Spectacular Vistas from Melanque to Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico

The ride from Melanque to Lázaro Cárdenas has so many spectacular vistas. It was also long and strenuous. It was hot and humid and there were hours of curves and twisties through lush vegetation. Here are just some of the sights along the way.

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It really reminded me a lot of Highway 1 along the California Coast. But when I rode highway 1 there were so many other vehicles enjoying the sights. Here there were hardly any cars at all.

The twisties were a bit difficult and required a lot of concentration. The camber and angles were odd and different for each turn. It was hard to get into a rhythm. I also had to watch out for road conditions as they are not predictable.

It took well over 6 hours to go 400 km.

Lázaro Cárdenas

When I finally reached Lázaro Cárdenas I was hot and tired. The town itself is rather small and dusty like many of the Mexican towns.

Oddly though, they have a mall called the Plaza of the Americas. It has a Walmart, GNC, McDonald’s and Starbucks. It is still under construction.

If you guessed I went to Starbucks, you’d be wrong! I went to McDonald’s ha ha. I was hungry. I hadn’t eaten all day except for PowerAde and some snack I brought for the trip.

After McDonald’s I went to Walmart to stock up on snacks.

It was then to the hotel I booked – Hotel del Balsas. It was at the end of a dirt road behind a high fence and barb wire. At least my bike would be secure.

Next door was a drive through beer and snack shop. These are pretty popular in Mexico. So off I went to get some beer.

Beer is cheap here and therefore tempting. Plus, after a long and hot day of riding it is nice to have a cold one. Although I have been thinking more and more that I need to cut back. I’ve never drank so much beer ha ha.

With that it was time to call it a night.

My Route for November 15, 2016

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My Vacation in Memphis

I decided to take a vacation in Memphis for the next week. There were a few things that went into my decision. I had been to Memphis before and it seemed like a cool city. Second, the weather forecast was calling for hot and stormy weather. And lastly, it was time for a bit of a break from riding and to let my budget catch up to me expenditures.

Motel 6 Memphis

I rode from my KOA in East Memphis to look for a hotel convenient to downtown and to my favorite cost saving restaurants. The second Motel 6 I checked gave me a weekly rate of $300 USD. A Starbucks was next door! And McDonald’s was across the street. No grocery store in sight though. Nonetheless, I took it.

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The Sights of Memphis

The next day I decided to venture out into the city to see the sights.

I had been to the Lorraine Motel before but wanted to go there again. According to the New Yorker, “Martin Luther King, Jr., was the Lorraine Motel’s most famous guest. He stayed at the motel numerous times while visiting the city, and again in the spring of 1968, when he came to Memphis to support a strike by sanitation workers. On April 4, 1968, he stepped out of Room 306 and talked to friends in the parking lot below. He asked the saxophonist Ben Branch to play “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” at the rally that evening. As King turned to walk back into his room, a bullet struck him in the neck, taking his life instantly. Walter Bailey continued to run the motel, but he never rented Room 306 again. He turned it into a memorial. The room has been preserved to capture exactly what it looked like on that tragic night. There are two beds. (King was sharing the room with Dr. Ralph Abernathy, a friend.) King’s bed was not fully made because he was not feeling well and had been lying down. Dishes left in the room were from the kitchen where Loree Bailey prepared food for the motel’s guests. . . . In 1982, Walter Bailey declared bankruptcy and stood by helplessly as his high-end establishment became a brothel. The Lorraine would have been sold at auction, but the Save the Lorraine organization bought it and decided to transform it into a museum.”

This is the iconic picture.

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These are the pictures from my visit.

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The location is sobering as you think what transpired there.

Next I went to visit the ducks at the Peabody Hotel. David Cohen said in 1935 that the Mississippi Delta begins with the lobby of the Peabody hotel where the ducks swim in the fountain.

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Across the street from the Peabody is the Kooky Canuck.

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From there I walked to the park along the Mississippi River at the foot of Beale Street.

