Summer Road Trip 2016 - Day Three and Four

Leaving Greenville, MS was fairly uneventful yesterday; it was a hot, humid ride across the fertile Mississippi Delta to Arkansas. I think the highlight was the huge bridge across the Mighty Mississippi River, Bessie and I love bridges! A little sad to leave the Delta, it is a spiritual place for any blues lover. 'The blues is the root, everything else is the fruit,' Willie Dixon. The history of music fascinates me. The blues is rooted in our very history, it is truly the only American music, originating from slaves working the fields, passing the arduous existence with field hollers and work songs. Eventually W.C. Handy added the 12 bar guitar chord and the blues were born in the Delta. This being my second trip to the Delta, I'm guessing there will be a few more...maybe Fall or Winter next time! The Summer is insufferable; if I were forced to toil in those fields in that heat and humidity against my will, the over-seerer would just have to shoot me because I wouldn't last ten minutes at hard labor.

The heat continued to plague me into Arkansas. I had planned to spend two days in Hot Springs to ride the many twisty turny Backroads through the Ozarks. Once I got to Hot Springs however, it was akin to I-Drive in Orlando...traffic and tourists. After sitting in traffic and brain boiling heat, I hopped on 270W and declined to stay in Hot Springs. The road reminded me of the Gauntlet in North Georgia; gently rolling, twisty asphalt, not too challenging. Ozarks are nice, would love to return in Fall or Spring.

Bessie and I rolled into Springdale Arkansas and had to 'rough it' in a Double Tree. Seriously, no coffee in the room, no free breakfast....but as it turned out, that was the least of my problems Saturday morning. I begged coffee from the front desk guy, packed the bike and headed out just as the sun was barely up...it was cool! About two exits from the hotel, Bessie's engine light came on, and she went into 'limp mode,' a safety feature that cuts the engine to about 20mph and no throttle, so you can literally 'limp' to safety. Thankfully I was 1/2 mile from an exit and at that early hour on a Saturday, there was very little traffic. I'm not a panicky whining broad in these situations - you can't do what I do on a motorcycle solo if you are - and I immediately got to the side of the exit safely, starting my 'gratitude list' in my head. Grateful that: I wasn't in the middle of Bumfuck AR like yesterday, it's not hot yet, I have AAA, I have money, I have a credit card with a zero balance just for emergencies, I have cell service, I'm safe, no body parts scraped the pavement, and on and on. It can always be worse.

I have to say a word of apology however to Cortesia (seriously, and I'm guessing at the spelling), the AAA contact. She started asking a series of questions that I assume are standard, but stupid in certain circumstances...procedure takes precedent over common sense:

'Are you safe?'

Yes

'What kind of motorcycle is it?'

Harley Davidson Road King

'What's wrong with it?'

If I knew Cortesia, I wouldn't need a tow.

'What color is it.....is it PINK or other unique features?'

Here is where I lost it....PINK!?! Cortesia, I would die rather than ride a PINK bike! What difference does it make? It's the only motorcycle broke down on Exit 82 off I49 at 6am today! I don't think the tow truck driver will have any trouble finding me?! Distinguishing features or not; its black Cortesia, the only color for a motorcycle!

So I'm sorry for losing my cool momentarily with Cortesia.

The tow was there to my rescue in 40 minutes, nice young biker dude named Ryan. We both needed coffee at that hour so Ryan stopped at Starbucks, my treat. The dealership was just a few miles off the exit, largest in Arkansas and amazing! I gave Ryan a generous tip and said goodbye. It was only 10 minutes till the service department opened and the service manager was great. Born in Clarksdale MS; only a rabid blues fan like me would appreciate the significance of that! Bessie and I were in and out in under an hour; just long enough to finish my large coffee and drop $125 on new apparel. The fix was simple and under $200, I was almost giddy paying the bill! Back on the road by 1030a, I was still perplexed with my thigh searing heat issue.

I've had the Road King for three years, the cc pumps out lots of heat, that is just the nature of the beast I ride. But it has never blistered my leg; rode up to Nova Scotia last summer, two summers ago out to Colorado ( west Texas is hot in July) and the heat was not a problem. I prop my feet on my highway pegs while cruising, removing my leg from the heat. So what variable did I introduce to the equation on this trip that wasn't present on previous trips?! My friend and Math teacher, Bobby Burns would appreciate my ability to apply my rudimentary math skills to solving the problem.

My undergrad degree is in Psychology where I learned several theories that I use almost everyday. Piagets theory of child development, Skinners classical conditioning for behavior management, Maslows hierarchy ( I'm closer to that pinnacle of self actualization than I've ever been Thank You), and Occams Razor ( or to use my two years of Latin, lex parsimoniae, the law of parsimony). It is a line of reasoning that says the simplest answer is often correct. I look down, and realize the variable is the new thigh bag I bought at Bike Week and haven't used until this trip! The bag is a military kinda bag that clips around my waist, then around my thigh, it keeps everything I need at my fingertips. I wear it on my right leg because I'm right handed, it's also the side all the heat gets pumped out. I realized THE BAG WAS TRAPPING THE HEAT !! I found the first exit, jumped off Bessie, switched my bag to the left thigh ( left leg is also the shifter leg, didn't really want the bag on the busy leg...but...) and problem solved! I didn't get that expensive formal education for nothing.