Rough night.  The Hot Chicken lived up to it’s name and continued burning all night.  Didn’t get much sleep and what little sleep I did get was peppered with crazy dreams.

Georgia Aquarium entryway – they have painted dolphins too!

Underwater Tunnel – One of the better ones I’ve been to.

Wall o’ colourful fish.

The Georgia Aquarium might be the biggest in the world with the most variety of fish.  But it just felt less serious than the Lisbon Oceanarium.  Georgia has a much higher level of polish, but something is lost with the kid friendly cartoons and the musical dolphin show.  Still very much worth visiting if you’re in town.

The land the Aquarium sits on was donated by Coca-Cola.  And as it is, the World of Coca Cola is next door.  Now, I’ve been to a few of these already – Las Vegas and Tokyo(I think), but since those have closed, this is the one to visit now.

The newest attraction is the Vault with the ‘real’ secret recipe.  Big fake vault and security checkpoints with trappings of hollywood spy stuff.   Eventually, you end up in a circular room with a video that opens up to reveal the real safe:

I guess there is some real controversy about whether or not the actual recipe is in there.  But I suppose given the continuing changing of their recipe under political/health pressure, I don’t know how important it really is now.  Coke is an insane brand, aside from it’s origins and taste.  As they say, the secret is part of the magic of Coke – why wouldn’t you leverage it for publicity?

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One of the things I found interesting was that Coke is up in space!  I’m sure some ridiculous amount of engineering went into transport and design of the dispensers and cups.  I wonder if someone from coke got to taste test in zero-g?

Giant wall o’ Coke pins.

More giant Coke bottle art.

There were 4D exhibits at both the Coke and Aquarium.  Best one yet is still the Insect Museum in New Orleans.  I suspect my natural sensitivity to creepy crawlies may have something to do with it.   And as usual, there is a tasting center where you get to try flavours from around the world.  I got plenty of sugar and bubbles before heading out through the gift shop.

The plan was to go for Chicken & Waffles at Gladys And Ron’s.  I circled around downtown looking for parking.  Unfortunately, the damage done by the Hot Chicken was not complete yet.   The thought of putting food into the system was making my system churn(the excess amount of pop probably didn’t help).

The plan was to stop in Forsyth to save myself Atlanta traffic the next day, but since I didn’t burn any hours eating chicken & waffles, I pushed on.   I’d still like to make it to Key West by Friday – make the trip on a weekday.  Stopping when I ran out of gas, I ended up in Ashburn, Georgia.   Not a small part because the motels were reasonably priced.

I may have survived the Dragon without leaving my mark on the Tree of Shame, but the day after did take its toll. Very much a roller coaster of stimuli and responses.

Tree of Shame – no contribution from Mendy!

Sleeping in a tent under the Dragon’s Tail was the most cost effective way of spending the night. But it did leave vulnerable to the upset Dragon raging all night and pissing all over the place. Yup, another night of thundershowers. Bit of a rough night again.

The morning was clear and bright, and the bikes were roaring about by 7am. It was nice to see and hear so much activity. Deals Gap is a great place to people watch. Something I got to do plenty of while packing up a wet tent and working on Mendy’s chain. The store actually has a decent selection.

The people were a healthy mix, but sportbikers seemed to be under represented, or maybe less friendly compared to the cruisers. There’s a women riders convention in the area soon. Plenty of groups coming through on the way there.

One of the better stories was a lady who never used to ride. Well, she was into horses and her husband rode the motorcycle. He passed away 3 years ago and she has taken over his bike in memory. Riding places and taking him back to places they shared together.

Great bunch of folks. But the rain and time with Mendy has made me realize the damage is no longer restricted to easily replaced accessories that would likely have been upgraded anyway. The scratches in the side case are deep and into the painted panel. Right past the paint. The mounting point has also suffered some damage and the right pannier has some play now. Worst of all, the plastics on the body itself are scratched… Body armor for Mendy will come too late to save her from the battle scars.

Putting the mistakes in the past and focusing on they task at hand, I set off on the 28 to cruise around the mountains before heading for Atlanta. And wow, what a pick me up. Cool, gorgeous weather. Sun coming through the trees and on the water. Carving through the mountains. Very much what a major portion of what this trip is about.

