Great Balls of Lightning...heading to MOA Rally

When the bolts of lightning were striking the ground just ahead of me, I began looking for an exit. When the balls of white light were flashing in my peripheral vision and the hairs on my body began to tingle, I started to get desperate.

Such was the case this morning after leaving Tuscaloosa to continue my trip toward Johnson City and the MOA rally. I delayed my departure this morning as the heavens opened up and dumped enough water to bring tears to the eyes of a North Texas rancher. I waited it out, until the rain became a light drizzle. On the radar map I could see a slot between the red clouds that ran southwest to northeast, and the storm was moving in an east-southeast direction. If I could time it just right, I could ride in that slot all the way to north of Birmingham, out of the moving thunderstorms.

Unfortunately, I ran right into it about 40 miles east of Tuscaloosa. That's when the balls of lightning began to appear. Thankfully, there was a rest area just a mile up I-20 and I pulled off and took cover as claps of thunder pealed from all directions. I didn't have to wait too long; the storm was moving rapidly.

Once back on the bike and onto 459 around Birmingham, the rain became light to none, but I could see the aftermath of foolish drivers. Not to far up 459 after the interchange with I-20, a car was on the left shoulder pointed in the wrong direction. A little further on, a red sedan had taken a nose dive into the deep ditch in the median. Several cars had pulled over and a police car had its lights lit to warn oncoming traffic. Then, just before the merge with I-59, an 18-wheeler had slid off the entrance ramp from the other direction and had the entire road blocked. Traffic was backed up on southbound I-59 for miles. Slow down, folks! Our greatest danger on wet roads is auto drivers going too fast for road conditions.

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I-59 is such a pretty highway north of Birmingham. The mountains are like green cones poking up above the landscape and the green in summertime is startling for its lushness. North of Gadsden, though, and I-59 becomes a state highway department embarassment. What's the deal: Low-ball contract bidding gone bad?? This stretch of road between Gadsden and Fort Payne makes I-10 through Louisiana (before it was completely resurfaced) feel like a bowling alley. I bingety-bangitied all the way to my exit at Fort Payne, where I got gas then headed west on AL-35.

This state highway really had a surprise waiting for me as it gently curved to the right and revealed gorgeous glimpses of the Tennessee River from high bluff overlooks. The road carves along the edge of the bluff, with the greatest heights off to my right and the river down below to my left. Some nice curves brought the road down to river level and to the bridge that crosses the river.

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My route north on US-72 followed along the river valley until I turned off to head for Russell Cave. So many times I've come so close to this national park but never took the detour to see it. The cave reveals itself under a rock ledge and one need not enter too far to get the sense of how far it reaches into the mountain. I watched the short video and learned that Paleo Indians (descendants of ice age dwellers) first inhabited the cave. Down through the ages, evolving Indian tribes - ancient indians, Woodlands, Mississipian - lived here in this area. I had a lovely chat with the Park Ranger, who seemed knowledgeable about mound sites. She and I compared notes about some of the ones that I'd ridden by on my way through MS and AL. I definitely want to make a special trip some day, just visiting some of these archeological mound sites.

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The "puzzle pieces" continue to fall into place as I visit so many national parks. I have just finished reading a book that I purchased at the De Soto National Monument. Now here I stand, staring at a cave that was occupied by Indians at the time of De Soto's expedition through the area. Archeological indications are that the cave ceased to be occupied or used sometime in the 16th century. It is known that many tribes were decimated by old-world diseases against which the Indians had no natural resistance. Tribes nearly wiped out by disease migrated and merged with other equally decimated tribes for safety and economy. It is generally believed that these merged tribes are the forerunners of the later Choctaw and other Indian tribes.

This national park is set up against a long mountain ridge that runs generally north-south along the west side of the Tennessee River. I backtracked to US-72 and continued north to I-24 East to Chattanooga, where I picked up US-27 north toward Wartburg TN.

US-27 on the north side of I-40 narrows and starts to gain elevation through a series of nice sweeping curves. It brought me from 800 ft to 1300 ft above sea level into the pretty little town of Wartburg TN where I visited the Obed Wild & Scenic River Visitor Center.

Passport book stamped, I chatted with the park ranger, first asking him if he knew how the town got its name. No doubt from a German settler, he said. He added that the county is named after the revolutionary war hero, Officer Daniel Morgan, who led three companies in the invasion of Canada and the Battle of Quebec. He led troops in several other revolutionary war arenas, as well, and ultimately defeated the British at Cowpens. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Morgan.

