After our reunification, Bill, Joe and I went out to a Chinese all you can eat buffet to catch up while Bill ate. Bill had solved his bike problems and had been riding the TAT hard and fast in Mississippi to catch up with us. He rode some of the route Joe and I had skipped which included riding river levees and more. We took off on the trail again headed to Clarendon AR.
Along the way was a famous TAT stop known to most TAT riders who research their journey on the internet with a big sign that says “TAT riders stop”. It’s at the intersection of 2 dirt roads off the main highway where we saw only a single car go by in the hour we were there. Tall friendly Sun flowers are planted on the corner almost blocking the sign. Percy has an antiques shop with a sign up book in a mail box (available 24/7) out front on the porch for TAT riders.. The store was closed when we got there at 5:30 and no one was there except a pretty sad looking dog who has a system I think of showing up when he hears motorcycles in the yard…. he came over kind of trot-limping with a bad leg. He was old, dirty and not to attractive but had the saddest eyes so you had no choice but to pet him. He relished his success.
A brief summer rain started so we sought shelter under Percy’s store front awning and we signed the log book. I was #115 for the year. Pretty soon a local farmer driving by stops ……who calls Percy’s son Glen …. who calls Percy and before you know it we go from napping on the front porch to there being a big talk-about in Percy’s front yard. Percy interrupted his dinner of purple hulled pees, turnips and ham next door to come and see us …..colorful guy… I think he uses the same jokes on all the riders. “Is that your DAWG? He’s an ugly DAWG! Don’t leave him here … you be sure to take him!… I don’t want that DAWG!”
The locals asked where we were from, where we were going and asked about our bikes. They warned us that the TAT west of there get’s really snotty slippery if there is any rain. Glen called his cousin in the the next county where we were headed to see if it had rained there or not. Percy gets about 250 people a year and takes everyone’s photo and put’s them together in a book you can buy purchase from his friend who put’s it together. Percy handed us some free stickers just as we left that said “Redneckistan, AR” on them. It’s good gig I think…… Percy lives in his home town and through out the year, people from all over the world stop by his place, 2,3 or 4 at a time to say Hi, share a joke, chat, then move on.
We drove another 30 mi or so, skipped the slippery part of the TAT that we were warned about and stayed at the J&M motel, $50/night w wi-if, in Clarendon AR on the White river. There was a small road side ice cream shop looking place with picnic tables outside called the Lion’s Den which we could walk to. When you spend 6-7 hrs in the saddle … you like to walk at the end of the day. We ordered burgers at the outside window and asked if we could buy some beer next door at the liquor store to have with dinner. “I don’t care…..I don’t see why not….that’s what the river people round here do, Tammy that’s OK, right?” the window person replied. We did as the river people do.
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