Rollin' Gettin' There Mat01

The horrible/happy noise of the alarm surprises me, not so much because it was time to wake, but because I'm usually able to hit the switch before it goes off. But, having been up late getting ready and getting less than 5 hours sleep it shocked me awake.

That's normal for the night before a road trip. I'm usually so wound up from prep and packing that it's hard to settle down. But this is no normal road trip. We're headed back to the Boil at the Smith's place in McComb, Mississippi and that's a big deal for the Rollin' crew. We launched this eRag exactly a year ago with our story about last year's trip to the Boil and we've been looking forward to this one.

The garage door closes at 5 til 5 after rolling the Rat out and suiting up. Dressed in my Joe Rocket road clothes, jacket and riding pants, and some of the warmest stuff I own, it feels good to be getting going. We've had an unusual cold snap for April in Florida and this morning it's hovering around 40 degrees (I know, warm by many standards) and that's real cold to some of us.

Terry Brown; excellent traveling companion and photographer.

Terry Brown and I are making a two-day trip out of this 800-mile journey but we want to get a quick launch out of Florida and are meeting about an hour from our homes. I'm going due Wast on the Beeline (528) and he's heading out Hwy 192. We're meeting at the intersection of the Florida Turnpike and 528.

Forty-five minutes later I dismount at our meeting place and light up a smoke to wait for Terry. It's not a long wait as his arrival is only about four minutes behind mine. We're both freezing. My toes is froze and his pinkie is numb. Our first plan of action is to head about 25 miles North to the T/Pike service plaza and some warm joe at the Burger King (FL T/Pike price for 2 medium coffees; $2.78, thanks Terry). After a rather long cuppa we take off and get as far as the rest area near Ocala before the "In'n'Out" rules take effect. The guard wonders, "That air conditioning workin' this mornin'?"

Then it's off to our first "scheduled" stop at the Cracker Barrel in Gainesville where we had that our favorite, stick-to-ya-ribs breakfast of oatmeal. Mine with the apples, Terry's with bananas. After this not-so-quick stop we fuel up and I record a time of 9:45. So, that's what, 165 miles in four hours and 45 minutes = 34.737 MPH. Hey, so what, this is a vacation, right? Since it had warmed up a bit, we decided that we'd better keep a steadier pace (meaning, stop screwing around) to make our goal of 500 miles today.

It doesn't look it here but this was one crowded rest stop

The next leg went without an unscheduled stop as we pulled into the first rest area inside of Georgia. Exit 3 off of I-75. It seemed to us that all of the retired travelers had decided to stop at this place at exactly the same time as us. The guy in the blue van is trying to get out while the guy in the white van wants to change from a space four places away from the handicap spot he wanted and the lady in the Mark IV thinks she should be able to just slide around everyone at the same time. Somehow we managed to grab a space without getting smashed up. This place was like a circus and adding to that, a truckers' organization has setup up an info booth promoting that everyone drive "WreckLESS".

Thirty miles later (a total of 255 so far) we peel off of the super-slab, the last we'll see of that until we leave McComb, and head East on Hwy 84. What a treat that was. Immediately the road leads us through sweeping curves into lush, green farmland and sand-pine forests. Marked 55, traffic is moving at a steady 70 on the super smooth and clean road. You wanna see Southern country architecture, just gander at the beautiful farm homes along this route. And, oh yeah, baby! We stopped in Bainbridge for gas and paid those great Georgia prices, saving 40 cents a gallon over our usual prices.

Ride-to-Eat. Eat-to-Ride.

That is the motto of our loosely knit biker gang. We meet every Wednesday for lunch, plan weekend rides around "where we gonna eat," and here we are riding 800 miles to go pig out on piles of crawfish, catfish and gumbo.

Larry's BBQ in Dotham served up a whole mess a good eats!

By around 1:30, Terry and I had to find an appropriate Q-jurnt for lunch and we happened upon Larry's BBQ on the 84 Bypass in Dotham. After finding a booth, Terry mentioned, "I've never been here before, but I was conceived here," which is just another thing that I maybe didn't need to know. That out of the way, we dove into the "Special of the Month", a big pile of sliced pork, quarter of a chicken, fries and two slabs of bread at the bargain price of $5.69. So good we had to overeat it, wipe our plates clean and then complain about there being too much.

Back on 84W, I wicked her back up to running speed and forgot that we were actually on the 84W Bypass so I ignored the 84W exit (a huge buncha signs) and Terry had to pull up and turn us around. That was our only missed turn in 800 miles but the route was so simple it'd be hard to miss a turn (75N to 85W to 96W). Well, Terry, you asked for it when you told "Wrong-Way" to lead!

Wildflowers, sweeping turns, green countryside and PULP TRUCKS!

Then we're into more great sweeping turns and hill country and are occasionally able to twist it up a bit more than our sedate 70. What a great stretch of road from Dotham to Enterprise, Alabama. Just a few miles shy of Enterprise we pull into Holmes Market and Electronics. One of those middle of nowhere gas/ food/ meeting-place/ electronics-boutique kind of places, you know what I mean, eh? We had a cold juice and watched the country hustle bustle as everyone passing stopped in, talked to us, waved and left with their six-packs, bread, eggs and whatevers. A great, relaxing stop.

