Well, I decided that I would attempt to make some time heading back across Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee into Alabama. I was crossing places I had generally seen earlier, and decided to head in a more southerly direction so that I could get to a museum I wanted to see near Birmingham, Alabama.
Anyway, almost all of this riding was done on superslabs, that is, Interstate highways. For those who don't know, my BMW has a very fine electronic cruise control which is easy to set, very accurate, and makes life a lot easier for me. Nonetheless, each day was long, hot and tiring.
I tend to have to get off to loosen up, stretch, drink water, and buy gasoline at various intervals. Because of the luggage on the seat and rack behind me, in order to get back on, I have to throw my right leg across the seat, and do a sort-of dance just to get settled into the seat for riding. It must be quite a sight to see me do this. At some gas stations, there's usually a raised curb around the pumps, and I've found that this raised curb makes the process a lot easier and less painful (I have bursitis in my right hip).
One of my readers of this blog expressed interest in my culinary experiences, so I do have to tell you about what I think is a small restaurant chain called "Huddle House." Perhaps these places are well known, but I'd never seen one before. I saw the Huddle House next to my motel (the Key West Inn) in Hamilton, Alabama. Before I get to the Huddle House description, I should tell you that I once again found what might have been a nice old town, filled with little shops, but not filled with people or viable businesses. In Hamilton, there are even a couple of failed small shopping malls not far from the old downtown, but just one mile further on, a large, and bustling "Wal-Mart Supercenter." Ah well.
Back to the Huddle House. This place clearly has a formula that works: wholesome food (maybe a little too much fat content), menu with a bunch of items, but nothing one would call "fine dining," open kitchen, open 24/7 and good prices. In my case, it was about 60 feet from the Key West Inn, thus I didn't have to suit up, and mount up to ride somewhere for dinner. Yes!
It seems that a Huddle House diner can order any item on the menu any time of the day or night. I figured I'd worry about breakfast in the AM and went for the rib-eye steak with shrimp combination, salad and veggies. It was the most expensive item on the menu: $11.39. No Pinot Noir here, for sure. Anyway, it was all mighty good...the salad cold and crisp, the shrimp crisp, and the rib-eye steak very tender. Vegetables...well, just OK. Very pleasant service and food prep. people (everyone seems to do some cooking here, including the waitresses). Anyway, a good place for dinner.
Next morning, up bright and surly. The Key West Inn guy had told me they'd serve breakfast in the morning. Right. Weak coffee...plastic wrapped donuts. That's it. Back to the Huddle House: Veggie omelet with cheese, OK coffee, wonderful hashbrowns and wheat toast. $5.39. Nice!
On the road to Birmingham, and the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum...
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NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST... A guy gets on a motorcycle, and rides around, looking at things, talking with people and (he hopes) learns something about himself in the process.
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