Day 19 - Ridgeland, MS to Florence, AL

Our journey today continued along the Natchez Trace Parkway. We left at 8:30am. It was 68 degrees. After the first hour, we took a quick break so Michele could put on her jacket liner since it was a bit chilly. The skies were blue with some clouds and sun, so it was a nice change from yesterday. 

This is the Big Cypress Swamp. Rob learned that several trees can tolerate being in the water and bald cypress thrive in it.

We passed several large fields of yellow wildflowers. 

Around 11am we exited the Parkway and got a sandwich at Subway for the picnic Rob had planned. We had a 30 minute drive along the Parkway to our picnic spot.

We had a quiet break and enjoyed the nice temperatures. After lunch the wind started picking up. That was when "Wham!" a loud thwack about shot Michele off the picnic bench. A pinecone dropped on the bench during a wind gust and scared the heck out of her. 

Suited back up and ready to go, Rob looked at the weather on the Wing and said good news, we were out of the tornado watch but into the high wind zone. 

There were whitecaps as we crossed the Tennessee River. We held on tight as the Wing was pushed around a bit.

Rob got tired of all the driving so Michele took over.

That didn't really happen! At mile marker 295 the Parkway had a 25 mile detour. We rode on a few highways with very rutty concrete, and were thankful to get back on the Parkway at mile marker 320. 

Along the Parkway there are educational signs about the area.

Witch Dance is where we had our picnic lunch.

Some red wildflowers or weeds.

A historic area.

We entered Alabama and rode to our hotel in Florence. By then it was 84 degrees. Today's mileage was about 250 miles. We have just over 100 miles left tomorrow to finish the Parkway as we approach Nashville by late morning. 

We got dinner right next door at Applebees, the margaritas were $5 and delicious. Severe thunderstorms are expected tonight. The wind was gusting really hard, so we used the ziplock bag method again on the important instruments on the bike. We hope all will be ok. 

Animals we saw today: a wild turkey, small turtles crossing the road, a white crane, possibly a pelican, cows, horses and a goose. 

Day 18 - Leesville to Ridgeland, MS

This morning we woke and were on the bike at about 8:15am. The morning temperature was 66F and very muggy. The skies were very overcast today and rain was in the forecast.

We passed quite a few logging trucks today as well as lumber yards. The smell of creosote was heavy in the air when we rode past them.

We took a break from the interstates and stuck to the highways. The speeds on the highways in Louisiana are a much more sedate 55mph vs 75mph in Texas. In combination with the slower speeds, light traffic, and the slightly lower winds (still blowing out of the south), the riding today was very calm and quiet.

About 100 miles into the morning ride, the wind picked up and rain started to fall. We were just approaching Clayton, LA so we decided to duck into an Exxon gas station and put on our rain gear. The weather radar on the Wing looked like the rain system we had been skirting had finally over taken us.

Just after we pulled into the gas station, the skies opened up. We had timed our stop perfectly! We fueled up the bike and slipped on our rain gear. The rain had stopped but the roads were wet and it looked like it could start raining again at any point. The radar showed rain all around us.

Another 30 minutes down the road and we entered Vidalia, LA were we planned to stop at a Subway to pick up lunch. Today we planned to have a picnic on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Given our planned direction of travel from this point (northeast) it looked like we might luck out with the rain. It hadn't rained since our stop in Clayton so we took off our rain gear at the Subway. Vidalia is very close to the Mississippi river and the LA/MS state line. Soon after picking up our lunch we were crossing the Mississippi river and entered the state of Mississippi.

Shortly after entering Mississippi, we turn onto the Natchez Trace Parkway.

The parkway roughly follows the "Old Natchez Trace" a historic travel corridor used by American Indians, "Kaintucks," European settlers, slave traders, soldiers, and future presidents. The parkway is 444 miles and our plan is to follow it from the southern most point to the northern most point. Today we would ride the first 100 miles of it.

After approximately 18 miles, we stopped at the Coles Creek rest area for our picnic lunch. We were treated the drumming of a little woodpecker while we ate our lunch.

We ate our lunch and were back on the bike within 30 minutes. The weather looked like it was closing in on us so we wanted to keep moving to try and stay ahead of it.

The parkway had little to no traffic, has a speed limit of 50mph, and is quite beautiful. We really enjoyed this serene roadway compared to the hectic pace of the highways around Houston.

