After an excrutiatingly painful dinner at the Waffle House last night (yeah, I know...but it was right next door to the motel), I went to the office to upload some emails... they didn't have an analog phone system so I had to use their fax line...and showed the front office lady how emails worked. Seems she's never seen the Internet..."but heard plenty about it!" (seemed real proud of how she was keeping up with the times). Got to bed relatively early in hopes od an early departure to make some time before the storm system sets in.

Got my free cup of coffee in a styrofoam cup...and left this little 'burg at 5:45am (central) to another clear and crisp day. Maybe 52 degrees this morning, very pleasant. Heard about some bad Tornados in Oklahoma City but learned they were confined to the southeast side....where I am heading is in the northwest side, so will hold off the phone call out that way til later in the morning. Looks like the storm is gonna hit me either late tonight or Wed. Morning, so I wanted to get a good start to the day.

I knew that I would make it to Nashville at rush hour...and was warned by some folks weeks ago that Nashville rush hour is a bear, so I have made it to the esat side, and have stopped for breakfast...(another Waffle House no less...hey - they're "America's Place to Eat", besides a Ham & Cheese Omelette is the same across the country at WH)...right now, I have just gassed up and am sitting at a picnic table outside Nashville waiting for the traffic to calm down....as soon as the four-lane came to a dead stop, I pulled off and decided to wait this out til about 9am.

The Natchez Trace Parkway is a lot like the Blue Ridge Parkway - same concept only not as good views. A little more historic, though. Seems before steam boats made the return trip up the Mississippi and other rivers easier, this trace was the northbound return route to Nashville. Very much wilderness in those days, the trip was perilous and took several weeks through Indian country.

Weather forecasts called for thunderstorms coming into Memphis by evening, so I decided to keep going on the parkway until Hwy 64, which heads west into Memphis, and just kept on going. Got to eastern Memphis about 4pm CST - found a motel with a phone line in the room I could use for data, and dialed a local Mindspring access number. Looks like I will be online a bit tonight as it is already starting to rain as I do this. If my plan works, it should be over with by checkout tomorrow. Otherwise I get wet in the morning!....(check the radar images!)

All in all, was a great day - weather was perfect all day and the bike, butt and back are all doing well...I didn't get a mileage reading before I put the cover on the bike, but I believe it was around 350 miles.

Hoping for good weather to play on the back roads of Arkansas tomorrow. The original schedule is way off, a day ahead of schedule already, so I will ease off some tomorrow, get a late start, settle in early somewhere near either Fort Smith Ark, or go on into Tahlequah, OK and visit the Cherokee Museums.

See ya tomorrow...... -Jay