Day Eleven: Monday, Aug. 21, 2000
I drag my stiff body out of bed and get dressed. We head down to the hotel restaurant for the continental breakfast. Donuts and orange juice, the breakfast of motorcycling champions. Then we head out to the parking lot so I can tease Dave about being a weenie while we get his bike loaded on the trailer. We gas up and hit the road.
I had no idea that the freeway between Jackson and Dallas is so STRAIGHT! And did I mention it is BORING! The first part of the day is not to bad. Luckily, my Sargent seat is quite comfy. Nonetheless, I still have to do lots of moving around, hanging off, standing on the pegs, stretching and other odd things to keep the blood flowing in my lower extremities. We stop for gas, stretching and water about every 150 miles or so. Then there is the second part of the day...
HOT! Damn HOT! It climbs to a nice roasty 106 degrees F by noon. I am in my full riding suit and sweating like a pig in bacon factory. I am only wearing a T-shirt and some spandex bicycle riding shorts under my suit. The shorts help tremendously with the sweat and tender tushy. The jacket does not vent well at all. I unzip the front a few inches to let air in around my neck and it helps. I have been riding all summer during the heat wave we have been having. So I am used to riding in 100 plus temperatures. The key is lots of water and full body coverage to keep the sun off your skin, and not stopping, hehe.
The ride is quite boring. I find myself weaving back and forth in my lane just for amusement. Whenever we take an exit I get real excited because I actually get to lean the bike into a curve! But for the most part, the day just drones on, and on, and on, and on... minutes seem like hours, inches like miles. Finally, we cross the Texas state line!! Then Jack starts taking back roads into North Dallas. I have no idea where we are but we seem to be making good time. Then I start noticing that it is getting kind of cold. I look down to see that the temperature has dropped to a bone chilling 97 degrees F! Brrrrr...
As we are tooling down one particularly straight road, I motion to Jack that I want to stop and take a picture. He pulls over so I can get a shot of the truck loaded with the bikes and the pretty sunset ahead of us. Then we are back on the road for about another forty-five minutes to get to Dave's house. We drop him off, say our goodbyes and then head to Jacks.
Earlier in the day, while stopped for gas, I phoned Brian Jones and asked him if he could meet us at Jacks with his truck and trailer. He lives on the south side of Dallas. He shows up with Shane in Shane's truck. We get Beth's bike loaded in the back of the truck without too much trouble. We say goodbye to Jack and his family, then back on the road for about another thirty-five or forty minutes to get to Brian's. We unload the bikes, visit for a short while and then go to bed. For me, the total mileage for the day is just over 610 miles. A personal record I don't want to beat anytime soon!