TAKING IT HOME

I knew today would be just a scooter ride as Scoot and I have ridden this road many times and after 5 weeks on the road we did not want to work to find something new.

US19 is pretty for the first 150 miles and then it turns into a 50 mile ugly strip mall. For some bizarre reason I decided I would ride it all the way home today. I do not even like riding it in my car. After about 20 minutes the strip mall part, I came to my senses and moved east a few miles to East Lake Blvd, a nice calm road. This took me almost al the way home.

The wife and neighbors had put up a welcome home sign. It was great to be back.

Scoot and me slipped out of Selma, Alabama around 7 pm.  We went through town and over the Alabama River bridge.  Never even knew Alabama had a Alabama river.  We joined US80 to Montgomery. This is the road that the civil rights marchers walked in the '60's.  It interesting that in this small town in the middle of nowhere a few people started a movement that would changed the whole nations culture.

We turned of on AL97 to get some back road time.  It was a nice ride through rolling hills with forest and cattle farms. At Luvrne I sat and contemplated what route to take.  I really did not want to make my way back over to US231, the main route, as that would end the adventure and begin just a scooter ride home.  After serious contemplation, I decided I had no other choice.  With a 50% chance of rain and the back road route I would put me to far to the west. So, we made our way over to Troy and joined 231.

Traffic to Dothan was moderate, but after that the rest of the highways, all four lanes, were almost empty.

When we crossed into Georgia we did not see the welcome time until it was to late.  It was a small sign in the middle of a bridge.  I saw no need to return to get a picture. Scoot did stop at the Florida sign to be sure everyone would know that we were back in the homeland.

Getting through Tallahassee took about as long as it did to cross Texas. Must be a lot of politician deciding how to time the lights.  You have to stop for every single one, and there were lots.

About 5 miles out of Perry, our destination for today, we had a flat tire.  Fortunately it was right in front of a repair facility for a logging company.  I pushed Scoot over and borrowed their air and concert pad.  It me took about 10 minutes to repair and we were back on the road.

We rolled on into Perry and went to Deals Oyster house for dinner and called it a day.

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We were out of Dumas at the crack of dawn and back on our private highway.

We crossed the Mississippi in to Mississippi on a old rickety bridge and were met by a sign, mesquites and  a casino.  Luckily they are building a nice new bridge with stimulus money. Don't know about the Casino.

We rode through downtown Greenville and I think we were better off in Dumas.  Not an exciting place.

Back on our private highway, we diverted into a few towns, to find them basically abandoned.  The main thing on the highway is that great southern plant, kudzu.  It went on for miles and miles.  A friend of mine took some to Ecuador to keep the jungle growth down in his palm plantation.  It worked and he just had to keep the base of the trees cleared. 

Yesterday I had helped a older lady at a gas station in Hot Springs check her transmission fluid.  She was all dressed up and wanted to tip me, which I refused. She had just came from the cemetery visiting her veteran husband;s grave. She was quite upset that no one really honored our veterans anymore.  As I rode on I thought about what she said.  I had seen no indication that anyone was honoring the veterans.  Until I rolled into Columbus, Ms.

The downtown was closed up but the main street was decorated with hundreds of American flags.  I looked for a place to eat lunch and the only one open downtown was Harvey's so I whipped Scoot in.  It was a  more modern restaurant than the others that were closed.  Beautiful Mary took my order and then asked if I was veteran. When she said yes, she said my meal was on the house, and though I had just ordered a salad I could change it to anything from prime rib to sandwich's and it would be free.  I stayed with my order of the salad.  The owner of the restaurant, the Hertz family, have honored veterans for many years by treating them to a free lunch. I wish I could call the lady that I had talked to yesterday and tell, "yes, some people do still care".  Harvey's restaurant Thank You !!!

I had plotted several routes for today, but bridges pretty much dictated the route. In Alabama, I looked at several alternatives, but off the main roads hotels were almost non-existent.  I also know that in this part of the state, there is little or nothing on the side roads. Four lane highways are not conducive to making u-turns or pulling off to visit. Just being on a four lane changes my mind set to a faster pace.  I had already missed several opportunities this morning because of this highway. So, I decided to just go for a record mileage day and headed for Selma, Alabama.  We joined AL219 at Centerville and headed out in the country.  This was a nice ride with almost nothing on the road.  The only thing was Paul's vegetable truck at the end of his driveway. I stopped and chatted and bought some home made soap and pickles.

We rolled into Selma about 4PM.  A dark cloud was over head with a few rain drops falling when we pulled into the hotel.  367 miles.  We could have done more miles as it never did rain, but there were not hotels at a reasonable distance and 367 was more than enough for me.
ps: the editor is still off for the holiday so please forgive my errors and omissions.


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First thing we did this morning was to check Scoot's tire pressure with our brand new tire gauge from Tulsa Scooters.  Both tires needed a little air so we rolled next door to the gas station and added  some.

We roared away continuing our trip eastward on US64.  We came upon a turtle in the road and rescued him, hoping that would bring good karma for the rest of the day.

We crossed into Arkansas at Fort Smith behind 2 large farm tractors that blocked the whole bridge. Finding our way through Fort Smith was not much of a challenge even if there were no signs. We headed south out of town on AR71.  We moved into a farming area with rice, corn, soybeans, cotton and grain everywhere.

In the big city of Waldron we pulled in for a cup of coffee at the Rock Cafe.  It has been there since 1936 and so has everything in it and the resident coffee drinker at the outside table.

We passed the "Hugs and Biscuits" and had a to make a u-turn to check this one out.  I am afraid the only thing you would hug if you bought a biscuit here would be the toilet bowl.

We have been pushing the fuel limit the last couple of tanks and took fuel were we could get it when the low level light came on.  We pulled into "Needmore Grocery and Station" and paid a very high price for 87 octane, their only type.  Guess the high price is because they are saving up for a new fuel filter.

We turn west on US270 to Hot Springs, Arkansas. I thought this road would be much busier than 71, but until we got close to Hot Springs, there was very little traffic.  We came across a cross country bike race with a crossing guard and that was about it as we climbed and turned through the national forest. When we   got closer to Fort Smith the on coming traffic became bumper to bumper with lots of vehicles pulling boats.  Glad I will not be on this road this afternoon when they come back after being in the sun and beer all day.

Hot Springs was not what I expected.  It was much busier with tourist.  All the old bath houses downtown are now big tourist attractions.  My good friend Bob Lubliner, who you met on the west bound leg, used to come here with his father in the 30's and vacation in the big hotel.  He had many a great story about the old mafia guys and politicians from Chicago.The story I remember best is Bob's dad introduced him to a mafia guy who's name I do not recall.  Bob's dad said if you ever get into financial trouble give this guy a call.  In the late '50's the theater busy was doing very badly and Bob had exhausted all financial sources.  He called this guy, who he had not seen since that day, and told him he was strapped for cash.  The gentleman exchanged pleasantries and asked him how much he needed.  That afternoon a check for $10,000 appeared at Bob's office. As Bob used to say, "and that was not just peanuts back then".  There was nothing else ever said and Bob repaid the loan over time.

Vicki has tried several business adventures we have seen today in Arkansas, but she does not seem to be a great business person.  She makes one hell of a Princess though!

Despite many interesting places to eat in Hot Springs, I was not ready yet and headed out of town. An hour or so later, I was thinking I might have to make my second visit on this trip to a fast food place when the "The Place" appeared and saved me. It was just the right down home food I needed on a holiday Sunday.

We pressed on hoping trying to make it to Greenville, Ms., one of the many home of the blues, but threatening skies and tired butt ended the Dumas, AK.

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