Lounging in our Room

Beale Street at Night

Beale street was just what we needed, take away beers, good music, duelling pianos in an Irish Pub and ......the rain finally stopped.

While on a visit to the restroom Marc also ran into a couple entertaining each other... 'nuff said. Not sure if this is common practice on Beale street but will get back to you with further reports.

Water in my boots

Making the quick dash from Graceland to the hotel downtown in Memphis no gortex was worn. That was a big mistake!!!!

We arrived at the hotel with the sound of sirens, unbeknownst to us it meant that a tornado warning was in effect.

Arriving..in the rain... at the Hotel in Memphis

Before Moving on to the Downtown Hotel

Once the tour was finished we decided to rejuvenate ourselves with a last bite at the Heartbreak Hotel before moving to our downtown hotel. You can't leave Graceland without Grilled Peanut Butter & Banana sandwiches.

This was despite local weather forecast of pending storms, flash floods and tornadoes.

Three Hours Later at Graceland

Throughout the entire tour there was no rain, we saw it all and hit every shop. Lots of interesting stuff we can't carry on the bikes.

Marc was exhausted, Joe was exhilarated!

Elvis' Snowmobile 1985 and 2009

Back in the day tourists were allowed to sit on all of Elvis' vehicles. So many visitors came that the seats become worn. Today visitors have to pretend to sit on them.

Elvis' Raquette Ball Court and Trophy Room

Various rooms have been converted to hold Elvis' Gold Records, Awards and his many bejeweled outfitts. On this tour we used the full three hours. This blog is not big enough to hold all the pictures we have.

At Graceland Finally - Joe's Mecca

We all loved the tour of Graceland. Joe and Mary got a lot of great decorating ideas for their basement.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

No visit to Graceland is complete without a stopping at Marlowes for BBQ, Fried Dill Pickles, Corn Fritters and Killian's Red.

Joe, Guy was right, food was great!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD

With Love from Graceland and Elvis.

Kentucky Rain

Earlier in the day hanging out at the abandoned gas station.

Arrival at Heartbreak Hotel

We have arrived!!!!

Shelter from the Rain

40km from Memphis and the rain hit. Heavy rain. There was an exit within a few moments and we took shelter in an abandoned gas station to wait it out along with many others.

When cars pull over for rain you know it's bad!

We're Having Beer Tonight

Beer and blogging after Tuesday Night Opry

Tueday Night Show at The Grand Old Opry

The show was awesome, Charlie Daniels doing the Devil Went Down to Georgia, Trace Adkins doing I'm Gonna Marry for Money, and 88 year old Little Jimmy Dickens who had the best suit and best jokes.

Enjoying the Kentucky Roads

Stopping for gas after leaving the caves we enjoyed a nice peaceful twisty road through the Kentucky countryside.
It'll be good practice for Deal's Gap.
Later we entered Tennessee and the rain started. Most riders appreciated it's cooling effect.

Contemplating Rock Formations

After walking around and around in the caves looking for strange rock formations, we found some.

Mammoth Caves, KY

After a long ride throught the rolling hills of Kentucky on the Blue Grass Parkway we arrived at Mammoth Caves National Park. The cave which is 12 miles long is the largest cave system in North America. The air inside the cave was about 15 deg colder which was much appreciated since the temperature outside was 30 deg.

OMG &%!*#. It's a dry county

After pushing to get back on track we arrived safely at the KOA in Horse Cave,KY.

We were all dying for a cold beer at the end of frustrating day only to discover no beer for sale. We celebrated with root beer and Dr. Pepper.

Finally on our way - Day 4

At 4:30 pm we are finally ready to go. We grabbed a quick bite before we tackled the 450km ahead of us.

Problem Solved

Once we got the tube out it became obvious that the mechanic in Montreal who changed the tire before we left put the wrong tube in.

Finally a mechanic who knows what he's doing

Red's Final Adjustments

Red Arrived and Loading Began

Red doesn't like towing bikes but he did thorough job in the 30 degree heat.

One local resident recommended Bob's Honda back in Gallipolis so that's where we headed.

Lunch...

Not too much available at the local Chevron station in the middle of nowhere.

Waiting in the Middle of Nowhere

While we wait for Red Rollen's Towing service we update all the locals on our situation.

Kay told us Red 'usually' does a good job and gave us advice on the route to take to Kentucky.

Plan C Failed

20 km outside of Gallipolis Plan C failed!

Plan D was call BMW Roadside Assistance which meant we had to tell them our current location - a little challenge from the middle of nowhere.

Plan C

Plan C is to use puncture seal and continue on to an "Open" Garage.

HD shop closed

So plan B has failed.

Tire's back on

Off to the next spot with a little puncture seal and the address of a nearby Harley shop.

Step 2's going to be fun

Tire's Off - step 1

So the process is started but the mechanic's uncomfortable working on a bike tire so we have to try another place.

At the Garage across the street

So Mary has a slow leak in her tire. We decided to fix this nearby.
The local mechanic is helping with the tube, Joe & Marc are starting the job.

Mary's new tire is losing a bit of air

Thanks to an observant swimmer in the Super 8 pool, we refilled the air in Mary's tire. Overnight we'll see how fast the air is leaking.

Searching for food in Gallipolis

Guess what? Sunday night in small town Ohio does not have a lot of food choices. The Bob Evans Restaurant was closed as was Long John Silvers.

We asked some locals and they scratched their head and had no options for us! We're having Dominos Pizza in our room tonight.

Not the KOA in Kentucky

We had a really long day of riding today. Made even longer by our late start and some navigation confusion leaving Canton, OH.
We didn't make it to our planned destination, instead we pulled into the Super 8 in Gallipolis, OH at around 9PM.

Happy Faces at the Pro Football Hall of Fame

The mandatory, tourist-trap, money-grabbing, photo. Best part, besides all the Packers stuff, was the staff. The cashier let us leave our jackets in her office and the Official 'Greeter' was only too pleased to share his interesting experiences. He was much better than the Walmart Greeters.

I'm So Excited!

Needless to say we covered all the Packers features at the Hall of Fame in great detail. It was hard to get Marc back on the road.

Lake Erie

Before leaving Cleveland, we drove down to the Lake Erie pier.

Longaberger HQ

We made it to the "Big-Basket-Building".

More updates later tonight - still many km's to go today.