All smiles on 28

Very cool mist over the river.  Pictures on the fly, no good place to stop.  Reminds me of the similar thing happening in the Cascades.

Cherohala Skyway Viewpoint

But what goes up, must come down. Looping around Robbinsville and over the Cherohala Sky way, the grey skies were gathering. Climbing to the peak was an eerie flowing fog.

By the time I reached the Telico Plains, I could clearly smell the rain. Ducking into a gas station to decide whether or not the rain was a real issue or just crossing my path, I grabbed a coffee.

Shortly after, the skies opened up.
Unbelievable amount of water poured from the skies. You could see riders scurrying for cover as they came down off the skyway. I finished my coffee and went back out to suit up. Didn’t take too long, and got to chat with a couple from west Tennessee who were also hiding under cover.

Properly equipped, riding in the rain – even in virtual washout conditions isn’t bad. Mendy is more than capable. Worst is really other traffic and trying to read road signs. The rain came and went, the roads remained pleasantly twisty. Satisfied with my situation and gear, I continued south into Georgia.

The 60 wasn’t as nice as the roads closer to Deals Gap. More tar snakes and rubbish on the roads themselves. The rain was gone, but the roads were dirtier. The dark clouds were still overhead, so the rain gear stayed on. This meant a lot of slow sweaty miles. Forced me to face how sick and tired I was of the heat and humidity.

Shedding the rain as I neared Atlanta didn’t help much either. I had exchanged sweaty rain gear with big city highway traffic. 6 lanes of stop and go merging into the city. Fortunately, Atlanta itself is quite beautiful once you’re off the knot off traffic that is their interstate.

I was told making the trip to Holeman Finch was worth the trip.  I wasn’t hungry yet, so I decided to make the trip on foot.  Got a chance to see a bunch of random things along Peachtree.

A castle for rent

Crazy clouds and skies before the thunderstorm

The Margaret Mitchell House 

Food at Holeman Finch was quite good.  First off – Bacon Caramel Popcorn

Bone Marrow Gratin

Steak Tartare

Hot Chicken – this was, as forewarned, hot.  Painfully so.  I had considered eating more, but after the chicken, it would just be a waste of money.

Went to bed early last night, but didn’t help much. Crazy thunderstorm last night woke me up around midnight. I lay there for a bit before realizing my tent actually leaks. I don’t know if it was because the rain was extra hard, or I have holes. but the inside of the fly was definitely wet and would occasionally drip into the main tent. In a brief lull in the storm, I went out and pegged out the fly. That seemed to help a little.

Got up at 7:30 to lube the chain and pack. Packing a wet tent still sucks and I don’t think I would have any idea how to pack the bags and bike if it were still raining.  Still a slow start – the heat makes getting going very difficult. Even with a shower, I was dripping sweat before everything was on the bike.  A young couple was kind enough to stop by on their way out to ask if I was having problems and offered me the use of their tools.

I had tried to do some research for things to do in Nashville before I left. But I wasn’t interested in any of the top attractions. I would have considered going to the Opry radio show thing, but I got my act together to late for the Sat snow and nothing was really open on Sunday. Even Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack was closed Sun/Mon. I decided to swing by the Parthenon. Might not get to see it anytime soon in Greece, but a full size replica is still good. Unfortunately, it was Sunday morning so it wasn’t open. I gave it a shot!

Back on the highway with a target of Deals Gap and riding the Dragon.  I took a quick break to grab lunch at Hardee’s.  Not very impressed.  Kind of reminds me of Harvey’s back in Canada – not sure if that’s just a name thing.  I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat there again.

The Dragon – it really is quite a nice bit of road.  Followed a couple of Harleys up… And they kindly pulled over at the lookout.  I stopped with them and took a few pics.  They kept giving me looks until they suggested I go ahead – one of them had brought his brand new Ultra and wasn’t about to do anything questionable.  I told them I’d rather follow anyhow.  I might have gone a little faster if they weren’t in front of me, but having something to follow and remind oncoming traffic that there were bikes was worth slowing down.

Quite a nice bit of road.  Lots of turns, quite clean, no tar snakes.  Marked turns.  But it is quite busy in both directions and vehicles don’t tend to stay in their lanes very well.  Some of the 10mph turns are a little too slow for Mendy and the luggage.  I could feel the luggage dragging the bike down and had to slip the clutch to keep things in control.

