Pop is Ready to Ride

YFO is approaching rapidly and the distance between South Louisiana and Central California is weighing heavily on my thoughts. Pop has not been out of the hospital that long, he really has very little seat time on the new bike and he is no longer young. To the point, can Pop ride that far? Can he Man Up and Tough it Out? We all know motorcycle owners that would never consider a ride like this and they are perfectly healthy.

We felt that what we needed was an overnight trip somewhere. We needed to know if Pop could ride all day, sleep in a strange bed and then ride all day the next day. I discussed my plans with hppants and we agreed on a general route and direction. I could weave my way into Mississippi and never be very far from home. Hwy 61 would be a straight quick run home and we were never going to be far from that North/South Hwy.

Saturday morning I had a nice country breakfast, (thanks Mom!) and Pop and I headed out. Temps in the low to mid 60s, Pop had all new riding gear, we had a new Cardo Scala Rider Freecom 4 in our helmets and two shiny Gen3 FJRs. Good Stuff.

We passed through Walker LA and got fuel. This was Pop's first time ever putting fuel in his new bike so I supervised the trip meter resetting.

I weaved around on low speed back roads that neither of us had ever ridden and things went smoothly. We did have some interesting moments with little wooden bridges and badly cratered asphalt/gravel but it was all good.



We stopped for some BBQ ribs at Billy Bob's in Port Gibson MS. Last time I did that was on a motorcycle trip that ended badly, we hoped for better results this time.

We took the Natchez Trace to a certain picnic table I remembered... There we met a very nice gentleman on a Moto Guzzi Stelvio. He joined us for lunch at the only picnic table. He had also stopped in Port Gibson for lunch and had bought a Subway sandwich because he lacked my snout to lead him to Good Food.



That gentleman threw away his sandwich and helped us eat our lunches.



I hope he had a good and safe ride. He was a nice fellow.

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Pop and I headed North on the Trace, got off and took a twisty little road that paralleled the Trace for a while, got back on the Trace and made our way just North of Jackson MS. We were headed for Flora MS and the Mississippi Petrified Forest. (Thanks again hppants)

I was not expecting much.

The first hint that I might be wrong:



And how was Pop holding up after riding all day and then walking around in the MS woods?





According to the sign this log is almost as heavy as Mrs. Redfish:



There was a lot more petrified wood here than I expected.



All this made me happy and I was smiling the whole time:





We headed West to Vicksburg. A few miles out Old US Hwy 80 gets very rough. Our low fuel indications came on simultaneously about 7 miles from Vicksburg. We rode in, located the Battlefield and decided to get fuel, get a hotel room and then come back for some literature and info to give ourselves a head start the next morning.

Pop had filled with mid-grade gasoline that morning, I had used the premium. Pop used 0.007 gallons more than I did. My hand calculated average was 50.56 mpg. The dash indicated about 52.4 I think.

I selected the Quality Inn because it was next door to a Cracker Barrel restaurant. Yeah, I could have done better but Cracker Barrel is usually decent, it's cheap and the next morning there would be Breakfast. Cracker Barrel is good at breakfast.

My plans were disrupted when I noticed a wire sticking out of Pop's back tire. So...



The piece of wire is lying on the plug kit in the above pic.

We got back to the Battlefield about 5:05. They close at 5:00.

At least I remained cheerful about it.



We rode back to the hotel and had an early supper at Cracker Barrel. Then Pop produced a flask filled with Russell's Reserve. We sipped on that fine bourbon and discussed our day, the new bike, the new comm system, and the new riding gear.

Pop looks the same, yet different from our last ride together. Now there is a large knot above his right shoulder and there are new scars on his abdomen and shoulder. I have some scars from his crash too but mine aren't on the surface.

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Great Report, looking forward to meeting you both at YFO!

Sunday morning was cool and beautiful, temps in the mid to upper 60s, lots of sunshine with an expected high in the mid 80s. We ate a very good breakfast at Cracker Barrel and made the short ride back to the Vicksburg Battlefield.

On the edge of the parking lot there is a row of artillery pieces all of which were used during the Battle of Vicksburg. Interesting stuff.







Let me get this out of the way... I hate the Civil War. What an oxymoron, Civil + War. Nothing about this country fighting itself appeals to me. I am interested in the weapons and equipment of that era, I am interested in the Ironclads, I have never had any interest in studying the Great Battles of the War Between the States.

And then we Entered Union Lines...



There are small monuments everywhere troops died dedicated to the individual regiments from whichever state the fought for. These are visible in the back of this pic.



But somewhere in this awful killing field there is One Big Monument from each state that lost troops here. In this photo those are Union cannons behind me and in the background is the marble dome of the beautiful Illinois Monument.



Usually when I visit a place of historical significance I try to imagine myself Really There. I promised myself I would NOT do that here.