We lucked out an avoided heavy rain. Rob said we were in a "rain donut" as he called it. On the Wing's weather radar we could see we were in a dry circle surrounded by rain. We arrived at our destination for the day in Ridgeland, MS at about 2:45pm. The road was slightly wet towards the end of our ride but we avoided any significant rainfall. Total mileage for the day was about 240 miles. 

We relaxed for a few hours and then walked a short way over to Newks Eatery for a Mediterranean pizza and side salad. Our hotel is in a corporate area of what appears to be a dozen banks. There's a nice pond in the middle and a big crane flew away as we approached. Tomorrow we will pick up the Natchez Trace Parkway were we left off today as we continue our ride northward.

Day 17 - Austin, TX to Leesville, LA

We were thankful for a good night's rest after such an exciting weekend, and were a little slow to get moving! Today was our last day in Texas. We woke at 6:15am and left at about 8:20am. It was about 66 degrees when we left and our mileage would be 374 miles. 

We forgot to mention that on Saturday morning, Rob noticed that a critter was curious about our trailer, leaving its paw prints in the pollen dust overnight. What animal do you think this is? The print is about an inch in size. 

The skies were heavy and gray, and the air felt humid. Rain was not expected today on our route. We said goodbye to Austin, even though we didn't make it into the city this time.

Soon after, we couldn't figure out why there were stretches of narrow concrete strip in the median, like a sidewalk. Anyone know?

This place had cool classic vehicles.

A safari park with zebras!

Buffalo!

The first half of the day was really intense with wind gusts and traffic. We learned what Houston traffic is like and vowed to take a much wider berth next time. Despite, there were neat things to see along the way. 

Cars in a glass building waiting to be purchased.

A temple or mosque of some kind along Interstate 10. We couldn't read the sign.

An oversized truck taking up a lane and a half, without an oversized load escort!

We stopped for the first time of the morning at 11:20am in Humble, Tx. We had been riding 3 hours straight and needed fuel and lunch. We got both at one location immediately off the highway. Rob wanted to stop at a Buc-ee's but we couldn't find it. Surprising since they are usually very obvious. Fueled up and fed, we pushed on. We navigated onto other highways and byways, with much less traffic and wind as the day went on.

In one Texas town we stopped next to this colorful truck. About 30 minutes later we saw it pulled over in Louisiana by the Louisiana police. Guess they were still doing Texas speed limits of 75 in the 55 Louisiana zone!

Entering Louisiana. East-bound crossing Sabine river.

Whitecaps on the water, it was so gusty! 

We arrived at our hotel in Leesville, Louisiana around 3:20pm. Rob got the bike cleaned and covered, then we relaxed in the hotel until dinner. We walked right next door to Toups' Kajun Kitchen, thankful for something good so close by. We shared a grilled chicken po boy sandwich, fries and a salad. We got a Raspberry doughnut cheesecake to go for dessert.

Day 16 - Austin, TX Day 4

Race day! We got up at a similar time as Saturday and were rolling out of the hotel around 8am. This morning was in the 60s and the wind was already blowing at about 10mph. We arrived at the track at around 8:30am and parked up front again. Our Lot D upgrade was so convenient, right in front of the entrance to all the action and very close to our seating section. 

Today we watched all the action from our seats at turn 15. It wasn't too crowded yet when we arrived, which is typical. Many fans come in for the MotoGP race and leave. We watched all three morning warmup sessions, each 10-20 minutes. The race officials check the track before and after each race. Here is one of the safety cars. It careens around the track checking for traction. They use BMW vehicles for all the support vehicles. Michele especially liked the white BMW with the big spoiler.

The corner workers are responsible for removing any debris on track and alerting the safety officials of any issues that need inspection. It was cool to see all this in person. The first race was Moto2 at 11am. This is the mid-weight class of riders on 765cc triple Triumph powered bikes. 

Once that was done we had over an hour break until the main event. Everyone swarmed to the food vendors. The first place we stopped in for food was a chicken place but they were out of chicken!  So we went over to the BBQ place and got a pulled pork sandwich. While standing there, Michele noticed the chicken strips were restocked. Rob said we weren't getting back in that line because they could run out right when we got up front, and we'd miss the race standing in all these lines. The prices at this track are astronomical, worse than anywhere we've ever been. Easily three times more than what things should cost. Now that we've done this once, next time we will bring our own food. Worst case, we eat it from the cooler of the trailer in the parking lot! We ate our lunch at our seats and finished just in time for the start of the MotoGP race. At 12:51 there was a flyover. At 12:52 was the National Anthem. The lady we saw practicing did a great job! After a sighting lap, the riders lined up on the grid and took off at 1pm.    