I got into Deals Gap early in the afternoon.   Lost a bunch of time setting up camp, but was sorely tempted to take Mendy back out unencumbered.  In the end, I chose not to – I think it would be too disappointing for the rest of the trip to know all I had to do was lose the weight…

Grabbed a quick burger combo at the Grill and pulled out the laptop to process the video and try to jot down some thoughts.   A couple at the next table gave me a hard time for ‘working’ on vacation.  I explained what I was trying to do and the wife insisted I write about them and invited me to join them.

Chatting continued over a few drinks.  Topics ranged from politics, war, draft dodging and hunting.  I suspect things started getting off track when we started talking about ‘land of the law’, capital punishment and religion.  Unitarians, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the trinity all came up.  But one thing we did agree on was the need for people to do the work and explore what they believed rather than blindly accept what organized religion feeds you.

Mendy takes another spill, scarred by the Old Trace.

Not much sleep, went to bed late (1am) and up relatively early (7:30). Actually got onto the road in a timely manner. As I was packing the bike, I noticed there was a pin in the GoPro case. It was clearly a motorcycle club pin and I was trying to figure out where from when a couple of guys started talking to me in the parking lot. Turns out it was them who had left me the pin and they were riders back in Finland. They were on a road trip from Key West to San Fran. Eventually, they went back and gave me their Iron Butt Finland pin. My first IBA! Honorary, for sure, but it just means I have to earn one fair and square now.

I figured I should do something else ‘Memphis’ oriented and swung out to Graceland. I got there and realized parking was $10, on top of the min $30 fee for entry/tour. The Rock n Soul museum had given me a little more respect for what influence Elvis had on music and USA, but not enough to shell out $40 and half a day. I looped the neighbourhood around Graceland – really nice houses – before heading back to the Natchez Trace on 78. In Tupelo, the exit I took for gas happened to be the same exit as the “birthplace of Elvis”. Not something I would have went out of my way for, but when it’s only 2 miles and I’ve already stopped, figured it was worth visiting. Especially since it was free. And I think the car on display reminded me my issues with US history sites. Nice car and all, but the plaque basically sums up to: “Possibly the make/model of car the Presleys used to move from Tupelo to Memphis”. Not the actual car, just a good specimen. And considering the Presleys moved to Memphis because they were broke, probably in much better condition than the real deal at the time of the move.

Getting back on the Natchez Trace Parkway was tougher this time around than the evening of the last trip. The south half has better shade and the rainy afternoon really helped cool things donw. And like LA, my eyes would not stay open. I did have to pull over a few times just to rest up. I took a break at the Freedom Hills Lookout to take a picture. Sights are still not the same as other National Parks. I also managed to run over my mister nozzle on this stop – destroyed my cooling system. I decided to look for gas at Shady Grove. Driving past the town store, it didn’t look like that was the right stop, so I kept going for a little bit. Further down the road, there wasn’t much of anything, so I hung a left onto a side street, with the intention of turning around. Narrow road, and quite nice farm country, so I kept going. Cool little loop, but when the gas light came on, I realized I had better get back to the Trace and find a gas station. No cell phone coverage, so I decided to use my ‘internal compass’ and find my own way back. Partially successful – I managed to find the Trace Parkway, but not a way back onto it. Just overpasses under it. I pulled over near the Parkway, where there was cell coverage and found a route back to Shady Grove. I took the ‘short cut’ and was on it before realizing it was dirt. Still, confidence was high and I rode on.

Most of it was decent, but it was just a trap. At the end was a very steep hill with paved cross traffic at the bottom. I tried to go down slowly, but the front tire went into some soft sand and Mendy was down. This time with a cracked signal/hand protector. I took off the top case and managed to lift her back up – putting myself on the wrong side of the bike and no way to get my leg over. I don’t think I have ever sweated so much in my life. Very slow pushing and sliding her over far enough to put my leg over and then I clutched/braked her the rest of the way with the engine off. Climbing back up to retrieve the top case and gear, I slipped and nearly fell all 3 times. I suppose in retrospect, I didn’t have much of a chance. My other choice would have been to just go for it and do all my braking on the pavement. Given the choices and the damage done, I think I am content with the results. 