The park ranger at Obed noticed the Russell Cave leaflet in my ziplok bag and exclaimed that he tried to find it one time, 3 or 4 years ago, with no success. Guess he didn't refer to the NPS website, which has excellent directions and maps for all of their parks. And he certainly didn't use a GPS. GPS "Jill" had no trouble finding it.

I'm just an easy 30-40 miles away from my hotel for the night and have a very pleasant ride down US-62 toward I-40 and Knoxville.

Tomorrow: Arrive at the BMW MOA rally grounds...

Heading to the BMW MOA Rally

The first day of any trip by motorcycle is always a thrill for me. I never tire of the sense of anticipation of another New Adventure as I back the bike out of the garage. It's nearly always early dawn when I leave on these trips, and the neighborhood looks fresh and tidy in that soft pink morning glow. I leave with expectations for a great trip filled with new experiences, since these are what we make of the day. This trip should be no different.

It's very early Sunday morning and newspapers still lie where they've been tossed by the delivery man. I see no one out or about - it's too early for the daily walking and bicycling brigade that usually fills the streets by 7:00 AM or so - except I do see one neighbor who always enjoys seeing me on my motorcycle; his son and daughter-in-law ride, so he "gets it." He's out there in the near-dark, watering his lawn as I ride by and he gives me a big wave.

With the feeling of New Adventure still fresh, I settle in to my zone on I-10 heading east into the rising sun. I can't help but notice the large number of "gators" on the interstate, more than usual. It's been blisteringly hot here in south Texas, double-digit temperatures every day for the past month. Could this be the cause of so many blown truck tires littering the roadway?

In western Louisiana I let my imagination take over as it processed the string of state trooper cars parked behind a van that's been pulled over on the other side of the interstate. A little ways behind them - maybe 300 or 400 yards - are two more state trooper cars, and the troopers are out of their cars hunting through the tall grass in the median. Hmmmm.....car chase? Car finally comes to a stop but not before tossing something out the window onto the median? Drugs? A gun?

When I got to my all-time favorite Shell station just west of the Mississippi River bridge, it was a little early and I wasn't all that hungry. No favorite fried chicken for me today!

I watched the temperature climb to 96 degrees by noontime, and began to scan the skies for any sign of rain. The forecast said there'd be a 40% chance of rain and long about now I could use some to cool me off. Well, lo and behold! As I neared Hattiesburg a weather warning popped up on my Garmin and, as I came around a bend and crested a small rise in the road, I could see the black skies ahead and to the west. Hallelujiah! Rain, rain, rain! All the way to Meridian! The temperature dropped 20 degrees and it felt so good!

Tonight I'm at my favorite stopping point whenever I come this direction... on the east side of Tuscaloosa. Pilot truck stop next door so I'm able to fill up the bike before checking in to the hotel. Good place to get a run in, along US 11 (or the treadmill in the hotel). Subway right next door. Everything this gal could want!

Tomorrow: heading north past Birmingham and doing a bit of national park stamping before stopping in Knoxville.

Getting Ready for BMW MOA Rally

Today is Thursday, and on Sunday I'll leave home to start my trip to the BMW MOA rally near Johnson City, TN. I've been anxiously watching the long-range weather forecast, not for fear of rain. No...rain would be most welcome on this journey east across the southern belt. It's the heat that concerns me. We've had triple-digit temperatures here in Texas for the last couple of weeks. This unseasonable heat and drought has several southern states in its grips. Right now it's looking like Sunday - my first travel day - will be the worst for the heat. Monday there will be 30-40% chance of rain as I head northeast through northern Alabama and into Tennessee, and the temps will be about 10 degrees cooler than they will be along the Gulf coast. Riding in rain has its benefits!

Items are starting to pile up in the usual spot on the kitchen counter, my staging area for every trip: GPS, SPOT unit, NPS Passport book, EZPass (just in case), snacks, camera, copies of hotel reservations, MOA pre-registration slip, paperwork for the Volunteer Central committee work. The pile is getting higher and higher the closer it gets to departure day.

Tomorrow and Saturday I'll agonize over what clothes to pack and will take care of those things that need taking care of before leaving on a trip. The bike will get a once-over: Check the oil level and tire pressures. Then I'll start to load the bike. And then I'll start eliminating things that I thought I couldn't live without, in order to lighten the load. It's a process I go through every trip, so no use trying to fight it or change my ways.

