Well, as expected, I didn't quite make it over to Memphis TN. I did however manage to make it to West Memphis AR though, just across the bridge from Tennessee. By the time I pulled into the area, I was just about half dead and whatever will I had left to keep going on was fading fast (very fast). I look over to my left and see the Ramada hotel sign peeking out from just over the horizon just off I-40 and that was it... no more.. i had to stop. So i pulled over onto the service road and pulled out my iphone to see what kind of money it was going to cost me should i decide to stay here. I go to the Ramada website and was quite dismayed to realize that it was going to be a whopping $135 for the night (which will put me terribly over budget).
Just as i was resigned to eating Ramen noodles for the rest of my trip, somehow I heard a voice, which i swore was the voice Travelocity gnome, whisper in my left ear to go check out the Travelocity website.. which i did and found the same hotel listed for $77 !!! So i placed a booking immediately which surprised me because i didn't think they would allow bookings 5 min before you were expected to check in!! But anyway, i did... and it actually went through and sent me a confirmation e-mail. Well, i pulled into the hotel and went to check in. Not surprisingly they didn't have my confirmation yet, so i pulled up my reservation receipt that i got from travelocity on my iphone. The guy took my confirmation number down and disappeared into the room behind the counter and after a couple of minutes, emerged and said that everything checked out and that they had a room for me... hooray!! So i pulled around back to my ground floor room, unloaded the bike, covered it up nicely, armed the alarm system and got settled into the room.
I broke my rule tonight and ordered pizza. I was so tired that there was no way i was going to be physically able to go out to eat tonight. So the pizza arrives and i was working on my first slice when my keychain starts buzzing and chirping. Apparently something had set the alarm off on the bike and my keychain was letting me know. I quickly rushed outside through the door to see a rather large pickup truck with tinted windows parked between me and the bike, obscuring my view of it, so i quickly dashed out and around the truck to see what had become of my bike. To my surprise, there was a little old lady with a walker on the other side of the truck with an elderly man helping steady her! I silenced the alarm immediately. The little old lady looks up and sees me and before i could apologize, she says "I don't know what I did, but i think i upset your motorcycle here!!". Apparently she took a little longer than most people would to get out of the truck and while she was steadying herself on her walker, set off the proximity sensor on the bike! I apologized profusely for startling her and helped her though the door into the hotel. Well... at least i know that my $500 investment in the scorpion alarm system works! Even if it catches unsuspecting old women.
Nothing much else tonight except getting gorged on pizza and being kept awake by the couple playing "twister" in the room next door right behind the wall above my head.
Tomorrow. It's a ride through Arkansas and onto Illinois!
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