Winchester TN, Kiwi Mike

We depart from the motel and have breakfast at the Waffle House just down the road. I've had better starts to the day but Greg likes the Waffle House so I'm in, ONCE. Hopefully it’s out of his system now even though he commented that tonights town one. I make sure we pose for a pic with our Indians in front of the Waffle House for my mate Ziggy since he loves em way too much in my mind.

We head off down the road on the beautiful Natchez Trace Parkway. About 50 miles up the road is the Alabama (AL) state line and about another 50 miles is the Tennessee (TN) state line. The parkway is nicely manicured and each state keeps it as good as the other which is a credit to them all. Speed limit today is 50 mph and it’s about right to enjoy it. It’s just a super nice motorcycling road and not having to worry about a lot of traffic is nice too. Traffic is so far and few between that when it rains we stop in the middle of the road (since there are no shoulders) and take our time putting on our rain gear and no one comes on by.

We stop for gas in Oakland AL which is about 6 miles off the Trace Parkway. I spot a small hidden what looks like to be a gas pump so we cruise in. Folks up this way know their motorcycles and know an Indian when they see one. Neither of our bikes has Indian on it so we know they aren’t reading any tank badge.

Its a hole in the wall stop where the 2 pump station is the local grocer, food stop, hang out, etc. 1 young colorful character excitedly came up to us and said those are Indians, I love old bikes. I got an old Honda Dream that's been in my family since new and dug out a pic of it. He introduced himself as Blair but my friends call me Tackle Box, you can call me Tackle Box. He was a character and the reason why his friends call him Tackle Box is because of all the piercings, rings and jewelry poking out of his face, nose, lips and ears. Way cool dude indeed, man did we have some fun. He left and we thought bugger, we missed a photo opportunity there. Well next thing you know he's back with his girl friend/wife/sister Tania and another mate in his jeep. He's all pumped up to show them the bikes and introduce us so we get the photo pose this time around. Tania couldn’t wait either. It was a fun stop and hurridly they went off to their job.

We toodle off back tracking to the Parkway and end up for a late lunch in Lawrenceville TN, the home of David Crockett. We pull up to a gas station and ask what looks like to be 2 locals, hey mates, where can we get a good feed in this town. What you boys wont ta eat. How about some Catfish at a ma and pa place as we want a different experience each time we eat. They send us to a Super Stop gas station at the other end of town and tell us don’t worry about the looks of it as they have the best fried stuff around and its fresh. We believe them and cruise in. I say to the lady, I hear you got the best darn Catfish in these parts. She replied Hot digity dog, by god they be skippy right we got the best darn Catfish around. Ok so hook us up with 8 pieces, can we get em straight out of the fryer. Yep u sure can, it’ll be 7 minutes. No worries, we’ll take a seat and hang out.

2 other gentlemen were also sitting near us just killing time. They drove the town trash truck and were having a break and as usual we engage in conversation. A short time later we noticed 2 young guys checking out our bikes VERY closely with great interest. They came in and said those are Indians aren’t they. Yep sure are. They were the sons of one of the drivers and we all spoke for quite a while eating lunch. These 2 boys were super polite and had great manners. We then worked our way outside to fire up the bikes but we got even deeper into conversation and more folks joined us. 1 such gentleman was Doug Gibson from Leoma TN. Doug was wearing a Coast Guard hat and was a very proud Coast Guard man. He noticed the CG stripes on the bike as he was driving down the road and just had to pop in. We engaged into some really great history about the CG and some of the missions they are currently involved in especially in the Gulf area which he has served. It was truly a great experience as he was super knowledgeable. Thanks Doug, it was truly my pleasure and thanks for your service.

As we pulled out of the service station I kicked in the siren for Doug and gave it a whirl. We stop at the gas station curb waiting for the traffic to clear and low and behold there’s a cop standing in the middle of the road with the road works guys looking over the top of his sun glasses. Oh shit, I’ve done it this time as we have to cruise by him to get out of town. Turned out he just loved our old bikes and gave us the thumbs up. I daren’t kick in the siren again.

I did find 1 flaw with the siren though while in the rain in Oklahoma, it does not work in the wet as it just skids on the tire. So this would lead me to believe that if you did something wrong way back when on a rainy day, you probably did not get pursued as the siren wouldn’t work.

I had noticed at each end of the bridges on hwy 64 the road dept has smoothed out each entry and exit to each bridge but they had forgot one. I’m leading and the road looks good then all of a sudden I hit a dip that bottoms out my seat post and gives me a wild ride. WTF. Dang that is dangerous but I managed to keep it together but it did send a sharp jar up my ass and back. Brown marks are still on the outside of my pants.

I only lead when we don’t have turns. I get so engrossed into everything else around me that I overlook the road signs that we need to turn on. Greg calls it MADD, Motorcycle Attention Deficit Disorder. Yep that’ll be me. Maybe I need a GPS but we are old school and running with paper maps.

We hit some real good rain this afternoon and our rain suits are holding up well. I love my new boots, still dry after all that water that splashed onto them.

I’ve been asking around each part of the country we go for the slang saying/term of what they would say when something is super good.

Down South it’s “We be shittin in tall cotton”. We haven’t dialed in what the term is here in TN yet but we’ll keep searching.

We look forward to our gas stops each day as we meet people from all walks of life. Realistically we don’t know where each one leads us too. Sometimes it’s why don’t you guys come down to the bar and hang out with us as there are other bikers there too. Well I have a strict policy of NO drinking and riding. Greg and I may have a beer at the end of the day now and again but it is only when we are totally done with riding.

Most of the scenery we all come across can be found in many other parts of the world but it’s the people that make the difference. They are the experience that makes this all so colorful and enjoyable.

Our bikes bring out the best in people.