Well another great day of motorcycle riding (I think I said it again today, "it don't get any better than this"!!). It was very overcast this morning but looked like all the rain was heading south of my route, so no rain suit when I left and never needed it all day! Traffic was a little heavy and hairy going through Memphis but I made it without every coming to a complete stop to US 72 into Mississippi (this is the route the guy from Alabama that I met in Amarillo, TX a couple of days ago). US 72 was a great ride with very little traffic and open country riding. The first "real town" I came to was Corinth, Mississippi. I passed by a place and the words "Abe's Grill" caught my eye along with a bunch of other stuff!!
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| Abe and his son |
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I went on down the road and said to myself, "I have to turn around and visit that place" and that is what I did. WOW, am I ever glad I turned around. That was a treat and a highlight of this trip to meet Abe and see his place. This place is the classic of "Diners, Dives & Drive ins". I don't think Guy Fieri from the Food Network has been there, but he should as I don't think I have seen one any better on his show. Abe was so friendly. I had to order coffee and a sausage biscuit and he said you gotta have more than that, so he gave me a sample of his homemade brown gravy and molasses to go with it (BTW, my total bill was $3.00!!!). Even though he was serving other customers he treated me just like a regular, wanted to know where I was from and where I have been. He showed me stuff in his restaurant and even a picture of Corona College that was burned in the civil war where his restaurant now stands. He and his wife have owned and operated Abe's grill since 1974 (37 years). He reminded me a lot of Emeril Lagasse! BTW, the sausage biscuit, gravy and molasses were great! He even told me to slow up as I was heading out of town and look at the Tombigbee Waterway canal as a lot of his family land was taken years ago to build the canal system. Anyway, just a real American icon and a neat person to meet. As I was leaving he shook hands with me and said "If I don't see you again here, I will see you on the other side". (The other local customers that were eating there all spoke to me as I was leaving and told me to be safe and bye!! Just a real nice southern USA town!!)
I headed on east on US72 into Alabama to the Nachez Trace Parkway and rode it up into Tennessee. This is a great motorcycle road. It is 50 mph and NO commercial traffic, like the Blue Ridge Parkway (really there was not much traffic period. I probably met no more than 5 vehicles in the 40 miles I travelled!). I definitely want to go back and ride the entire length of the Nachez Trace from Nashville, Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi in the future. Took US 64 across southern Tennessee to Chattanooga. US 64 was a great ride. Chattanooga was very crowded. I don't think I have ever seen such aggressive driving in any other city including Northern Virginia and DC as I saw in Chattanooga!! (Don't plan to ever go back there!!).
Ended up in the quaint little mountain town of Murphy, North Carolina for tonight. A really neat town. Had a great dinner at a local restaurant next door to the hotel called Brother's Restaurant, great food and service! I have been outside my room talking to other folks staying here tonight all evening. Some of them were local to North Carolina and other places. I even had a guy from Florida give me his card and offer for me to stop by and spend the night with he and his wife if I am back down in Florida again (told him about my Key West trip in June). It is something how you just seem to meet only great nice people when you are out on a motorcycle. Another guy that grew up in this area gave me a route to take tomorrow as a great ride. That is the route I am planning to take.
I went on down the road and said to myself, "I have to turn around and visit that place" and that is what I did. WOW, am I ever glad I turned around. That was a treat and a highlight of this trip to meet Abe and see his place. This place is the classic of "Diners, Dives & Drive ins". I don't think Guy Fieri from the Food Network has been there, but he should as I don't think I have seen one any better on his show. Abe was so friendly. I had to order coffee and a sausage biscuit and he said you gotta have more than that, so he gave me a sample of his homemade brown gravy and molasses to go with it (BTW, my total bill was $3.00!!!). Even though he was serving other customers he treated me just like a regular, wanted to know where I was from and where I have been. He showed me stuff in his restaurant and even a picture of Corona College that was burned in the civil war where his restaurant now stands. He and his wife have owned and operated Abe's grill since 1974 (37 years). He reminded me a lot of Emeril Lagasse! BTW, the sausage biscuit, gravy and molasses were great! He even told me to slow up as I was heading out of town and look at the Tombigbee Waterway canal as a lot of his family land was taken years ago to build the canal system. Anyway, just a real American icon and a neat person to meet. As I was leaving he shook hands with me and said "If I don't see you again here, I will see you on the other side". (The other local customers that were eating there all spoke to me as I was leaving and told me to be safe and bye!! Just a real nice southern USA town!!)
Ended up in the quaint little mountain town of Murphy, North Carolina for tonight. A really neat town. Had a great dinner at a local restaurant next door to the hotel called Brother's Restaurant, great food and service! I have been outside my room talking to other folks staying here tonight all evening. Some of them were local to North Carolina and other places. I even had a guy from Florida give me his card and offer for me to stop by and spend the night with he and his wife if I am back down in Florida again (told him about my Key West trip in June). It is something how you just seem to meet only great nice people when you are out on a motorcycle. Another guy that grew up in this area gave me a route to take tomorrow as a great ride. That is the route I am planning to take.
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