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While I was trying to get a photo I stepped on an ants nest . . . again. While waiting for hte bus I intentionally stepped on an ants nest just for the heck of it. This time it was a mistake. This guys sting!!!! My foot was on fire.

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I took my stinging foot to Sun records. In 1954 Sun Records released Elvis Presley’s first record. The place is an Elvis shrine now.

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By this time I was hungry. Off I walked to Beale Street.

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On my last motorcycle trip I had a great meal there at Rum Boogie Cafe. This time I thought I would try BB Kings.

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The only thing was that the prices were too steep for my budget. So I only had a beer for $6.

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After looking around I settled on Rum Boogie. There were one of the few with Red Bean and Rice, and it was at a reasonable cost.

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It is actually one of my favorite comfort foods. It gives you that warm feeling in your stomach. And I really enjoyed sitting out on the patio watching people.

I had planned on staying late on the street. But I was hot and tired. And the predicted storm looked like it was about to dump some rain.

The Rest of My Vacation

For the next 5 days I did nothing! The temperatures were hot!! The local news had it at over 100 degrees F for each of the days. It was stifling, especially with the humidity. My routine went something like this:

8 am to 11 am – Starbucks
11 am to 6 pm – Air conditioned Hotel room to clean and organize equipment
6 pm – McDonald’s
7 pm to 10 pm – Watch TV
10 pm – Bed

This was actually good for me. I had been having a hard time slowing down. By the end of this time I felt a lot more relaxed.

My Route for August 24, 2016

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My Route for August 25 to August 30, 2016

The Motel 6 ha ha ha.

Great River Road to Memphis

From one awesome city to another, I followed the Great River Road to Memphis from St. Louis.

It was suppose to be a partly cloudy day. No such luck. When I woke up it was cloudy and about to rain. Luckily, I managed to pack up just before the rain started. It was nothing serious though. But enough that the drops stung my face and had to put my visor down.

Antigravity Battery

I stopped for my usual McDonald’s breakfast.

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A large coffee and cinnamon melt.

I needed to charge my cell phone but couldn’t find a plugin in the entire restaurant! I guess they don’t want me hanging around. No problem though. I pulled out my Antigravity Battery and charged my phone.

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This battery is great. It does everything from charging my phone to charging my motorcycled batter should it go dead. And I can charge it through my motorcycle as I travel.

Mississippi River

I really didn’t see much of the Mississippi River today as I rode the Great River road through Missouri, over to Kentucky, into Tennessee and finally into Arkansas. But I did see some of it.

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Lost

Somewhere between Clinton and Hickman Kentucky I got lost. I thought I was following the Great River Road signs, but suddenly they disappeared on me. As luck would have it I was running out of gas as well. It is nice having a GPS though. You are never really lost. I set it for the nearest gas station.

It took me through a series of gravel and partially paved roads through fields of corn and soybean. At one point I misjudged a corner. I had to lean hard to make it. The tires started to come out from underneath me. I thought for sure I was going to end up in a field. I was turning and braking at the same time. Not a good thing to do, but I needed to slow down fast. After a couple expletives under my breath I managed to make the corner thanks to my ABS. I was quite amazed how it transitioned from the paved to gravel portions of the corner in the wet.

I made it to the gas station where, of course, it started to rain harder.

Weather Shift

At this point I just wanted to get to Memphis and was thinking about getting a cabin at the KOA I booked. I rode through the rain on the interstate.

Now, I am not sure where the north ends and the south begins in the US, but I think I found it. All of a sudden I rode out of the swath of cloud the had engulfed me, and into blue sky and stifling heat. I watched as the temperature got up to 34 C. I got into Memphis and it was HOT and HUMID.

That is one think ab out riding a motorcycle, you feel all the different weather. Not like sitting in a car not feeling anything.

It was time for a cold drink and settle in my tent for the night.

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Route for August 23, 2016

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