Riding-Related: Running and the Foot Saga

Okay, so this post doesn't have anything directly related to motorcycle riding, but there is a connection between being physically and mentally fit and being able to stay on the motorcycle for extended periods of time, day after day.

Running has become a part of my life, ever since my husband died. It's not so bad. The shoes and other gear are so much better than they were 20 years ago. Shoe technology has become more sophisticated than ever. Sort of like motorcycle tires. Different compounds, different shoe lasts for different types of running strides, better cushioning, better foot stabilization. They make it so much easier for old people like me to get out there and do 20-30 miles a week without injury. Or nearly so.

I began running seriously in February, 2001 and have vivid and fond memories of every single race I've entered. I've accumulated many marathon and half marathon finisher's medals, even a couple of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place awards in shorter races. The long running distances seem to come naturally for me. I'm not the swiftest person on the race course, but I've proven myself to be consistent and to have the ability to put in negative splits, something many runners are unable to do. My running partner used to call me the Energizer Bunny, since I could keep going, and going, and going...

Unfortunately for me, though, I have osteopenia. This means thinning bones (the bane of being light-boned to begin with, and having a hereditary tendency as well). Despite taking once-a-week Fosamax to slow down - even to reverse - the steady decline in bone density, I managed to get a stress fracture on my left heel. At first I thought it was plantar fasciitis, and was doing all the things you're supposed to do to help that condition heal. But all the while, I was puzzled how I could have developed this condition since I didn't have any of the risk factors: I don't have flat feet, I have a very neutral gait with no excessive pronation, I don't have tight calves, ACL, or hamstrings. Nonetheless, this pain had been nagging me to the point that it finally cut my training short in October 2006, preventing me from participating in the 2007 marathon.

A long rest, stretching exercises, and then gradual return to running the summer of 2007 seemed to be going well. The pain in that left heel was mostly gone, reduced to a very dull ache if I'd been on my feet for a long while. So in August 2007 I began to increase the miles - gradually - in preparation to doing the Marathon in January 2008.

When the weekly long run distances got up over 10 miles, though, the pain started to return. Then, in early December 2007, I was at Cedar Key FL for a motorcycle group get-together. This is a great place to get a long run in, and I had worked out a 12 mile route on the island for that Sunday. The run was going well until, on the return leg, about 8 or 9 miles into it, I felt - and seemingly also heard - a sharp stab in that left heel. It was so sharp and so strong that it brought me to an abrupt halt. I began to walk, putting as little weight on it as possible, and limped the remaining distance back to the motel. It was getting no better and, in fact, seemed to be getting worse.

Back at the motel, I crafted an ice compress using a zip-lok bag I had in my room and applied it until the ice melted, then went and got more ice and continued the application for another hour or more. By that afternoon I wasn't able to put any weight at all on the foot. This was totally unlike any previous pain or discomfort I'd had with the foot. I began to question if this was plantar-related or maybe something else.

Once back in Houston, a consultation with a surgeon in our BMW club changed my self-diagnosis of plantar fasciitis to a diagnosis of stress fracture in the heel. This made sense, given my history of osteopenia (and my really low T-scores: -3.4). I stayed off the foot completely the whole rest of the month of December and first week of January 2008. But I was determined to do the Houston marathon one way or the other so, undeterred, I bought some orthotics specific to my problem and bought a pair of running shoes one size larger to accomodate them. When I went to the Fitness Expo the Friday before the race, I changed my race registration from the full marathon to the half marathon. I was determined to walk a half marathon...and I did. Every step was agony, but I finished in 3.5 hours. Stupid, I know.

The event completed, I could then give the foot a complete rest. I stayed off the foot as much as possible. When I was on my feet, I wore supportive and well-cushioned shoes. No more flip-flops. All that spring and fall I bicycled for exercise. And I registered for the Half Marathon which would be in January 2009. I simply could not let this foot problem get me down.

So, in October 2008, I began, gingerly, to start running again. I'd put some significant mileage on the bicycle, trying to maintain an aerobic pace - between 12-15 mph - but I could tell it wasn't the same. I was gaining weight and I clearly didn't have the endurance I had when I was in peak marathon form. A trip to Spain in early November and all the stairs and hills we encountered in our sightseeing confirmed that. I had a lot of work to do before mid-January. I had to reassure myself that it would be OKAY if I had to walk part of the race. The important thing was to be out there doing it.

