White House TN – Lucas KY
Sat April 27, 2019
(~658 miles)

 

I had a solid four hours of sleep after wolfing a sandwich and verifying my route for the second day, so was feeling pretty well rested when the alarm woke me at 02:45. Hotel room coffee gave me a jump-start while I got my shit together and my hotel departure tasks checked off.

Weather was looking good for the ride today, and I was feeling much better prepared mentally for the ride ahead. The Five-Hour Energy I bought for my REST END receipt helped sharpen my focus to a laser for the upcoming foray into Nashville. Now I would find out if my gamble of taking the earlier rest would pay off in lighter traffic and a quicker run through the music city. My finish-line ETA at this point was showing 15:04 – four minutes too late!

The highway was empty and inviting on the quick 25 mile run south into the city and the city traffic almost non-existent as I wound my way to the skinny one-way Printers Alley for a photo of the Bourbon Street Blues bar neon sign.

Arriving at 03:53, there were still some night revelers wandering the streets and through the alley, but the neon sign above the blue club entrance was dark so I missed it on my first pass through the alley. I asked a passer-by and he pointed back up the alley, so I just swung around and found it after looking more carefully. An inebriated scruffy-looking fellow tried to strike up conversation as I dismounted to set up the photo, but all I could make out was “That’s a nice bike”. I thanked him and politely told him I couldn’t hear much through my ear plugs, then continued with my tasks.

The police were out in force at this hour and probably outnumbered civilians in the street, with all the roadblocks protecting the several blocks reserved for the NFL draft events. I left the bike running at Commerce and 5th in front of a street food vendor selling to the drunken wanderers and told him I’d be right back. I jogged a block down 5th Ave to the Legends Corner Bar for a snap of the mural. I also had to name five of the country artists depicted in the scene, which I had prepared for in advance by having the names ready to copy/paste into the email on the phone.

After jogging back to the bike, I motored slowly down the street looking for an opening in the blockades to cross over Broadway to get to the Country Music Hall of Fame, the all-important combo bonus here in Nashville. There was simply no way through – there appeared to be more streets blocked off than Google Maps had indicated, and I wasn’t able to follow the route I’d sketched out.

View down 4th Ave – the bonus was about where those brake lights are

After asking another officer for advice (which confused me even more), I returned to Commerce and 4th Ave, parked again and this time jogged TWO long blocks (.3 miles each way) in full gear, past more scattered revelers, food vendors and police to capture a shot of Dolly Parton’s quote on the wall, which I’d visited in last year’s rally as well.

I returned up the hill to my bike a bit breathless and sweaty, but WHEW – the hard part was over! Just one more bonus to capture in a quieter part of Nashville, the former RCA Studio B building and historical marker.

I now had a nice long two hour stretch of 130 miles to book it south to Muscle Shoals, Alabama on the dark and empty highways. My radar was working well, but I didn’t get nary a peep as I worked to bring down my overall finish ETA shown on my Zumo 350 GPS. As I crossed the Tennessee River, I looked east to see a picture perfect sight of the full pink-orange sun low over the water, with mist rising and framed by the bluffs along the river. It was one of THOSE moments, that you remember in your subconscious and that feed our internal bank of reasons for why we do this crazy sport.

 

By the time I arrived at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, I’d shaved almost a half hour from my initial ETA and had a cushion of 24 minutes to work with, including any stop time at bonuses.

Now I allowed myself a glimmer of hope for a finish, but didn’t dwell on it too long. The focus was on keeping the throttle twisted, handling each stop efficiently, and not running out of gas today (please!).

I rode southwest to the Coon Dog Cemetery, on the outskirts of Russellville AL. This one-of-a-kind location is out in the middle of nowhere on a road that is paved and twisty, but with odd scars and bumps that made riding it a bit twitchy with the darkside tire. Rows of breadbox-sized rocks marked the resting places of dozens of coon dogs laid here over the decades and it was a very nice peaceful place, probably my favorite location in the rally.

On my way back to the state highway, Garmin took me on another fork of the road that turned into dirt double-track in about a mile. Showing four miles still to go on it and knowing the way in had been paved, I turned right around and chose the known route. Other riders I talked with later praised my decision as apparently this woods trail got pretty hairy for us street bikes. Fun with Garmin!

Continuing southwest, I soon entered Mississippi and found my way to the small town of Fulton, where the small downtown area was blocked off for what looked like a BBQ festival (!). After Nashville, I wasn’t too concerned about this as the only folks around were busy smoking their meat and preparing to serve their wares later in the day. I walked 100 yards or so to snap the photo of Jimmy Lunceford’s historical Blues Trail marker, and boy did it smell good around there!

My friend, Ashley from the Florida starters, pulled in next to me as I completed my stop and we said a quick hello before I roared back into action (OK, an ST doesn’t exactly roar…) and onto I-22 towards Tupelo, just up the road. My original rally route had me staying in Tupelo for the rest stop and it proved to be a nice-looking little city. Being Elvis’ hometown, there were several bonuses to scoop up here within a short time span. First up was a two-fer at Elvis’ Birthplace museum. I’d reviewed a map of the grounds earlier and knew where to find the hard-to-see statue of Elvis at 13 years old in a shaded little plaza.

