile when it started to sprinkle.  The sprinkle didn’t last very long.  It poured rain on us harder that we have ridden in quite a while.  It was hard to see, we were getting soaked, with no relief in sight.  We turned at a curve and on the left of the highway, there was, what appeared to be, an abandoned gas station, with awning.  I don’t know how we all made it without crashing or riding past it, but we all made it under the awning.  It was 3:55 PM and we had ridden 33 miles.  We were in Pulaski, TN.  After getting off of the Motors, we were safe from the rain and we all had a good laugh!  Bruce parked next to a pole of the awning and there was a leak in the pole and water was pouring onto his Motor.  Bruce shouted that the pole was peeing on his Motor!  That is what it looked like!  We all put on our rain gear.  Yes, apologies were given to C.E. for not listening to his “gut feeling.”  The rain started to subside and we left at 4:21PM.

Just east, about a quarter of a mile, of where we stopped to get out of the rain was an underpass for I-65, and on the other side were several businesses where we could have stopped to get out of the rain, however, we couldn’t see anything. We continued and the rain stopped shortly after we started.  We rode for 20 miles and at 4:43 PM, C.E. stopped in Fayetteville, TN and told us that he was going to take off his rain gear.  We all do also.  We left at 4:54 PM.

We continued on US 64 East and it turned into I-24.  We stopped at “Big Daddy’s Fireworks” in Guild, TN at 7:13 PM after riding 86 miles.  Big Daddy’s is also a Truck Stop.  We gassed up and took a short break.  Chuck looked up some hotels in Chattanooga, TN that might be available to us.  He found a Best Western, called them and secured four rooms for us.  Chuck asked J.B. to put the address on his Garmin Navigation System and lead us.  We left at 7:38 PM.  J.B. led us the 24 miles to the hotel.  Within the 24 miles to the hotel, we dipped into Alabama for about four miles and back into Tennessee.  As we arrived at Big Daddy’s, we found that we lost another hour.  We arrived at 7:49 PM at the hotel.

We all checked in, parked our Motors and tucked them in for the night.  The hotel clerk recommended Logan’s Roadhouse for dinner, which is next door and up a hill.  We all walked over to the restaurant while C.E. rode.  We had a good dinner and walked back to the hotel, down the hill and in the dark.  The seven stayed in the parking lot and talked for a while and I went up to the room and started on the blog. 

Well, today we rode 409 miles.  I rode 430 miles because I had to return to the hotel this morning.  Luckily, the “baby” is secured and in my possession.  Ken fixed his headlight.  C.E. missed a turn.  C.E.’s gut feeling about the rain gear was spot on.  We lost another hour.  We are safe and sound at the hotel in Chattanooga, TN.  All is good!  One more thing, we have ridden for 2,117 miles so far, and we haven’t even started to head north!  Tomorrow, we will go to Tail of the Dragon.  That is a road that is 11 miles long with 318 curves.  We shall see.  So, until tomorrow…