MotoGP bikes are 1,000cc four cylinder engines (the premier class). Moto3 is 250cc single engines (the lightweight class of riders). Here's a sampling of shots from the whole day.

Coming down the back straight at turn 12. This is a heavy braking area. MotoGP riders are doing over 200mph down the straight and have to slow down to 30-40mph for this turn.

Coming towards us at turn 15. The MotoGP bikes are so loud we can feel the roar of their engines in the stands. 

Riders who crash get their bikes transported back to the paddock area, as well as taken care of by EMS personnel (if necessary) within seconds. EMS are stationed around the track and there is a Medivac helicopter. When riders crash, they usually are not hurt (they wear airbag leather suits), but they usually don't re-enter the race since they'd never catch back up. During practice and qualifying though, they will re-enter the session if time is remaining on the clock. 

Two riders battle it out at turn 15. At the top right of this photo near the red/white paint is a bump. You can see it at the dark spot. Many riders adjust their racing line to avoid or lessen it, others didn't seem bothered.

A rider Marco Bezzecchi (#72) crashes coming out of turn 15 in front of us, but is okay!

At the end of each race, most riders wave to the track workers (who come out to the edge of the track) and to the fans in the stands, whether or not they win. Usually all of the MotoGP riders wave, and most of the Moto2 riders, but few of the Moto3 riders do unless they win. 

During Moto2, American Joe Roberts stopped at our turn, got off his bike, crawled under the fence, and tossed his gloves into the stands for lucky fans! In the picture below you can see him getting ready to toss his glove. We were super jealous we weren't further down to catch one. 

He finished in 8th for the race, which was his best finish so far at this race track. We thought Joe was very classy and gracious to his fans for stopping by, given that he didn't even win the race. Michele says he's her new favorite rider. Here he is coming through turn 5. His number is 16.

Everyone cheered for Cameron, the American rider who was in pole position, but he crashed out right at the end! We couldn't believe it! 

After the MotoGP race, we watched Moto3 and stuck around for the MotoAmerica race that started at 4pm. Right before that race Michele surprised Rob by getting him a funnel cake. He'd been teasing her and talking about getting a corndog and funnel cake all day long, but she said it was a stomachache for sure. We learned that powdered sugar and wind don't mix. A big wind gust blew the sugar all over us and everyone near us in the stands! It was still delicious. 

The winners today were Tony Arbolino (his first win in this class) in Moto2, Enea Bastinini in MotoGP, and Jaume Masia in Moto3. Below you can see Enea #23, behind Australian Jack Miller, who had led the race for many laps and ultimately finished 3rd.

In MotoAmerica, the winner was a familiar face to us from MotoGP - Danilo Petrucci from Italy who was in MotoGP last year. He just started in this American series at Austin and won his first two races. It was great to see him off to such a great start and such an experienced rider promoting professional racing in the U.S.! He rode over to turn 15 and waved his thanks to the fans. Michele thinks he probably saw her waving back at him. 

What a great day! We compared this track to the two others we've been to. Facilities-wise, this one is by far a bigger, more organized and cleaner venue. There were ample trash and recycling bins and bags every 50 feet, so there wasn't trash strewn about. There were many food vendors located all around the track and usually with different food choices (though none healthy or reasonably priced). Michele found flushing toilet restrooms right behind our stands on Saturday. Traffic was well organized with police direction, far more so than at Indy or Assen. Assen did not have any and it took hours to get out of the “parking lot” (actually a nearby farmers field). There were shaded tents and seating areas outside of the stands, so it was possible to cool off if one got hot sitting in the stands. What Indy did better was the hospitality package, which was half the cost of Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and parking right next to the grandstand inside the security area. Indy was also much closer to us! We're so disappointed MotoGP does not race at that venue anymore. We didn't get the COTA hospitality because the cost was so high and the seats weren't in a good spot. Assen was just cool to be at a track in Europe and be among fans who were so enthusiastic about the sport (there were close 100k fans at that race!).

We got back to the hotel around 5pm and walked over to Cracker Barrel for dinner. Michele says their biscuits are her most favorite food, especially with apple butter. There was a 45min wait for a table so we ordered our meal to go. We were back in the hotel eating our dinner 30 minutes later and both enjoyed those biscuits for dessert.

