The Long Way Home

Once supper was finished Sunday night, I packed my bags and laid out what I was going to wear for the ride Monday, and then got in bed for 40 winks before getting on the road. Christmas Eve syndrome hit, and I didn't do much more in those three hours than close my eyes and lie there, willing the minutes to move faster.

Eventually, the alarm went off, and I got up (feeling a little tired) and got into my riding clothes. Grabbed my bags and made my way downstairs, loading up the bike before riding it over to the front door of the lobby. I got off and dug out a hand written Start Witness form, and went inside to see if I could get a witness. Michael, Mr. Front Desk Clerk, was willing to sign up for the fun and put down his name, address and phone, signing off that it was 12:08 a.m. as I was leaving the Holiday Inn Express.

I rode down to the same Shell station that had been my ending point of the first ride, and got another fuel receipt, this time as my starting point. This ride did not have the 'energy' trail mix of the first ride, and I think that made a fairly significant difference. I'd thought about getting some kind of mix at the gas station, but the convenience store was closed, and I didn't want to hike back to Wally World, since my clock was ticking. Note to self on future IBA rides...pack the snacks.

From Dayton, it's only 45 miles or so to get to Cincinnati, and it would have been cool to get a picture of the bridge going over the Ohio River, but since it was nearly 1 a.m. by this point, not much was happening in the picture department. First stop was just after Louisville, KY, where I got fuel, had a bathroom break, got a Meximelt from the in-store Taco Bell, grabbed a Starbucks DoubleShot, and put on my rain gear as an extra layer. I had on a pair of workout pants under my riding pants, and a long sleeved shirt under my jacket, but I was starting to get chilled by Louisville. (Heated grips...mwah! I love you!)

Back on the road and I felt better with warm food and some caffeine, and started imitating a Rascal Flatts song...Praying for Daylight. I was hoping for the same light-switch effect on my body, because I was feeling this ride more than the last, for sure. Passed the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY, and my next stop was just west of Nashville on I-40, in Kingston Springs, TN. The Shell Station was named 'Sudden Service,' which seems a funny name. Whoa! That was sudden!

While at my sudden location, I suddenly decided to buy some nut and fruit mix, along with some water. I was on fumes, and having lingering thoughts of just heading east on I-40, which would get me home in about six hours, instead of the eventual 18 hours I had in store for me. At this point, too, though, I was less than 200 miles from my turning point in Memphis. I figured if I could hold out until the sun rose again, it wouldn't seem so hard.

Back on the road, it was around 4:30 a.m. CDT, so I'd been on the road for over 5 hours. Another hour down the pike and I had to stop. I just looked for the next rest area and pulled in. The dawn was starting to lighten up one end of the sky just a little, but not much. I parked under a street light with empty parking spots on either side of me and took my helmet off. Set my cell phone for a 6 a.m. wakeup call, put my feet up on the pegs, crossed my arms over my tank bag and put my head on my arms, dropping off to sleep within about three minutes.

Twenty five minutes later, the alarm went off, and I felt a bit better, albeit stiff. I headed in to the rest area facilities for a quick break and to stretch my contorted limbs. Definitely not going to make the same time on this trip as on Friday!

This time, when I got back on the road, the sun was starting to rise over the trees. However, I was riding due west, so the light show was behind me, and I was riding into a cloudy, gloomy day that shortly became rainy as well. Once again, I had to stop and put on rain gear. True to form, the rain let up within minutes of me getting back on the road and I never saw another drop before I got to Memphis.

Finally, I started seeing signs for Memphis that started to look reasonable. Of course, I arrived around rush hour, so I got to deal with the loop at 8 a.m., and by now, my bike was feeling a little gimpy with the unhappy link in the chain.

I had written directions to the branch, but Googlemaps failed me again (rer!) and had me take a wrong exit to get where I needed to go. Figured it out within a couple of miles and remedied the situation. Got to the branch at 8:28 (per my IBA log), and when I got off my bike, I was thinking that my friend Kristine (probably the main reason I stopped by for a visit) had better be at work today! I walked into the warehouse and into the office. Kristine was on the phone, but her office mate Kathy actually recognized me (it took Kristine a minute or two...we talk almost daily at work, but she's not seen me for probably four years).

Once I got off the bike and seated in an air conditioned office, my 'want to' seemed to evaporate when it came to finishing the ride. I mean, dude. I was only half way done with my ride! Duuude.