The training went well through the fall and winter, by mixing in some cross-training by bicycle and reducing the weekly running miles. It was just enough to allow me to gradually increase the distances and the foot was holding up well. I knew from running other races that I didn't have to actually attain the mileage of the race before the actual event. If I could get within 2-3 miles of the race distance in training, the excitement and hoopla of the actual event would carry me along. The down side of this is that my weight continued to creep up. I just wasn't getting enough training in.

Through the Christmas and New Year's holidays and into early January, when other runners would start tapering before the race, I continued to increase the distances. But then the flu bug hit me! I stopped all training completely the week before the race and concentrated on getting over this bug! It took over my sinuses and moved into my chest - never a good thing for a runner. This really sucked big time! And it wasn't getting better, it just kept moving around from head to chest. Ack!

I went to the Fitness Expo to pick up my race packet and to browse the vendors a bit, but I felt about as unwelcome as Typhoid Mary. All runners are super-paranoid the week before a race!
I don't blame them!

So on race day, pumped up with cold medication and pockets bulging with tissues, my friend drove me to the start line and I ran the half marathon. Well, I managed to run the first 7 or 8 miles of it before the cold medicine began to wear off. Then it was: run, run, walk and blow my nose, run, run, walk and blow my nose....

By the last 2 miles, I could no longer run (I could hardly breathe!) but was still able to keep a 15 minute-mile pace walking. And I had run out of tissues, which was miserable. The last meet-up point with my friend before the finish line was at mile 8 and I didn't think to arm him with extra tissues. But...I finished the race. That's the important thing. I promised myself a long hiatus after the race, and that's what I did. No running for two months, and then some sporadic outings here and there through March and April.

But come May, 2009 I had to get back at it. I needed to get a good mileage base in before the marathon training cranks back up in early July. So that's where I am today. I've been running 4 days a week since Mid-May, putting in 12-15 miles a week. Six weeks of this and my endurance is now at a 5K level and I've lost 8 pounds. One more week at base mileage and training will begin.

So here's the mentally fit part: Keep pressing on when all you want to do is stop. Running marathons and half marathons these past seven years, boy do I know that feeling!

Objects in motion tend to stay in motion; objects at rest will stay at rest.

Another National Park before Returning Home

After visiting the really interesting Wright Brothers visitor centers, part of the Dayton Aviation Heritage, we spent last night in Lexington KY. Today we'll start heading southwest toward Memphis to spend the evening with Mike's mom and get a good home-cooked meal.

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We left Lexington and hopped onto the Bluegrass Parkway heading toward Elizabethtown. Getting to the Parkway, we passed some gorgeous horse farms and estates and a really excellent trompe d'oeil painting on a building on the airport grounds. It was particularly realistic with life-size horse statues.

We would take a detour off the Parkway and onto a really fine KY scenic byway - US-31E, also known as the Lincoln HeritageTrail - to Hodgenville to visit Lincoln's birthplace and national park. This road took us past some old red brick factory-type buildings and as we rode by I looked toward the building on the right, where some large bay doors were opened and I could see coopers at work. This is the heart of Bourbon country, so these just had to be barrels for that purpose. That was a really neat little find!

This scenic road took us into the old downtown Hodgenville, with a "roundabout" encircling the town square and a large seated statue of Abraham Lincoln, a replica of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

At the Lincoln birthplace national park, we took a walk up to the memorial, which encloses a log cabin of the same type and vintage as the one Abraham Lincoln was born in. We chatted with the young park ranger, a U. Kentucky student working there on a summer internship. The log beams were found near the original site, although they have been proven to not be the Lincoln logs. The man who found the logs assembled the cabin and then took it on tour around the country before it found it's home at this site at the turn of the 20th century. President Roosevelt laid the corner stone for the memorial, and President Taft presided over the opening ceremonies two years later.


This is yet another beautiful national park with knowledgeable rangers and beautifully maintained grounds. We spent a few more minutes looking at the area around the base of the memorial - the sink hole named Sinking Spring and the site of the boundary oak.


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After lunch at the McDonalds in town we got back onto the West Kentucky Parkway and continued toward Memphis where we spent the night at Mike's mom's house. She had a nice spaghetti dinner waiting for us when we got there, which was most welcome after fighting heavy rains much of the afternoon. We definitely were not interested in going back out to a restaurant for dinner!