I finished the Trace and went to the KOA in Nashville. Did my loundry and went next door to eat at the Cock of the Walk. Essentially a Cracker Barrel on steroids. I got the sampler platter – all deep fried. Catfish was delicious, the shrimp wasn’t bad. I would pass on the chicken and hush puppies.

Went to hide in the tent early to hide from the bugs.  Couldn’t really stop sweating, so ended up falling asleep a nasty combination of sticky and slimy.  I didn’t shower once for the entire first week of this trip and didn’t feel as gross as I do now after one day.  Although, it’s possible that the BMW Rallye3 Suit has picked up a little bit of grime.

And to top it off, I woke up a little before 2am last night to the tent smacking me in the head again.  I opened my eyes to flashing white lights.   Lots of lightning, but no thunder.  At first.

I got up anyway, checked the stuff out by the picnic table and Mendy before pegging out the tent in case it did rain.  Good thing too, since as soon as I got back inside the tent, it started to rain.  Raindar basically showed I was surrounded by systems.

It did rain that night and packing up a wet tent sucks.  I think if it had actually still been raining in the morning, i would’ve just sucked it up and waited it out.  The campsite was free, after all.  So asian of me… I was so confused trying to figure out how to pay for the site the previous night and so thrilled to find out it wouldn’t cost anything…

Still, I had a nice chat with the old folks in the campground – only other occupied site when I arrived.   He and his wife used to ride around the country on Goldwings with a trailer.  He misses it dreadfully but at 75, his knees couldn’t keep the bike upright anymore.

As I got on the bike, the Trace was a very welcome scene.  Cool(27C), no traffic, blue skies.  All was right with the world.  The tent is just a place to sleep – on this trip, the bike is ‘home’.  Very grateful and happy to be where I was this morning.

Otherwise, the ride to Memphis was uneventful.  Once off the trace along 78, it started warming up.  Interstate straights with road work made me long for the greenery and slower pace of the Trace.   It climbed to 35C by the time I got to the motel.  Only bit of interest was the highway signs reminding me to be careful – 69 motorcycle fatalities so far.

After checking in, I went to Gus’s Fried Chicken.  I went all out and ordered the deep fried pickles to start, a half chicken (all 4 pieces) and their sweet tea.

Very good fried chicken.  Tender and moist all the way through, nice crispy skin.  Overall, more subtle than Coop’s, but a little more traditional “fried” taste.   Even better with hot sauce and ranch, although I hesitate when I consider how much food I’m cramming down my gullet when I do that.

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I basically ate myself sick.  Forced the coleslaw down, since I need the ‘veggies’.  Not a big fan, I think they add sugar or something to it.   Barely touched the beans.  The plan was to pack some of it for ‘later’.  This technique has been fairly hit and miss – anything good enough, I just scarf it down and just feel sick instead.

I limped over towards the river and sat under a tree for a while.

Then headed back to check out the Gibson factory.  Wall o’ Gibons!

Unfortunately, the tour was sold out.  I went across the street to the Rock ‘n Soul museum instead.  Interesting mix of movie, memorabilia and old tracks.  Kind of made me wish I could actually purchase some music and set up for the road.  Gift shop only sells CDs and I have no way of converting that to something useful.

Back out to Beale St at night – live music at the park.

Nightlife!  Orderly compared to 6th Street.  Police barricades and ID checks on the streets for the street party.  But from speaking to the locals, it sounds like it’s Saturday that’s crazy.  Friday nights are quite laid back.

Dinner at Blues City Cafe.  These were probably the most classic of the ribs I’ve had so far.  Decent smoke, caramelized sauce.  Very good, solid meal.  But not something I’ll miss.

BB King All Stars for music, dancing and drinks.

Took a bit of wandering, but I eventually found the Visitor Center for the Natchez Trace .  Google Maps kept sending me to the one of the sites and the NPS one is combined with the city Visitor Center.  Not the most intuitive, but I did manage to get my map and stamps.

This is one of the historic buildings I got a stamp for… Didn’t really feel like getting off to do the tour.  Way too hot.

And the other stamp – Melrose.  Legacy of some wealthier plantation times in Natchez.     Beautiful grounds.