While at the branch, I knew I needed another nap, so Jon, the manager, found me a cool, dark room, and I ended up stretching out on the floor with a sweater under my head. The fact that you had to go through the men's restroom door to get there was a little disconcerting, but it was around the corner from where any action was going on, and I didn't draw any attention to the fact I was in there. Thankfully, there was only one visitor during my brief stay there. I wanted to sleep a bunch, but knew I couldn't be getting back on the road really late, since it's at least 10 hours home from there. Finally, around 11, I got up and started making my farewells. I sprayed the snot out of the chain before getting back on the bike, and got my next fuel just up the road at 11:15, barely beating the rush at lunch time.

From this point, it was a short hop to get onto Highway 78 and ride southeast toward Birmingham. I wanted a few miles behind me before stopping for lunch, and made it an hour and twenty minutes before stopping in New Albany for lunch at McAlister's Deli. It was stinking hot, and I parked in the only sliver of shade I could find, which turned out to be on the back side of the store, next to the dumpsters. Once finished there, even though it had only been 76 miles since I'd filled up in Memphis, I topped off again before pushing on.

The next 90 or so miles were the hardest of the entire weekend. Looking back, I wonder what I was thinking... At the time, about 80 or so miles gone, I started having problems focusing my eyes and started doing the 'long blink.' You know...you blink for a long blink and intermittently open your eyes to make sure you're still going where you think you're going. I actually think there might have been a split sleep moment, and when my eyes opened from that, there was the superlative 'Oh crap!' adrenaline rush of realizing how sleepy I'd gotten. Hiawatha.

Since the adrenaline hit, I got a bit of a jolt and rode in a newly focused manner. The skies had gotten progressively cloudier since crossing the Alabama line, and in the distance, I saw what looked like a bunch of fog. Even got a picture of it. However, when I rode closer to it, I realized it wasn't fog so much as a vertical wall of water. Pouring. Cascading. Deluging. (can you verbify that?) Soaking. Four wheeled traffic slowed to about 30 mph, and I kept pushing through. There was only one bridge I could have stopped under, but the rain made it impossible to see anything stopped there, and I didn't want to be in some car's path who decided to occupy the same space.

Instead of heading for an exit, I decided to push on through the storm, because it couldn't be like that forever, right? It was probably 12 to 15 minutes of riding, and I didn't have any rain gear on me or my luggage. I wasn't worried about getting too cold, but I was a little concerned about the cell phone in the pocket of my mesh riding jacket, and my netbook in the right saddlebag. Both survived, intact, thankfully, and when I finally rode into the lighter skies which gradually dried up completely, I was almost chilly. That lasted for about 47 seconds before air temps started to rise. Shortly after that, it felt like I was riding into an oncoming hair dryer, and my clothes proceeded to dry.

After 100 more miles, I was just past Birmingham, AL, and needed to stop again. Even though I'd eaten lunch 3.5 hours earlier, I was ready to eat again...I was sorely out of body fuel. I stopped at the Cracker Barrel (only one for this trip!) in Moody, AL, and found a great spot under a shady tree. The heat index then was somewhere around 102, and I went ahead and took off my boots and socks to have a flip flop break in the restaurant.

While my clothes had all dried completely, my waterproof boots had proven quite waterproof, and no water got past them. Problem is, the water not getting past them was the water that had run down my legs into the top of the boot, so for the past 100 miles, my feet had been sitting in a bath, and when I peeled my socks off, each one had probably close to a quarter cup of water to wring out.

By the time I was leaving Cracker Barrel, it was a quarter of five, central time, and I knew I was approximately 5 riding hours from home, which was going to be cutting my 24 hours a little close. Once more to the fuel pumps and back on the road by five.

The ride to Atlanta was uneventful, and that 12th wind that I'd been looking for finally showed up. Traffic was totally fine through Atlanta and I pushed on to Commerce, GA before the next fuel stop. Here, I texted my neighbor to see if she'd be my end witness for the ride, and let my mom know my progress. Treated myself to an ice cream cone and left Commerce behind around 9:10 EDT. Most of the trip back, I ran a tag team with a cattle hauler who had a cow bell on his ICC bar, and finally pulled in for my final fuel receipt at a BP that is half a mile from my house at 10:34 p.m., and arrived home at 10:41, so stinking glad it was over!

In the aftermath, I left my dog at my mom's house until the following day, so all I had to do was unload the bike and hit the bed. My feet were a little swollen from the 400 mile super soaker sauna they'd had to live through, and I took five ibuprofen before hitting the hay. The next morning, I was up around 6:30, feeling 100% fine, and at work by 8:00. It was nice to drive the truck, for a change.