Day 6: Just a half a mile from the Mississippi Bridge

Since my schedule is pretty tight, each day I generally have to chose one or two things to do before I hit the road. This morning in Chattanooga there were two seemingly good choices: the new aquarium and IMAX theater and Rock City. I say "seemingly" because the people at the Waffle House yesterday went on and on about how cool the new aquarium was, and for 20 miles into town I saw billboards extolling the virtues of Rock City. The map of Rock City seemed pretty cool, and since I wanted to be outdoors, not to mention I still haven't been to Baltimore's aquarium and I skipped over the awesomeness of Atlanta's, I figured it was a good choice.

Time for New Rules: Unless you know otherwise, never go to a place that advertises excessively and uses fun but meaningless adjectives like "amazing!" and puts other phrases in quotes "See Seven States" (yeah, I can see all 50 from the space station ...)

The map of Rock City makes you think you are going to be climbing up a hill, after all it is on Lookout Mountain. Well, Rock City is at the very top of the "mountain" and the approximate difference in potential energy between the entrance and the top is about 0. It might be fun for kids, but the price is pretty steep, in both time and money.

Speeding away from Chattanooga towards Memphis, I took a brief detour to travel on the Natchez Trace Parkway which runs from Natchez Trace, Mississippi to Tennessee. Nick Bollweg recommended the trip to me, but originally I was going to go through Birmingham, Alabama and ride on the parkway much longer than the 10 miles I ended up riding.

Eventually I ended up in Memphis, land of blues, barbeque, and Elvis. After checking into my hotel (5 stories tall and the slowest elevator know to man. Luckily I don't mind exercise), I headed down to Beale Street to check out the action. Of course it was Monday and the pickings were slim. Of course, part deux, I was two days early for the only day during the year when motorcycles are allowed on Beale Street -- it's usually blocked off from all traffic. I ended up having amazing pork ribs at Alfred's while listening to a great band play blues.

When I left the parking garage, the attendant who took my money scolded me for parking my motorcycle in the garage. I just shook my head and rode off.

Day 5: Hotwire bonus: Chattanooga Holiday Inn Choo Choo

Good ol' Hotwire came through for my first hotel booking: the Chattanooga Holiday Inn Choo Choo. Chattanooga is probably best know for the Chattanooga Choo Choo, both the Glen Miller song as well as the train that inspired it. The first train was a wood burning engine travelling between Cincinatti and points south in 1880 at a time when nearly all trains going south went through Chattanooga.

The hotel was neat, a combination of hotel, museum, and theme park. OK, the theme park is basically a short train ride. You could stay in a train car that was converted into a room and visit the model train museum. I advise against paying the $3 entrance fee and just check out the images in my flickr stream like this and this.

While on my way to Chattanooga, my ride was interrupted by a torrential downpour forcing me to seek solace at a Waffle House in the middle of a town with no dentist. OK, that's mean, the people working at the Waffle House were quite friendly and fun to chat with. They also made a mean hot chocolate, three of which were needed to warm my body up for the remaining hour ride.

Day 7: The King and I, Pt 2

Knowing nothing more than Graceland being Elvis' home, it turned out to be a surprise. I was expecting something more mansion like, but the house was respectable. The 60s and 70s weren't good for decor, though, and pretty much every room in the place was nightmarishly gaudy, but over all it was a very cool place.

I didn't realize quite a few things about Elvis, the main one that he wasn't "fat" Elvis until near the end. Most of his Vegas shows he looked older and overweight (due to his medication, not so much to alcohol and such) but not as drastic as most of the pictures I've seen that led me to believe that he was grotesquely overweight. Sadly, I don't know if those images were placed there by real pictures of him or parodies...

After Graceland I drove to Nowheresville, Arkansas. I mean I drove to Arkadelphia. Nothing to report. Move along...

Day 4: The King and I, Pt 1

To kick off the morning, I treated Nick and Brigid to breakfast at Ria's Bluebird, an awesome joint near the Oakland Cemetery. The cemetery was unfortunately hit hard by the tornadoes that flew threw recently, and the cleanup process is preventing pedestrian traffic.


Atlanta is known for at least three things: Sherman burning it to the ground, Martin Luther King, and Coca Cola. I spent the first part of my day at the Martin Luther King Center. This museum is awesome. It's basically a chronological summary of his life and the times. A lot of audio and pictures telling a moving story.



Out of curiosity, I researched whether Sherman really burned Atlanta or whether it was an exaggeration. Turns out it happened, and Sherman justifies his actions in a letter to the mayor and councilmen:

But you cannot have peace and a division of our country. If the United States submits to a division now, it will not stop, but will go on until we reap the fate of Mexico, which is eternal war.

I'm sure this observation isn't unique, but most people view the succession as "It was a Constitutionally valid action" or "We must protect the Union," the latter having the implied notion that it was just a "bad thing." If you look at Mexico, it has never been a stable country. IIRC, they still have major issues with drug lords, corruption, and revolutionary groups, not to mention their economy. There are a plethora of alternate histories based on the South seceding, and I think all of them predict the same thing: war, so maybe violating the Constitution was the right thing overall...

Anyway, back to the trip... The World of Coca Cola and the humongous aquarium were both booked, the lines to get in almost joined each other, so I wandered around a little bit and ended up at the CNN offices where it appears Chinese-(americans, immigrants, ...) were protesting CNN's coverage of Tibet and the Olympics.


