Day 2-Better than rookie day

Today was a good day on the road.  I started about 6:30 in the morning right after the "riders meeting".  Hung a quick right out of the parking lot like the GPS told me to do and kept on trucking.  And then it told me to turn left.  Unfortunately there was no road to turn left onto.  You got it, I started the day off, the very first turn heading down the wrong road.  The problem was two fold.  I didn't study route the night prior (see previous post) BUT, the route was pre programmed that way.  Had I gone back and done as I told myself to do yesterday, I would have seen that.  It wasn't a huge excursion though, only about 4 miles in total.  Once I got heading down the right road, it went pretty well.  It was pretty damn cold this morning.  My body was mostly warm, my hands were freezing.  I thought about stopping and putting my rain gloves on to block the wind, but for some reason unknown to me, I decided to keep going and let them numb.  I'm not sure why the mind works that way, kind of like yesterday when I was on "E" and I passed up about 6 gas stations "for the next one".

This route had  a ton of turns in the small Mississippi towns and a lot of curves in the road, which made it all kinds of fun.  We took a lot of "county roads" which were very narrow, and they were full with logging trucks.  I'm told they take those roads because they overload and don't want to get ticketed on the interstate.  Who knows.  I confirmed the whole "drafting" theory.  Riding behind an SUV or a semi, they pulled me along about 5 MPH faster than my usual top speed with 1/4 less throttle.  Physics.

I had my fuel plans stopped more accurately today and I was very confident in my range with the extra planning.  I had it narrowed down to two stops, one in Camden (first check point) and one in Quitman.  I bet it would have worked flawlessly if the 20 mile section of route 512 wasn't closed.  I wasn't sure how far out of the way the detour would take me so I gassed up at the nearest gas station and kept going.  It ended up being my last fuel stop and I pulled into the parking lot on empty.

The detour was the last hiccup in my day (aside from riding 1/2 mile past my hotel), and I made good time across the Alabama/Mississippi state line into Hazelhurst, MS.  My hands are still thawing out.  I've been getting a lot of questions about "how my butt is".  I got a great air cushion that has been keeping my butt comfy and dry.  Thanks for asking!

I toyed with the mounting of my iPhone a bit today and tried some random videography.  Would have had some great footage with Dan's GoPro HERO HD Camera but.........(see previous post).  Here is what I came up with.  It's amazing what you can do with an iPad and iMovie.  It's a stretch, but I wanted to toy with it a bit. if its not displaying right, here is the link;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jebPNJBmGRw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Boring Alabama road

Logging trucks I found myself behind very often.  Saved me gas and made me faster!

You average county road in MS.  It's paved, no dirt.

Hats off to the guys that ride the vintage scooters 12 hours a day and then rebuild the engines at night

Checkin photo at the hotel in Hazlehurst

Everyone is arriving