Unfortunately this place got to me anyway. I could smell the black powder smoke... What a senseless damned war.

At least it was a pretty day.





Looking down on the bikes it hit me that we were literally the Red and Gray. We were from Louisiana after all, I wonder which side we would have fought for. Would we have known enough about the Big Picture to make a decent choice? Or would we have blindly followed our neighbors and fought for the South?

Pop's response: "I cannot see myself fighting for slavery. I hate slavery in any form. I'd like to think we would be deserters and just head out West. But you never know."



The (mostly) one way tour road winds up and down some steep little hills, and is really nice. The bikes mostly stayed in 2nd gear. I could hear the GYTR mufflers on the shiny red bike behind me and they sounded great. They are not loud but they give the FJR a nice deep voice. G Squared really did us some Goodness by selling us this wonderful motorcycle.

Finally we found something that was not depressing, the USS Cairo.



Boats always make me happy.



That is some thick iron plating on the super structure:





I am guessing that it was nice and warm in the bilge of this beast during the summer. It took a ton of hand shoveled coal an hour to keep the boilers going and the stern wheel turning.



Pop was interested in the nails that were used in the (not original) decking.



And how did Pop look after over 3 hours in this beautiful, awful place?



I wanted to get a picture of the Louisiana Monument and Get the Hell Out.

Of course it was on top of a damned hill and of course the road leaned so that we could not get off the bikes and of course it was a one lane road and we did not want to block traffic. We parked at the bottom of the hill. I looked up that hill and started fussing.

Pop grew tired of my bitching and simply handed me his camera. "You got it to do. Stop wasting your breath bitching, you'll need it for climbing. And get me some pictures while you are up there."

So I took Pop's camera up the damned hill.

Halfway Up:



Close enough:



I had planned about 45 minutes in that battlefield. I spent over 3 hours in that Battlefield.

We took our time getting home, took some of the Trace back, took some backroads, and had an excellent buffet lunch at Vine's in Centreville MS. We got home well before dark.

Pop was strong and happy. The new bike is working well for him. So it looks like YFO is going to happen. But we will be a LOT slower in the twisties than we were before February 12th.

Great RR & Pictures Redfish!

Glad that your dad is ok and he enjoying his new bike!Thanks for sharing

Looks like the gentleman is doing just fine. However, it's a good thing that the two of you spent some time together out on the road, it kinda establishes a baseline for future travels.

I'm looking forward to meeting both of you in a few weeks at YFO. Please take a few extra days for the trip and enjoy each other's company -it's important!

Brodie

thanks for sharing !!

say what windscreens are those, look nice,

thanks

Great ride report! I am a civil war freak but agree wholeheartedly with you it was an awful war and a terrible waste of human life, as all wars always are.

Thank you for sharing that..

Enjoyed reading your post. Was just remembering back to a conversation you and I had a while back and feeling especially thankful to be reading this ride report. This is the first time I've ever seen or even heard of the...

USS Cairo.

...so I did a little research. As much as I appreciate seeing this amazing Mississippi River warship, the history of it's sinking and subsequent raising and reconstruction was fascinating as well. For the sake of your readers, Cairo patrolled the Mississippi during the Civil War as control of that river was vital. Sunk by an underwater mine and buried in river muck, the dream of raising it from it's 90 foot grave and preserving it for all to see was underfunded, delayed, and mismanaged... badly. I'm glad that I got to see what little survived in your ride report today. One writer noted in this report CLICKY that much of the existing structure was destroyed or simply disposed of because finding artifacts was the priority. He went on to say that much of the structure of the boat was lost to the difficulties in both raising the materials from the river and preserving them once they did. I'll have to see it in person one day, and maybe even a few of the other sights you encountered as well.

What a ride report. Wish I could have tagged along. Ha... but even if I did, I would have probably sent you on ahead as I stayed behind to learn all I could about that amazing old ship.

Gary

darksider #44

Howold is Pop?

Great to see Pops riding and a multi-day trip on top of that!! Great write up!!

Don't worry about going slow in the twisties, tons to look at as your passing by

Thank you for sharing a great report. The detail of the ride itself is very interesting but coupled with the father/son riding together it is totally heart-warming. My son, daughter-in-law and I ride together all the time ... I have a few years to go to catch up to your Pop!

I'm so glad your Pop is back to riding after the tip over. He looks really good in the photos. What a beautiful bike!

The love and caring you demonstrate for your Pop through this report, and previous posts, is absolutely wonderful and a great example for all men. I feel that same love and caring from my son; to make sure you know, from a father's perspective, it feels amazing! Keep on doing what you're doing ... it’s how it is meant to be ...

I always enjoy your narratives and pictures. Keep it up on the trip out West. Looking forward to meeting you both.

I agree with you on the civil war. Brother against brother, what a waste of lives and resources.

Nice to see Redfish nice to see.