While we're here… it seemed that everyone was waving at us, stopping to talk, asking questions and wanting to get involved with what we were up to. Very interesting, we don't get a lot of that down home and it was real refreshing.

The Naval airport at Evergreen had some old planes chained to the ground and were doing flight practice

Around Evergreen, AL it was approaching 7 pm and we began to look for a place that we might like to light and set for the night. A sign announced hotels at I-65 but as we passed over it on 85W there were none in sight so we continued for a few miles west. We pulled into the Middleton Airport where some Navy prop planes were doing touch-n-go's and decided to take a break and watch for a while. There we met Gary with his pickup full of snack and beer (mostly beer) who's waiting for his buddy to arrive in his RV so they can get goin' to Dega! They're doing Talladega for the races this weekend and he was more than willing and excited to tell us all about it.

We headed back on 84, East this time, back to find that hotel in Evergreen. With a 50-50 guess, I turn South on I-65 to get to Evergreen but after about 10 miles we realize it's the wrong way and stop at a rest stop to figure it out. Sure enough, we shoulda gone the other way. The last sign I saw stated 16 miles to the next town and I'm starting to run a bit dry on the fuel so we decide to do a median U-turn but that's a bit easier said than done when the 65 traffic wants to go 95. I managed to snatch the first "Oh-Fish-Ul ONLY" gravel cross-over but Terry slid on by and went an extra couple of miles while I stood by the side of the road, smokin' and pickin' wildflowers (which were awesome by the way).

The IBA plates got us into this sweet little motel in Evergreen

As we pulled off I-65 into the Evergreen Hotel District there were so many choices! Days Inn, Quality Inn, The Evergreen Inn and 14 "restaurants" (if you can count fast-grease as a restaurant) to choose from. Tired and not thinking (what else is new?) I pulled into the closest place, The Evergreen Inn. I will never be able to apologize enough, or do enough favors, or in any way make up to Terry for that choice. It was the Motel From Hell, a 50-year old Holiday Inn that had never been renovated. All the new owners did was put a different name in the sign. The towels and sheets must've been original equipment with this place. Bathroom light didn't work. What can I say?… ICKY!! as my kids would put it.

But by the time we got a good look, the bikes were unpacked and our boots were off. After a walk down to Jenny's Family Restaurant for a really great, 1/2 lb. burger, fries and sweet tea for $2.99, we were snoring and the squalid conditions were all but forgotten for the night.

About 530 miles and well over half-way to the Boil.

Friday, April 20, 2001, 5:15 am CST

No alarms this morning, Terry and I are both up well before sunrise. Packing goes smoothly and we walk over to the Waffle House for breakfast and coffee. As we're paying the cashier she hears us talking about how crappy the motel was. All she says is, "You stayed at the Evergreen? You should have come here first and we'd have told you not to do that!"

By 7:15 we're gassed up and back on 85W and we run into our only construction holdup of the trip. After waiting in line for the "Follow Me" truck, we plod along at 25 MPH on the one lane of brand new asphalt that they've completed. After that the road opens up and we discover the primary use of this section of Hwy. 85.

Pulp trucks in front of us, pulp trucks behind, pulp trucks going the other way. These trucks are loaded with logs that will be ground into pulp and they're moving along at 65 or better. Some of the logs are so long they drag the tarmac behind the trucks. One container truck loaded with ground up pulp was moving along fast and after we passed him he stayed with us at 70 or better.

Good thing we were just looking for a photo opportunity and not a fill-up

We ran some very nice highway with great sweepers, and passing the trucks actually became fun. It's great to unleash the beast once in a while and let 'er roar. This little back road used to be the main one and there are many old "ghost" way stations along the route. Turning off of 85 we headed south on Hwy 63, one of the best little stretches of road we saw. High speed sweepers, little traffic and open views made for a very nice run down to Hwy 42.

Then it was straight west into Hattiesburg where we found congestion and heat. It was lunch time traffic so we yanked into a little (authentic) Mexican food place just east of the U of S. Miss. All was fairly clear after lunch and we pulled into the USM entrance to find a photo op. No luck, no place to park, too much traffic. Back onto Hwy 98 and headin' to Shane's place. 98 is straight and boring and goes through a bunch of small towns on it's way to McComb. There are a couple of bypasses but mostly you have to drive right through the heart of small town USA.

With the heat rising we were happy to to pull into the Day's Inn in McComb at around 3:00. Plenty of time to shower up, unpack and get out to the Smith's house to register in time for tonight's chili feast.

Terry got a message on his cell phone from Larry at around 3:40 but when he called back there was no answer. Larry's on his own today, making the 800 mile trip from Florida on his own. So our conversation runs through ... traffic ... breakdown ... delay ... jail ... Forget that! We're ready for chili!

Steve

Read about the Boil, view Photo Page 1, Photo Page 2

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