The Natchez Trace Parkway s a green way along the old Trace.  Fairly shaded, very pretty, no billboards(or services, for that matter).  A very much welcome change of pace from running along the Interstates.   But it does feel very manicured and artificial. At time, the farms and ‘real life’ behind the scenes pokes through, ruining the illusion.   Don’t get me wrong, it was still much appreciated, but I think I have to admit that the type of trip has changed from the west.

I mean, this is a stop.  Emerald Mound, 2nd biggest Mound in the USA.  It was used for ceremonial purposes for the Indians…  But it’s still just a big manmade grassy hill. And the other mounds are even worse – they’ve been hit by erosion so they’re just fields now.

Oldest surviving building in the area.  Day’s walk up from Natchez itself, from before the steamships and the ability for boats to go upstream and the sailors “kaintucks” had to walk up the Trace to get home.

Another must see – the Sunken Trace, where erosion has put the path below ground level.  Makes me think of ambushes and hopefully scenes in Assassin’s Creed 3.

At Rock Springs – this is one of the stops on the tour.  It’s hard not to make comparisons between an empty postal office safe with a sign mentioning how little traffic this town got with the wonders of the National Parks out west.   I mean, rusting old safe, or hoodoo in Bryce Canyon?

Reservoir Outlook – reminds me a little of Yellowstone Lake.

I suppose this is the major difference between a National Park and a National Historic Park.  Perhaps I am cynical, but the natural wonders, we might not know very miuch about, but they stand for themselves.   This historic stuff, they seem to be trying their darnedest to attach significance to it – and not very successfully.  The Trace is fairly unique in the park system anyway, or so I’m told.   Hopefully the Northern half is better.

Fried chicken at Coop’s.  Very tasty.  Thin crispy skin with an excellent mix of herbs.  Somehow reminding me of something between fried and oven roasted.

I’m using my camp chair to wait for the fireworks.  Facing up the hill was a bit of a challenge.

Fireworks – what they lack in variety and subtlety, the Americans made up for it with size and volume.  Car alarm triggering levels.  And since they were dueling barges, everything happened twice.  As usual, even the prepared people didn’t bring radios, so I have no idea how well it went with the music.

Back to St Pierre’s for the night.  I had considered going out and roaming around Bourbon Street.  I seriously considered a ‘Hand Grenade’ – the strongest drink in New Orleans.  But there is a “trifecta” – Hand Grenade, Hurricane and something else.  Certainly not something I wanted to try to do and ride the next day. I guess I’ll save the drinking in New Orleans for another trip.

A quick blast on the 90 put me into New Orleans.  Getting off the highway and turning into the French Quarter was a nice change.  Checking into St Pierre was a good throwback into checking into places while travelling Europe.  Nowhere near as nice as the pictures.

The clerk sent me to Desire for lunch.  A little more expensive than I was expecting, but since that included a $10 drink, it wasn’t too bad.  Research into places on Chowhound afterwards did say it was a place the ‘locals’ went to, even if it was mostly for oysters in the half shell.  I had the ‘Peacemaker’ – half oyster and half a shrimp po’boy.  Delicious, but mostly because of the bread.

Deep fried goodness on very good bread.

Dinner was another sandwich and drinks at Napolean House – A place designed to house the exiled Emperor, but never used.  They apparently make the best muffaletta sandwiches and Pimm’s Cup drinks.

I thought the sandwich was a little dry – could have used more olive salad.

Finishing off the evening with some live music on Frenchmen Street @ Maison.  After the very disappointing scene on 6th Street, this was a nice change of pace.  Drinks were a little expensive and the band worked for tips.  I’d probably try a little more venue hopping the next time.

Everyone said to spend Independence Day in a big city.  I had reservations for July 3rd, so I had a to kill.  With all the wildlife preservers and managed areas, I thought the Bayou would be a good place to check out and find a place to camp for the night.  I should have booked a boat tour or a fishing charter.  Would have been time better spent.

Unfortunately, all in all, a bit of a failure of a day.  First mistake was taking the 90 – it pretty much runs the same route as the I-10, but closer to the railroad tracks on smaller roads.  Just as straight, but slower.  This may have been a good thing, since for whatever reason, I had the same issue as riding in LA.  I could not keep my eyes open – allergies/pollution?  I ended up pulling over a lot.