The next bonus was on the far side of the property and included statues of Elvis as a boy and then a full-grown superstar. I knew there was a way to ride side streets to get to a small parking area closer to the statue, but I could see it from the main parking area and thought it would just be easier to go snag it on foot. I had to jog up some steps, but the exercise felt good after the long hours in the saddle.

The next three bonuses were all within a mile, including an Elvis statue on the town common, a plaque in front of the hardware store where he got his first guitar, and the county courthouse which housed the radio station he was first aired on.

Had to ask a local to point me to it, from a distance it looked like a hockey player statue (which if you think about it would be odd in Tupelo MS…)

I left Tupelo behind and made northwest 100 miles directly for Memphis now, not enough time cushion to get the decent-size bonuses to the west in Pontotoc and Oxford. The long interstate stretch once again allowed me to gain back some minutes I’d lost gathering bonus photos in Tupelo.

My two Garmins disagreed somewhat on the exact approach to Graceland, but I was able to get in there without too much trouble or traffic, despite the many stop lights. The iconic palace of the King is now surrounded by a more depressed area of the city, and I passed a scene of at least a dozen police cars at one point, blocking an entrance to a housing project. The vandalized historical marker next to the gate at Graceland was an easy stop.

Next up was a small cluster of bonii in the famous Beale Street section of town. The streets once again were empty and allowed me fairly quick passage through to collect. Oddly enough several other riders later complained of a road run race going on right here and clogging things up – my timing must have made all the difference somehow.

First was the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, where I took a minute to remove a clothing layer, as the temperature had risen up to around 70F.

Then an Elvis statue in a small park, quickly followed by another in the visitor center alongside the river.

Due to time concerns, I again elected to forgo the optional REDROCK bonus (a few tempting miles west over the river) and make my turn back east toward the finish. More easy miles on I-40 allowed me to maintain my time cushion at around 24 minutes, with just one planned bonus to go.

I looped down into Jackson TN to pay another visit to the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, which I also seen on last year’s rally. This was my final planned bonus and was also part of one of the combos so therefore not optional. Jeff and Erin were just riding out as I pulled in there, adding some nice symmetry to the rally – seeing my friends at both the first and last bonus of my route.

Back on I-40, some 200 miles to go, I called my wife to chat and give her an update that I would most likely make the finish, barring any more unforeseen delays or back-ups. There was still an outside chance for one final optional bonus at Loretta Lynn’s dude ranch, but I knew it would add 22 minutes to my route and put me a little too close for comfort with a four minute cushion at the finish.

Since there was no penalty period in this rally (you arrive at 15:01 and you are DNF), it wasn’t worth risking it unless I could gain back time to make that a 10 minute cushion. On top of that, I knew I’d need a quick gas stop just to ensure I would reach the finish with more than vapor in my tank. I could have probably milked my previous tank a little longer and eliminated the need for another gas stop, but yesterday’s mistake was still very fresh in my mind.

I soon saw the traffic backing up ahead of me for a construction zone and it looked like a few miles of standstill. I creatively worked my way around that mess with barely a delay and soon caught up to another bike, which turned out to be the Arsenaults. They were setting a good tempo and I fell in behind them, wondering if they would trying to grab the Loretta Lynn bonus on the way back. I’d pretty much decided against it as too risky, but seeing them turn off may have just been enough influence otherwise…

Despite our pace, I wasn’t making up any time against my super-accurate Zumo 350. It was just a 26 minute cushion still, so the exit came and went with neither bike veering off. I called Jeff up to chat a bit and it turned out they had already snagged that bonus on their way down via a different route. Jeff praised my decision at not going for it, as they had apparently gotten led onto a pretty messy gravel road by Garmin while en route there. We talked a bit about our routes and they’d had some success with the wildcards, which reminded me I had intended to search out a florist or supermarket selling flowers if time allowed on the way back. Since I needed some gas anyway, I figured I’d kill two birds and asked Google to find me a florist that was open.

We split up just before Nashville, as I had purposely routed around the city on the Briley Parkway for this home stretch, just to avoid possible jams due to the city events. After re-joining I-65, I soon exited in Madison TN near a big shopping complex to pour in a couple gallons of fuel and pulled up the Flowers Express florist shop just around the corner.

“Do you have any yellow roses? I need one for a very special lady!” I said striding into the shop with full gear.

“Yup!” the girl answered. Success, and an extra 250 points!

I was back on the interstate, having used up 14 or so minutes of my cushion, but only having about 60 or so miles to go. Thankfully, the remainder of the ride continued more or less at speed limit or above, and I enjoyed the rural ride out along KY-100, despite a slower line of cars that developed in front of me. I pulled up to the finish at Barren River Lake State Resort Park at 14:48, with 12 minutes to spare. Jim and Janet Owen had pulled in just before me, and I asked them why they’d come in so early. 😉