Tonight, the wind was still blowing at around 20mph and gusting over 30mph. Rob parked the bike in a different direction so the wind pushed it towards the kickstand, just in case. The wind is expected to continue through the night and all day tomorrow. Our plan is to leave at 8am and make it to Leesville, LA as we begin our way back home.

Day 15 - Austin, TX Day 3

Today the track opened at 8am. We decided that we did not need to get there right when it opened given the previous day’s smaller crowds. We left the hotel around 8am. The morning temps were a bit chilly again at 54F. When we arrived at the track the parking lot was pretty empty and we were able to park up front as on Friday. 

The official name for the race is MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas. It started with the first three Free Practice (FP) sessions that we watched from our seats at Turn 15. Funny thing, we went to our seats from yesterday, but the docent said we were in the wrong section! We were nine sections too far over to the right. The ticket reads T15-6 which means turn15, section 6, not section 15-16. We walked back and found our seats. They were actually even better of a view, more to the left facing the braking zone for turn 15 so we could see the riders head on. We could also see more of the back straight in the far left of the photo below. We picked our seats months ago, so we didn't remember the exact location in the stands. 

This track, unlike Indy and Assen, checked for assigned seats both Friday and Saturday. 

After the three classes had completed their FP3 sessions, we walked over to turn 6 and set up our chairs in the shadow of a crane truck being used as an elevated platform for a TV camera. 

We watched the two qualifying sessions for Moto2 and MotoGP Free Practice 4 and both qualifying sessions. The wind had started to pick up at this point. It was the warmest day in the upper 80s with no cloud cover, so the wind was welcomed for the temps though it made tricky track conditions for the racers. We needed to check in for our track lap at around 4:30pm which was shortly after the last qualifying session for Moto3. We packed up our chairs and watched Moto3 qualifying from our seats at turn 15.

The qualifying sessions were really good. The races tomorrow should be a good show. Andrea Mingo is on pole for Moto3, Cameron Beaubier (an American) in on pole for Moto2, and for MotoGP, Jorge Martin is on pole. The crowds cheered loudly for Cameron. 

After Moto3 qualifying, we made our way back to the bike and figured out where to check in for our track lap. We pre-registered online signing waivers, so we quickly got our wrist tags for the event. Rob convinced them to let us take the trailer on the track! He said since we drove it all the way from Virginia, it can handle this track. They kind of didn't really know what to do about the trailer and Rob said it's the same width of the bike. They looked at each other and said ok, as long as it can make turns. We thought that was funny! Since the bikes would not be lining up until 6pm, we moved the bike near the line-up location and hung out for the next hour and a half.

Around 6pm, they started to line everyone up. We got in line and over the next hour, we would crawl and wind our way through the parking lot traffic. They organized us out onto the main circuit road where we waited again for regular traffic. Many of the guys around us had sport bikes that radiated the heat from the  engine right up at them. They also sit very close to the hot exhaust pipes which also add to their discomfort when sitting still in traffic. They were sweating and burning up sitting there. Rob's Goldwing doesn't have this issue, as the radiators are huge and the fans blows the hot air forward. Around 7pm, we finally got started on our parade lap that was escorted. We entered the track at turn 6. The Garmin GPS promptly told us we were going the wrong way! I guess Garmin doesn’t know that this track is counter-clockwise. Michele got video of the whole lap. Ask her and she'll show it to you!

It was a very leisurely pace that took us about 7 minutes to complete at 30 mph. The MotoGP riders lap this 4.3mile track in about 2’03” at speeds that get over 200 mph! It was really fun going around turns 12-15 where our seats are located. Rob commented at how much tighter some of the turns are than they appear from the seats. The track was also very clean, no debris along the sides. Before this year, this track had a lot of significant dips and bumps due to ground settlement issues below the surface. The riders complained last year that they would not be back unless it was entirely dug up and fixed. The track was improved and resurfaced in a long section. Rob said he didn't notice any bumps from the comfort of his Goldwing! 

As we rode down the front straight past the Grandstands, the lady who would be singing the National Anthem on Sunday was practicing in the middle of the track. We all moved to the right, then started heading up that steep turn 1. Michele was surprised it wasn't nearly as steep going up it as it looked from the Grandstand area. The downhill side of turn 2  was super fun, but would be scary at racing speeds! 

We got back to the hotel area at about 7:30pm. We decided to make a quick stop at the pizza place we ate at on Thursday to order a pizza and salad to go. 

Today was a really long day but so fun. The wait in line for the track lap was worth it and riding the track was the highlight of our day. Tomorrow is race day!