Day 4, Independence Day

What a day....

Left Tupelo this morning after getting cornered at the hotel by a couple Gold Wing guys who wanted to talk about the relative merits of theirs vs. a Harley. Yawn. Who cares. Buy a Harley and quit trying to convince yourself the Honda is better. It ain't, so get over it.

Ran the Natchez Trace again thru to Jackson. That road must be a secret. No one uses it and again I sometimes went for miles without seeing another vehicle. When I got near Jackson I finally saw some folks.

Did run into a few people at one of the roadside historic sites. One talkative old lady mentioned she was waiting for someone to drop off her grandbaby and a load of rabbits. I didn't ask much about that. The answer could have been scary. Stopped at another and in the woods behind me there was major shooting going on. Took some pix and rolled put of there.

Hit Jackson and went west to Vicksburg. Got a cheap room first and then rode straight to the river. Took a couple pix and then saw a great photo op with a steamboat for a backdrop. Moved the bike down a sharp incline and when I kicked the fork to the side, over it went. With all the extra weight, I just couldn't hold it up.

Before broken brake lever....

...and after. But I got the picture.

So here's the good part. I was struggling to pick it up, when a couple girls came by in a pickup and asked if I wanted help. It was hard, but I said yes, so this BIG girl jumped out and helped me get 'er back on two wheels and off they went.

Bruised ego, broken front brake lever, and not much riding tonight. That bike is WAY too heavy to stop with just the rear brake. And no, there's no sexy, steamy ending with the girls who helped out. Guess I could have made something up.....

Anyway, I hit the Civil War Battlefield and had a look around. Amazing place, and a must-see. This was a place Mom and I always passed by and we seemed to never have time to stop and see it. I was making time to do exactly that.....

Texas Memorial 

Back at the hotel, I called a Harley dealer in Jackson who's going to help me out tomorrow. He said if he doesn't have one on the shelf, he'll pull one off a new bike to get me back on the road. Great guy. Will post the name when I get it....can't remember right now

So it's 30 miles back to Jackson (isn't there a song like that? "'going to Jackson......."). I'll get the part, put it on, and head south, maybe to Natchez and into New Orleans. Day early.

Cowboy

PS ran into some interesting sentiment from one local. I asked if there were going to be fireworks, and he said he didn't know. Then he said, "I don't celebrate the 4th much anymore. I'm losing too many of my rights to celebrate freedom." Wow, I didn't know what to say, except that fireworks were still cool, and then I walked away.