At least off the major highways, I got to go through a bunch of different neighbourhoods.  A good mix of really nice properties and houses.  TV show nice – manicured with people actively tending the lawns.  As well as lots overgrown with vegetation and signs for sale or lease.

With my eyes burning, I pulled over and had lunch was at Popeye’s – the other half of the Church’s Chicken supply chain.  I figured Louisiana would be a best place since it started here.   I’d say it was better than Church’s in San Antonio.

About the only ‘success’ of the day was putting on rain gear in time.  I saw wet cars with their wipers on coming the other way just before a drawbridge.  Pulled over to put on the gear just as it started to drizzle.   Crossing the bridge put me directly into the thundershower.   Crazy wet – but the gear worked, I stayed dry!  At least, for a while.   Eventually, I just sweat like crazy into the suit itself.   Similar levels of discomfort.  HIgher gross factor.

Riding around the Bayou really isn’t the way to see it either.  I get the feeling that the roads are on ‘stable’ ground, so fairly far from the ever shifting coastline.  Not a whole lot to see and not many bends.  There was a few fun bits just before 57 turns into 56, but generally not much to see.

As the afternoon wore on, I figured I should find a place to camp.  Google failed me again, although I’m starting to be able to see the pattern.  If Google doesn’t link to reviews from other sites, it’s probably not a good sign.  I did a few loops around the Mainstay Inn driving to various RV and Trailer parks before giving up and booking a room.

But since I was in a suite, I had a small kitchenette.  I managed to save a few bucks by eating my camp food.  Sardines, spam, instant noodles, beef jerky.

Another late start – but since this was from sleeping until my 9am alarm, it was probably much needed rest.  The maids weren’t too thrilled, but I guess on a lazy, wet Sunday, no one was in a rush to go anywhere.

Weather was pretty bleak.  When I first stuck my head out the door, it was hot and sunny, but it didn’t take long to cloud over.

Weather channel said pretty much nothing but hot weather.  Wunderground said 40% chance of thundershowers.  I sat on the fence, repacked my bags to get quick access to rain jacket and gloves, but actually put on booties and gortex overalls.  I should have gone all the way…  pulling over at the next exit is too long in these thundershowers… Now I was damp and marinading in a rain suit.  Could barely see the car in front…. traffic slowed to 30mph.

Things cleared up by Galveston.  I drove by Pleasure Pier, bit decided to eat before exploring.  Yelp suggested Benno’s and I opted for the deep fried.

I got through maybe half of it before the servers started clearing the outside condiments due to risk of rain.  I packed the rest and hopped back on the bike.

Quick trip along the shore road and looped past the ‘pay’ park.  On my way out, I decided to check out the ferry.  Gas light came on, so I took the chance to ask clerk about the ferry.  He said it was free and wouldn’t take long.

Listening was an experience.  Long hot lines with people feeding the seagulls.  Do not feed the birds you asshats!  Just waiting in line I got pooped on 3 times.

The ferry ride itself wasn’t much better.  I got stuck at the end of the line to fill a column… and the back is naturally where the ferry people tell people to fees the damn birds.  I would have ducked into the passenger area, but as I was getting ready to get off, I could feel Mend sway with the boat.  With all the extra weight, it felt outright scary.  So now I was watching the birds hover and really hoping they would poop on one of the feeders and praying Mend wouldn’t tip over.
Worst feeling ever was the ferry tapping against the dock.  Nearly peed myself.

On the other side, I got to see entire neighborhoods on stilts.  Houses built on sand.  Most of the motels looked like they didn’t even have windows to weather storms better…  still probably a gorgeous place to live when it’s nice.

I was now soaked in rain and sweat- both the temperature and nervous stuff.  Not to mention exhausted and not sure where to go.  Stopped at a Denny’s to grab some coffee, where the girls kept giving me a hard time about not eating.

Raindar seemed to show that east was a better bet, so I went by Port Arthur, Bridge City before settling in Fenton for a camp site.  Stopping to take a picture of the giant bridges, a random guy in a truck stopped to ask if I was okay.  Got to chatting about the MTS 1200 vs the FJR 1300.  He apparently really wanted the Duc, but couldn’t keep it under 90 on the test ride and decided he was too immature.  Wise beyond his years.

Had a nice chat with Hubert, the owner about politics and life in general.

Random tune of the day: Lovefool – The Cardigans