Posse Ride 2008

All eyes were glued to the weather forecast for Friday. Word had it that if we could get an early start we could outrun the rain. I had already decided on an early start so this sounded fine. As luck would have it the forecast was wrong.

The posse for the day would consist of Brian, Steve and myself. Now Brian and I have rode many a mile together so I knew we'd have a good time. Steve was a new member to the chapter that I had yet to ride with other than the trip down to Memphis. I was looking forward to getting to know him.

Because of the weather we had modified the route we would take. The order of the day was to jump on I-40 and boogie on up to Jackson for our passport stamp stop. Of course we needed to eat. Ya can't ride posse on an empty stomach. We rode one exit east and filled up both our tummies and the tanks on the scooters. After a brief discussion it was decided we didn't need to put on the rain gear yet. Besides Steve didn't have any rain gear. I think we rode all of about four miles before it started raining. I decided it was stupid to have all that nice rain gear in my saddle bags and be getting wet. Soon we were back on our way to Jackson.

There were already a posse ahead of us at the dealership. They said they didn't hit any rain until they reached Jackson. Now I can't remember if we decided to take off our gear at this point or not. Steve had the quote of the day. Remember now that he didn't have any rain gear. Well other than a face shield for his helmet. I believe it was somewhere along Hwy 100 that we pulled over to put the rain gear back on again and Steve spoke his wisdom. "If you guys would leave your rain gear on I sure would enjoy this ride better." It seemed that every time we put on the rain gear it would stop raining.

Shortly after turning onto Hwy 50 out of Centerville we really had some fun. Now you can check with Brian and Steve to confirm this next statement if you want. The rain had turned into a thunderstorm. No big deal I know. That is until that lightning strike up on that hill right next to the road. I'm pretty sure that I jumped over the fairing and ran at least 50 yards in front of Doll Baby before remounting her. Don't get me wrong, I love thunderstorms. In fact I'm an official weather spotter for the National Weather Service. One of the reasons I enjoy being a Ham Radio Operator is to do the weather spotting. I guess it was something about having that big flash of lightning and that sonic boom right next to me that got my attention.



I think up until this point we thought it was really raining. Did I mention the hail storm? Nothing like riding in a hail storm to get your blood flowing. We rode on, but then again what else was there to do? There weren't really any places to pull over and get out of the weather so may as well ride on.



The rain eventually let up as we turned onto some of the most beautiful back roads in Middle Tennessee. Hwy 247 and Hwy 246 are amazing. I'll take a stroll out there sometime when the weather is better and get some photos to post.



We found ourselves reaching the next stamp stop. This was our home dealership in Murfreesboro. We visited with Brian's wife who couldn't join us for the ride. She is a wonderful chatty gal that everyone just absolutely loves. She had been a bit concerned about Brian and I sharing a room for some reason. I put her mind to rest though and told her if she put some neosporin on the bite marks they'd heal right up.



Steve was gonna wait on his wife to get off work before he came on to the last stop of the day. Brian and I checked the weather again and saw a break in the action. It was as if Aaron had parted the Red Sea again. If we hurried we'd make Clarksville ahead of the rain. After a quick stop by my house to feed the Bella Monster we were on our way. I'll have to admit here that we rode the interstate and made record time. I don't enjoy riding on the super slab nor do I enjoy running that fast. This was one of those times that it just had to be done.



Just as we were gonna head to the hotel, the rest of the Murfreesboro gang rode in. We decided to wait on our pals to ride down together. This would wind up being a somewhat moist decision. The term it was raining like piss pouring from a 'ppossum's pecker doesn't even do this justice. I think it was more like a young hurricane. Not to mention that we were in stop and go rush hour traffic. I will say that the High Vis Rain Gear performed flawlessly. I was dry as could be inside of this gear.

Ronman