After a fun day at the MOA Rally, Karen and I pack up and start to mosey our way back home. Continue reading 2019 BMW MOA Rally – Days 3 and 4
Tag Archives: tennessee
Posts from the state of Tennessee.
2019 BMW MOA Rally – Day 2
We had a nice sunny (and lucky) day for our ride to Lebanon, TN for the MOA Rally.
Continue reading 2019 BMW MOA Rally – Day 22017 MISFIT Run
Late July means it’s time to join our (mostly) southern netscum for BBQ, laughs, and a ride in the Smokies. Continue reading 2017 MISFIT Run
Blasting Home from SCUM
After a very enjoyable two days of lazing around Len and Pauline’s cabin, drinking a bit, and eating too much, it was time to get home. Continue reading Blasting Home from SCUM
Maintenance, Tornado, and the Ride Down to SCUM
After my Mad Dash home from the ParTay, I needed to perform the 12,000 mile service on the Nightowl so Karen and I could ride down to the SCUM run. The first day of that southward ride had a little weather excitement. Continue reading Maintenance, Tornado, and the Ride Down to SCUM
Memphis Cruise Day 5
Route: Memphis, TN to Corydon, IN Continue reading Memphis Cruise Day 5
Memphis Cruise Day 4
Route: Around Memphis, TN Continue reading Memphis Cruise Day 4
Memphis Cruise Day 3
Route: Rock Island, TN to Memphis, TN Continue reading Memphis Cruise Day 3
Memphis Cruise Day 2
Route: Aberdeen, OH to Rock Island, TN Continue reading Memphis Cruise Day 2
Memphis Cruise Preview
Earlier today, I accepted a full-time position; a “real” job that will mark the demise of the consulting business that I’ve been operating for the last four years.
As fate would have it, my new employer won’t be ready for me to start until the morning of May 28th, so I have some time to waste. Seeing as next weekend is the Memorial Day holiday, I know that tons of riders will be moving on Washington D.C. (Rolling Thunder), and crowds are something I want to avoid.
After some consideration, I decided to visit a museum exhibit of R.M.S. Titanic artifacts in Memphis, TN. Sound weird? Hell, it’s something worth doing and it gets me out on the road. Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Author’s Retrospective (2016)
This trip marked a significant nexus in my life. I was getting divorced. To keep the house, I had to shut down my technical communications business and (as noted in the text above) get a job that provided a steady, predictable paycheck. The plan was that my soon-to-be-ex wife would move the first set of stuff out of the house while I was away and move in with her folks.
At the time, I would have never guessed that this trip would be the watershed moment that released a serious passion for crossing the country on two wheels. At the beginning of this trip, the Cruiser had a mere 19,444 miles on it. I still have this bike, and the odometer reads 148,116 miles. Between that and the 84,000+ on the Vector, I found one of my life’s primary sources of joy.
About the Trip Report Format
The trip reports that follow for this cruise are in letter form, as there were several individuals (e.g., Mother, wife, etc.) who were sure that I was going to die on the road. Consequently, I would write a daily email message and send it to those who needed to know that I was still alive and kicking. That’s why you may see side notes to my mother, father, wife, etc.
It’s worth noting that these trip reports were written on an Apple Newton and sent as email over not-always-convenient phone lines. For more details on this process, see the retrospective post Road Blogging Before the Internet was Ubiquitous.