After over a week of 20C plus temperatures, (even over night), this morning provided a stark contrast - anywhere between 6C- 12C depending on who was telling the story, but the day was fairly clear and the forecast free of any rain.
That being the case, gone were the bare sleeves of each previous morning, instead layers were the order of the day, and the more the better. Whilst the sun eventually did appear, it brought little warmth until much later, a constant reminder to those who’d erred on the side of optimism of their poor choices (and this included me). Leaving the tourist area of Memphis was to be quickly jolted back to earth - like many other notable cities, a block from the action is to land fair and square into the hardship and squalor faced by the dispossessed, those damaged and desperate souls who for whatever reason don’t fit in anywhere else. Neville led us to a nearby Exxon station, thankfully for those whose fuel lights were indicating below empty, and then we were off, bound for Paducah, Kentucky. Coffee stop at Ripley, another one of these very pretty and extremely tidy wee towns, (in direct contrast to most which can be quite depressing), with the town hall surrounds decked out with dressed up figures, and music from Casey Kasum’s Top Forty from the 70’s & 80’s played through discrete speakers all around town. Apparently there was once a problem with bored young people making a nuisance of themselves in the town square, but some clever bugger came up with the idea of playing music they hate and it worked... A local cop pulled over a chatted to us (while we were on foot) - he’d just finished running the plates of our bikes to check if we were bad buggers, but alas, not the Comanchero’s, Del Fuego’s or Wild Hogs, just tourists from afar. We all trooped into Kissell’s Kitchen, a desperate pit stop for those who were busting, then coffee and a late breakfast for some. These old diners are great. From there we made for Abernathy’s Harley Davidson in Union City, (once the home of a large but now defunct Goodyear Tire plant) and we were again afforded a warm welcome - initially by a bunch of old codgers in funny hats fundraising by way of bbq in the car park (a delightful smell greeted us). They were “Shriners”, by all accounts an off shoot of Freemasons, who fund raise for local hospitals- strange but worthy, and great hotdogs! Whilst the did well out of us, them seemed to be their own best customers, more a social thing than anything else. As usual, T shirts and bling, and against every rule in the “what can be put in Barb’s wagon”, a couple of windscreens and an outrageous set of ape hangers (by my standards anyway)... because the sheriff was an offender I suspect there will be no fines... We have arrived in Panducah Kentucky, a bustling town of about 20000 on the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio rivers - like most places, because we are on a schedule, we’ll probably not see much other than anything on the route out of town in the morning. Tomorrow, Nashville Comments are closed.
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Don MalcolmA perfect day involves being on my Harley with a long ride ahead.
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