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No room at the inn... November 8, 2008Leave a comment ;)
...thanks to the homecoming celebration at Troy University, there were no hotel rooms available in the city of Troy. Correct me if I am wrong, but if it is "home"coming, shouldn't they be at home and not in a hotel? Am I missing something here? ;o) We could have back tracked in Montgomery and stayed in this lovely abode, but I'm not quite sure what it is! Any guesses out there? I am dog tired right now. Please bear with me while I take a power nap and get back to the blog in about 30 minutes. Zzzzzzzz..... Thanks for indulging me. This was a long day and I didn't quite get as far as I would have liked. Since I started on the opposite side of Montgomery this morning, it was nearly 30 miles before I even made it around the city and headed south along Hwy 231 to Dothan. Before I left the hotel I had breakfast with the Huwaldt's. Joe, Bobbey, Jonathan and Jacob drove down from Huntsville the night before so that we could see each other during my trip through Alabama. Joe and I worked together at Rocketplane before we both decided it was in our best interests to part with the company and pursue other ventures. Joe is an extraodinary aeronautical engineer and conducted all of the computational fluid dynamic analysis for the vehicle we were designing. He was the smartest and most talented engineer in the company and a pleasure to work alongside. Thanks for taking the time to come to Montgomery! The ride around Montgomery was not bad at all except for a portion along the south side of the city. I would venture to say that 99.99% percent of the people and drivers I have met have been absolutely fantastic. Courteous and friendly. Except for two brainless wonders and their big white Cadillac! This big honking car pulled alongside and the passenger actually rolled his window down to watch me as they turned in front of my bike and into a parking lot. I don't know if he was curious to see if I would run into his passenger door or he was just looking for a fight. Rather than tempt fate and let out a string of expletives, I just waved and said excuse me! I said it in the manner that Steve Martin would in his comedy routine. "Well, excuuusssseee meeeeee." Other than that one incident, the ride through the city was fine. The strange looking shelter that I took the picture of was quite bizarre. I have no earthly idea what it is. It was out in the middle of a parking lot and there were a bunch of junk cars scattered about. If you are from Montgomery, I'm all ears! The morning mist was rising as the sun began to warm the ground. I pulled into a road side convenience store and bought my carton of chocolate milk. As luck would have it, I was given a Little Debbie Honey Bun as part of a giveaway since I purchased the milk. I thanked the ladies in the store and went back outside. I glanced down at the nutritional value on the back of the package and about choked. One bun, one serving, 360 calories. Of those calories, 180 were from FAT! For today's math problem what percentage of the total calories in the Honey Bun come from fat? Do you know the difference between saturated and unsaturated fat? About the time I was choking over the fat content, I glanced over at a dumpster and noticed mist rising off the metal. While the dumpster is not the most attractive thing to take a picture of, I thought it's otherwise bland form was enhanced by nature's power. Call me weird, it's ok. My Dad's name is Jim and I just had to take a picture of him and the restaurant that bears his name. On the way down Highway 231, my Dad mentioned there was a guy following me on a touring bike and he was pedaling pretty fast. About 30 minutes later, Chris Figureida pulled alongside. I asked him where he was from and I about fell off my bike when he told me "Neah Bay, WA." Talk about a chance meeting! He had left Neah Bay back in September and was traveling to Key West, FL. He was pedaling much faster than I was and on a Trek 520 as well, but modified to a large extent. He followed a slightly different route, but crossed paths with my route in OK as well as AR and now in AL. He is pedaling to promote a heart healthy lifestyle and this was his third trek across the country. You can read more about him on his website, www.cycleforheart.org. Like me, he is stopping at schools along his route and talking to kids. Unlike me, he is riding with as little weight as possible and scorching along at a blistering 16-18 miles per hour. Maybe on my next trek I will decrease my load and pick up the pace. I hope we cross paths again in FL, but I am afraid I will be left in his dust! I rolled into Troy and came across a most interesting billboard for a tire store. I'm not sure Britney Spears would have approved of her image being used in this manner, but it sure was funny! I had planned to stay the night in Troy, but with homecoming in full swing, I had to find a hotel farther down the road. The plan was to meet my Dad near the town of Brundidge and then head on to Ozark, AL. As the sun was setting I came across some metal art on the side of the road that struck my funny bone. I couldn't make out half of what they were, but the conglomeration of parts was fascinating. The last thing that caught my eye and brought me to a screeching halt was a sign for a scenic dirt road. Perhaps the road less traveled, but they were trying hard to get you to venture forth. I wonder what lies that direction? Not me, that's for sure! Tomorrow it is on to Dothan and hopefully crossing the Florida State line. I plan on meeting Jill Reddington for lunch somewhere in Dothan. Jill's husband John and I were in Test Pilot School together back in 1990 and they now live near Fort Rucker, AL. He is a retired Army Officer and helo driver. It will be fun to see her after almost 20 years. How time flies when you are having fun! More Images: ;)
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2 Comments
Nov 8, 2008 9:04 pm - David Dannemiller wrote : I love reading about your adventure John. Have fun on the remainder of your tour and at the launch. Add a comment: |
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It was great to meet you on the endless sea of the road. Sailors like us are rare. Take care.