I waited a bit for something exciting to happen before heading to the hotel for the bachelor party w/ my friend Chris Bray and his buddies I've never met before, though Mark seemed familiar from somewhere. Lucky for Bray and I we already had facial hair so we didn't have to wear the faux ones.

Day 3: Sherman had it easier

Now that the pictures are all up, I can just get on w/ posting the literary (laugh) portion of this blog...

This morning I listened to Rebekah give a report on the water cycle. She had really good slides and presented them very well. Hopefully my comments helped her out.

The highway in and out of Raleigh to the west is not a pleasant ride, so I decided to take Rt 64 to Charlotte before continuing to Atlanta. The ride was very nice and relaxing until I reached Rt 85, which is not pleasant as you approach Charlotte. I drove this way in a car last summer, but it is very different on a motorcycle.

For miles I saw signs in SC for a peach this and peach that, so I stopped since I needed a break anyway. Guess what? No fresh peaches in the entire store. I don't care if peaches weren't in season, there wasn't anything fresh in the store except some scraggly looking strawberries. I did pick up some great Vidalia Onion and Peach salsa as a gift for Nick and Brigid who were gracious enough to have me as a guest, seeing as I only knew Nick from IM and his time doing some great Drupal work for my old company.

I eventually rolled into Atlanta around 7pm. The traffic to get to Nick & Brigid's house was painful. I now know what giving birth must feel like for the baby, as they were trying to squeeze watermelons through these tiny roads with heavily imbalanced light changes. Their neighborhood is a bit sketchy, but their house and yard are nice. After numerous breakins last year, Nick bought a safe. I wish I had taken a picture because it is very impressive. I'm worried it will disrupt their foundation. Maybe it can be offset by their future washer and dryer... For dinner, Nick grilled us some awesomeness: stuffed green peppers, corn, and some bratworst for me (they are pretty strict vegetarians, but their grill isn't, thankfully!)

As you know, my parents and brother are in the dark about this trip. My friend Tim suggested I send them postcards along the way. I've made them fairly anonymous, but I'm sure they'll figure it out from the handwriting.

Day 2: A leisurely ride to Cary, NC

Google wanted to send me from Charlottesville, through Richmond and south on a major highway to the Raleigh area, but Tim said to take Rt 29 and bear east. I saved time and it was a much prettier and less stressful trip!

In Cary I visited with my friends Alicia and Craig, including their adorable children Rebekah, Isaac, and relatively new Elsah. Isaac is as rambunctious as my god-kids Lawrence and Drake, but at 1/3 the volume. After an excellent beef kabob dinner by Alicia, Craig had a roller hockey at a very impressive indoor facility. His team led going into the final period when a really bad penalty call at the end of the third allowed the other team to tie it up. They ended up losing when the other team outworked them down low. Faster line changes, people!

Day 1: A slow beginning and a fine ending in Charlottesville

Living in DC, my body acclimated to the relentless traffic noise of Wisconsin Ave. How else to explain sleeping in until 10:30 this morning while various people worked with power tools outside my open window?

Despite the sluggish start, things ramped up quickly from there. I think I actually packed everything except a long sleeve shirt, but I can live without that for now. I did have to bail on bringing the tent and sleeping bag as they took up way too much space to justify a few nights of camping.

It turned out to be a beautiful day for a ride -- a little warm, but the breeze was nice. On my way to Charlottesville, I had a quick visit with my friend and former co-worker Megan Mink. She just got back from riding the Dragon in North Carolina with her husband Joey. Isn't that sweet? He's a lucky guy, but he knows that.


The ride went very smoothly after fighting past the traffic lights on Route 29. One of the cool sights was a seeing a biplane cruising around overhead (as opposed to faceplanting in the corn field.) After meeting up with my friend Tim Gallagher, we joined his friend Tate at the UVA baseball game. Like the Flyers game I attended, the team I was rooting for lost. Damn the Tribe of William and Mary! Who names their team the "Tribe" anyway? What does it have to do with William and Mary? We drowned our sorrows at the Court Square Tavern where I enjoyed a Young's Double Chocolate Stout.


Next up are my friends Craig and Alicia in North Carolina!

Trip's On!

The hand is about 80% of normal and getting stronger every day, so the trip is on! I went for a ride in today's beautiful weather, and my mood and excitement level are both through the roof. Thursday I take the blue beauty (the color is really called Sinus, which is just ick) to Bob's BMW in Maryland. It's a ride and a half in early rush hour traffic, but it should be a good warm up for the real deal next Wednesday.

What to do?

So it appears I have skier's thumb making my trip unlikely as it has been planned. Apparently, braking is a good thing. I hope to see a doctor soon, but it's weak enough that I doubt it will be better in two weeks. Given this expectation, I've added a poll to the right. Should I wait or go by car?

Pro Car:

• Hauling stuff is much easier.
• Less chance of
  
• Weather isn't an issue.
• More miles covered per day when there's nothing worth stopping for.

Pro Motorcycle:

• It's just way cooler.
• Bragging rights.
• More in tune with the surroundings: the best part about riding.
• Better gas mileage.
• Selling the bike in Cali is much better than having to drive back East.

The last pro-motorcycle point pretty much answers the question for me. What are your thoughts?