Well, we got another one under our belt. After breakfast at the Iron Skillet, The Memphis Tour Riders left the Petro Truck Stop at 7:00 AM on the dot. Our first stop was in
Hayti, Mo. We gassed up on cheap gas ($3.61) even though we had only ridden eighty miles. Yes. You laugh. But, compared to $3.89 later the Hayti stuff was a bargain. The national drive to acclimate us to four buck a gallon seems to be working huh?
We pulled out of Hayti and ten miles later rolled into the rest area that is built over the epicenter of the great 1812 New Madrid earthquake. The object was to snap a few pictures of the marker there but it's gone. It was there for years but naturally, when we want to photograph it we couldn't find a trace of the thing. So we never cut the engines. We just got another gear and sped on up the road.
With Point Defiance on our right we crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois then with an almost immediate right turn we crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky. We now had four states behind us with three more to go. Ninety three miles after leaving Hayti we pulled into Bob's Get-N-Go in Arlington, KY and took a much needed break.
Next stop was a long anticipated return to the Skullbone, store in, where else,
Skullbone, Tennessee. Waiting for us was a nice surprise. Mike and Brenda Hopper, long time members of MTR who have been out of touch for awhile due to other commitments, were waiting for us at the store and we had a mini-reunion right there in the parking lot. Good to see those guys again. We were hoping they were there to ride with us for awhile and were disappointed to learn that they couldn't. But nevertheless, it was a welcome reunion. Our hopes are that these two special friends of this outfit can be back riding with us soon.
We left Skullbone and rode deep into Redneck land crossing into Alabama, jumped on the Natchez trace, crossed the Tennessee River and into Mississippi (our seventh state of the day) where we had a pretty good dinner at Ryan's in Corinth. We were out of Corinth and bound for Memphis by six fifteen and our next stop was home. Hildia and I rolled into the drive at 8:00PM, tired and weary and happy to be in the good
ol' USA where we are free to pursue these crazy things we love. God Bless America.
Despite the weatherman's warnings of rain and storms, we were never threatened. All we saw was a very nice day.
It should be mentioned here that this ride also re-introduced former members, Danny and Lori Parker and their gorgeous '08 Harley Ultra Classic, back into the fold. Welcome Home Danny and Lori
A few interesting stats: Actual Mileage: 523.7 Saddle Time: 9:32 Average speed: 54.9 MPH
Maximum Speed: 98.2 MPH.
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