My first long ride of the year: Touring the South
Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 1:48 pm
I rode the R bike down to Biloxi, MS starting last Tuesday. Left the office at 5:30 and headed down to Chattanooga, TN from Blacksburg. Slept overnight in TN and traversed the northwestern tip of Georgia, the length of Alabama, and Southern Mississippi.
I worked a couple days helping to rebuild a couple houses in Biloxi. Wow, words cannot describe the sheer destruction from the hurricanes down there. Whatever problems I felt I had in life paled in comparison to what people in the Gulf coast have gone through in the past 10 months.
After two very short days of work, I felt the determination to go back at a future date. I think it will take a decade for the Gulf coast in MS and LA to recover.
On Saturday morning, I hit I-10 west toward New Orleans. Since I had reservations to stay in Atlanta that night, I gave myself a couple hours to eat lunch and explore the Big Easy. I actually crossed over the Mississippi River on the R1150R, turned around to eat lunch near the WW2 D-Day museum and the French Quarter, then hit the interstate back through southern LA, MS, and Alabama to reach Georgia.
I hit Atlanta proper around 8 p.m. I don't know what it is, but I get a feeling of excitement akin to what I feel in New York whenever I'm in Atlanta. Coming up I-85, I deliberately hit the beltway to get on I-75 and go through the center of the city. I reached my hotel in Alpharetta Saturday evening around 9 p.m.
Sunday morning, I ate a hardy buffett and hit the road for Blacksburg and reached home in about 7 hours. On this leg of my trip, I traversed Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and my home state of Virginia.
In the past week, I have seen the following cities from the saddle of the R:
Knoxville, Chattanooga, Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, Biloxi, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Charlotte.
I have now seen 15 states while riding my R1150R, and have clocked over 37k miles on it. It has been a wonderful and reliable companion during my travels over the past 4 years now.
edit - Oh yeah. I rode 1913 miles, and the following link has 3 pages of pics from my trip:
http://yjleesvrr.smugmug.com/gallery/1533607
I worked a couple days helping to rebuild a couple houses in Biloxi. Wow, words cannot describe the sheer destruction from the hurricanes down there. Whatever problems I felt I had in life paled in comparison to what people in the Gulf coast have gone through in the past 10 months.
After two very short days of work, I felt the determination to go back at a future date. I think it will take a decade for the Gulf coast in MS and LA to recover.
On Saturday morning, I hit I-10 west toward New Orleans. Since I had reservations to stay in Atlanta that night, I gave myself a couple hours to eat lunch and explore the Big Easy. I actually crossed over the Mississippi River on the R1150R, turned around to eat lunch near the WW2 D-Day museum and the French Quarter, then hit the interstate back through southern LA, MS, and Alabama to reach Georgia.
I hit Atlanta proper around 8 p.m. I don't know what it is, but I get a feeling of excitement akin to what I feel in New York whenever I'm in Atlanta. Coming up I-85, I deliberately hit the beltway to get on I-75 and go through the center of the city. I reached my hotel in Alpharetta Saturday evening around 9 p.m.
Sunday morning, I ate a hardy buffett and hit the road for Blacksburg and reached home in about 7 hours. On this leg of my trip, I traversed Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and my home state of Virginia.
In the past week, I have seen the following cities from the saddle of the R:
Knoxville, Chattanooga, Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, Biloxi, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Charlotte.
I have now seen 15 states while riding my R1150R, and have clocked over 37k miles on it. It has been a wonderful and reliable companion during my travels over the past 4 years now.
edit - Oh yeah. I rode 1913 miles, and the following link has 3 pages of pics from my trip:
http://yjleesvrr.smugmug.com/gallery/1533607
Nice pics.