Day 15 - Forrest City, AR to Cleveland, TN 

404 Miles

Today was an odd day.  First of all, if you've been following the blog you'll notice I didn't say "to Cherokee, NC".  When I finally got around to making a reservation last night the hotel I was aiming for was full.  Not wanting to stay at a casino (and thereby tempting Denise at the tables), I opted for us to overnight in Cleveland, TN.  To be honest, it's good it worked out this way.

First, I overslept an hour.  That's not bad except when the sun is already starting to set a bit earlier and there was rain forecast into Forrest City by mid-morning.  "No problem, we'll be long gone by the time rain gets here."  Talk about close.  We probably only beat the rain by about half an hour.  We didn't leave Forrest City until almost 9:30.  That extra hour would have also had us arriving into Cherokee a full hour after dark; whereas we arrived in Cleveland an hour before dark.

Then, we got lost in downtown Memphis. I had it in my head that we were supposed to be following US64 across from Memphis.  When Gertrude tried sending me towards US72, by way of an interstate bypass, I instead chose to ignore her and follow 64 through Memphis.  We've been on rough streets and roads before, but none as consistently bad for so long as into and crossing through Memphis.  (I was going to add a comment about the need for so many Memphis urologists because the residents had to be routinely tinkling blood, but Denise said I shouldn't.  So I won't.  Heh.)  It was fun seeing Beale Street and some of the architecture in Memphis.  Marc Cohn - Walking In Memphis Official Video

Finally, I gave up on finding my way through, turned the route back on and Gertrude had us on our way in short order.

Very much worth mentioning, by accidentally shifting our time, quite by chance we had an opportunity to see the riders from the annual Trail of Tears Commemorative Motorcycle Ride; a line of bikes at least five (5) miles long!  We were trying to get through Florence, AL when all of a sudden half the streets were blocked off.  We ended up having to slide through a large parking lot to get past the ~100 yards or so of US 72 that was blocked off.  We saw all kinds of folks lined up for miles like they were waiting for a parade, and then we saw the bikes.  And saw the bikes.  And saw the bikes!  The last time I saw so many bikes was during last years American Legion Legacy Ride and to be honest, I don't think we had as many bikes as they had today.  Here's the link to the official site if you're interested in getting more information on this.
Trail of Tears Commemorative Motorcycle Ride®

This was the front of the pack:

The other noteworthy item was when we were going through Huntsville we saw "Pathfinder", a Shuttle mock-up permanently on display at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.  Unfortunately we were rolling too fast for Denise to snap a shot, but I've got a good friend in Huntsville I might ask to get us a shot from the interstate.  (Jim?)

I'll close out with some random photos from along the way.  Like I said it was an odd day, but we were upright, breathing, together and riding.  What else could someone ask for?!

Oh, and the reservation is made.  Tomorrow we'll bed down in Lake Lure after some scenic riding through the Smokey Mountains.  Take care.