May 30 Day 3

Where are Tom and Lennie Now? -Click Here For Our Current Location

Day 3 turned out to be a long one.  We had 556 miles to cover today, so we set the alarm to wake us up for an early start.  Alas, we woke up to thunder storms!  The rain was pretty heavy, and continued until around 10:30.  So, it was 10:45 by the time we loaded up the bike and trailer and hit the road.  Covering 556 miles takes about 8.5 hours of seat time on the bike.  With stops for gas, food, and stretch breaks, we finally reached the hotel in Terrell Texas at 9:00 PM.

Terrell Texas is roughly 35 miles east of Dallas.  Once complete, the ride today saw us clock miles in 4 different states.  We left Tuscaloosa Alabama, crossed Mississippi (passing through Jackson), crossed Louisiana (passing through Shreveport), and then crossed eastern Texas to Terrell.  All of the 556 miles were on the same road, Route 20.  Traffic was pretty light, and the speed limit was 70 the entire way, so we hit cruise control and watched the white lines fly by, pretty boring, but something at which the Goldwing excels.

We did come across a few items of interest along the way.  Heading the opposite direction in Louisiana we saw 2 semi trucks that were carrying Taylor Swift's tour setup.  The trucks were completely covered with huge pictures of Taylor Swift.  A quick web search showed that she was playing a concert in Baton Rouge last night, and is playing in Washington D.C. next.  We did not see the 1 Million Dollar (plus) Prevost tour bus that she travels on, just the semi trucks carrying her equipment.  I am not a Taylor Swift fan, but it is still fun to come across things like the trucks, on an otherwise boring ride.

About 30 miles outside of Terrell Texas we saw a huge accident.  Fortunately, it was on the east bound side, but it did have traffic backed up for miles.  At the head of the accident there was a semi truck on its side, and the trailer was torn open.  It was a moving truck, and everything you can imagine was strewn across the highway, furniture, boxes of clothes, etc.  The truck and "stuff" was blocking both lanes, and people were out on the roadway trying to move all the crap off the road.  Can you imagine getting that phone call...  Uh... Mr. Walters, we are sorry to have to tell you, that our moving truck has dumped all of your earthly possessions across Rt 20 in Texas, and dozens of people are scraping the stuff off the road and plopping it into the median, so traffic can get moving again :)

Once we hit Texas, it seemed like everyone was driving expensive cars (perhaps oil or cattle money?).  I was passed by a ton of decked out Escalades, a new Lexus IS F (about a $65,000 car).  Then the real fun....  We needed gas and we were getting hungry.  The gas station we stopped at had a Dairy Queen Grill and Chill attached, so we topped off the bike and headed in for some food.  While sitting at the table a gentleman drove up in a Bentley Continental GTC Speed Convertible !!!!   For those not familiar with Bentleys, this car starts at $230,000 !!  It has a 6.0 Liter W-12 (yes, 12 cylinders with a W shaped block) engine, with twin turbos, and produces roughly 600 horsepower, and 553 ft./lbs. of torque!  It is currently the most powerful convertible that Bentley has ever built.  The car was absolutely gorgeous.  The fellow got out, wandered in to eat a cone, and headed off on his way.  He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and looked like any other person you might see in a DQ. 

Here is a snippet from a review that Motor Trend did on this car...

"Bentley's 2010 Continental GTC Speed belongs to that rare class of vehicle to which the standard array of automotive superlatives simply does not apply.  After all, how can one adequately convey the sensation of accelerating a 5500-pound, leather-clad convertible from rest to 60 mph in a mere 4.5 seconds?  Of hitting 195 mph with the top down.  Of returning to a standstill via the world's largest production automobile brakes-eight-piston calipers and 16.5-inch carbon-ceramic discs?"

Here are a couple of photos of the car.  I found these on the Motor Trend review web site.

Here are a couple more shots from the Bentley web site.