Four Corners Tour – Ride Day 6 – Tour Day 3 – July 17, 2015 – Friday

Start Time: 9:10 AM EDT
Stop Time: 5:20 PM CDT
Start Location: Nashville, GA
Stop Location: Brandon, MS
Lodging: Morrow Home (Aunt and Uncle)
Breakfast: Waffle House
Lunch: Subway
Dinner: Morrow Home
Miles Traveled Today: 501
Weather: 77-98, Mostly Sunny

Route: a few county roads put me on I-75 North to 280, stayed on 280 for a good while, jumped on I-85 South to Montgomery, then a very short stint on I-65 to Hwy 80. Stayed on 80 West for a good part of the day until it ended at I-20. I-20 brought me the rest of the way to Brandon.

Started the day with a great breakfast with my good friend and fellow cabinet maker Thomas Clayton, his wife Mary Howard and his mother-in-law Mrs. Yancy (93 years young, and ready to tackle anything and everything).

Wanted to make one more quick comment about Our Place Hotel since I love technology and things that support technology. As simple as it is, this clock is as big of a value added feature as the monster tiled shower in each room is in my book of values.

The little things in life seem to bring us joy, and not having to search and move furniture to plug my phone charger in was a real treat.

Although I was not aware that today’s ride would take me through Plains, Georgia, I thought it was appropriate to stop at the Plains, Georgia Visitor Center and grab a few photos since it was the home of one of out least effective Presidents EVER, I mean one of our former presidents.

At first I thought it was closed on Friday’s since I was the only visitor in the parking lot, but then I noticed that there was more grass growing in the paved parking lot than in the fields around the Visitor Center, so I can only assume that Plains, Georgia is not on any top 10 list of places to visit.

I did see the infamous Billy Carter gas station, but was well past it before I could blink, and decided it was not worthy of a u-turn for a photo (sorry to disappoint some of you).

Not too terribly long into today’s ride, I crossed into Alabama, and have good intentions of grabbing a photo of each states Welcome sign as I come up on them, but they always seem to pop-up out of no where, and this one did not provide for a u-turn for what seemed like several miles, so I elected to forego getting that photo.

Much later in the day I did get the opportunity to get a shot of the Welcome to Mississippi sign, and will make more of an effort to get all future Welcome signs as I progress along my route, even if they require a u-turn.

It was a good ride day today. A lot more 2 and 4 lane state roads than Interstate, with some very pleasant scenery along the way. A little warm at 98 degrees, but in spite of all the 2 and 4 lane state roads, I didn’t spend a lot of time baking at red lights today.

Nobody tried to kill me today, so I can chalk this up as a red letter day, and I had several good conversations at gas and rest stops with folks curious about the Aspen Camper, and where I was headed.

The surprising part of those conversations to me is that they were not all old guys. One was a fairly young guy that could not wait to show me pictures of his 1997 1500 with 78,000 miles on it, and another very young boy wanted to trade me his Nissan Altima for the Gold Wing.

It was nice to cross a time zone that gained me an hour instead of losing an hour, and I’ll get that most pleasant benefit 2 more times over the next 3 days.

Arrived at my Aunt Rosemary and Uncle Robert’s home just after 5:00 PM, and got to have a great meal (probably my last good home cooked meal for the next month), and lots of good fellowship with my little sister Sandy and her family.

Thank you Lord for keeping me in an upright position today, and keeping the crazies out of my path of travel.

Tomorrow I’m headed to Texas, and I assume I’ll feel similar to my dad when he was a kid, who tells a story about the longest drive imaginable (it is a big state to cross).