This is is posted a little late. The military reunion in Columbus, GA, was a huge success, but Sunday morning I awoke sneezing. I caught a cold sometime during the reunion and it manifested itself the first day of the trip home. When the first two days' rides were over, all I wanted to do was crawl in bed and sleep, with the hope I might feel better the next day. I'll post the entire trip - and a bit about the reunion too.
Sunday morning - the reunion over, I wanted to pack up the bike and be on my way as early as possible, but breakfast brought lots of conversation with the guys and it was after 8:30 before the wheels started rolling. There was no traffic in Columbus. The four lane highway went through Ft. Benning, then for a wonderful short time, I had a nice twisty two-lane road with bright skies. Great!
But, that all disappeared once I got to Eufala, Alabama. I rode a four-lane down to the beaches of the Florida panhandle. I had chosen a beach side route in the hopes I would see seafood shacks and little towns. Instead, I got four (sometimes six) lane divided highways populated with fast food joints and the kind of chain retail outlets that are homogenizing America. All too often the beach front was crowded with multi-story condos.
Boring.
It stayed that way until I got to Pensacola, then I had another brief spate of cozy two lane roads until I had to get on the Interstate into Mobile.
I have the kind of helmet designed so that the entire front part flips up out of the way - a very handy design indeed when sneezing my head off. I got fairly practiced at "Ah ah ah - flip up helmet - CHOO!" I wonder how many windshields I gummed up that way.
Motel room, eat dinner quickly and sound asleep by 9pm - and didn't set an alarm. Seven in the morning found me awake, with the cold slackening and I was feeling like another day on the road.