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The next morning we'll get on the road and ride the 600 miles home to Houston.

National Park stamping after Founders Feast

Sunday morning...but not too early....Mike and I checked out, packed our bikes and headed north toward Ohio to collect some national park stamps.

First on my list of stops was Howard Taft home in Cincinnati, so I led the way off the interstate and followed GPS Jill's directions onto local streets. I think she was lost. She sent me up a hill, then had me turn left, go one block, then turn right and continue to the top of the hill. At the stop sign, the directions stopped coming and I had no idea where I was. I had scouted this using Google maps (satellite view) but that was little help as I sat here in the midst of an old residential area of the city. There seemed no hope of finding it since there weren't any brown signs, either.

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Back onto the interstate, we continued on to Dayton where we had better luck finding what we were after.



Huffman Prairie Field is the site of the Wright brothers' refinements to their glider that first saw "air" at Kitty Hawk, or today, Kill Devil Hill. This site is on what is now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where flight research continues today.

We talked to the park ranger here, a retired Air Force officer, and he shared a wealth of information about the field, about the history of Wright field, and how the name Patterson came to be added to the name of this base. He sent us on our way, but not before making book recommendations and Mike and I each bought books to bring home with us. The ranger sent us on surface streets over to the other visitor center, which took us past the enormous Air Force museum. Definitely worth a return trip some day.

We skipped the movie at Huffman, choosing to see the same movie at the visitor center at the Bicycle Shop site on 3rd and Williams Streets. So much to see and so little time to see it all!! But it was really well done, as was the movie about the Wright Brothers' development of motorized flight.

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The visitor center at the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center is nearly new, and is attached to the old Hoover block of historic buildings and the interior is restored to resemble a turn-of-the-century corner grocer's.

The old original cycle shop sits right behind the visitor center, on Williams Street, looking just as it did when Wilbur and Orville worked in the shop, designing and selling bicycles, making a successful business on the wave of popularity of these relatively new modes of transportation.

After spending a little time walking through the exhibits and watching the excellent movie, we got ready to depart and get on the road south toward Kentucky.

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As we were leaving Dayton, thick black clouds were beginning to form all around us and we flirted with rain until we reached Cincinnati, where it finally caught up with us. And how!! Visibility was nearly zero and the water was rapidly accumulating on the roadway. Traffic slowed to a crawl as we crossed the bridge and up the bluffs that overlook the city from the south.

Our destination for the night would be Lexington KY where I had a "bead" on a Best Western with a Cracker Barrel right across the street. It proved to be an excellent hotel, with large new rooms, comfortable beds and...can't beat Cracker Barrel for dinner!

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Tomorrow, we'll head for Memphis and spend the evening with Mike's mom before getting back on the road the next day and riding straight home to Houston.

Founders Feast- Day 2

After a really great evening watching the hilarious murder mystery put on by Random Acts, I really wanted to just sleep in, but we needed to have part 2 of the board meeting, since we didn't get much covered yesterday afternoon...and three of our members were missing.

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So it's 6:00 AM and my alarm is chiming, waking me up way too early! We began our meeting at 7:00 AM, took a break at 8:00 AM so that the photo contest participants could get signed out and sent on their way. This gave me a chance to eat breakfast before we re-convened for another hour or so.

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Mike and I hung around the lodge all day, visiting and chatting with other MTF members and just generally being lazy. It was nice to just do....nothing! But that was soon changed when I was recruited to help with the photo contest scoring less than an hour before Founders Feast was to begin. Several of us were sequestered downstairs in the game room, some serving as judges and working their way through the huge number of photos, Kevin and I tallying the judges' scores.

Finished, we all dashed upstairs to join the group already seated and waiting for the buffet to open. The room was a sea of yellow event shirts. I love how the shirts came out!!

Tables on either side of the podium were groaning with door prize booty and folks were sorting through all of the donated items, making mental lists of what they might choose if their door prize number is called. I donated an LDComfort long-sleeve shirt to the door prize table. I bought it using a gift certificate, but they're unisex sizing and the size Small was much too big and too long, plus I didn't care for the thickness of the fabric. Too thick, to me.

There are some really talented photographers in the MTF and the photo contest really proved that. Wow! Some really great photos in the mix of submissions.

We ate...we board members each said a few words to the assembly, and we gave away nearly every d**n item on those tables.

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Tomorrow we'll pack up and depart Spring Mill Lodge and head north into Ohio for some national park stamping.