Ten Foot Two Inches

 Driving on  interstates, and having to motor  through some mega cities on the way to Fort Lauderdale was intense. But northbound once I hit Valdosta Georgia, I turned off the interstate and have been on bike roads ever since.  Its way better driving, oh sure the occasional deer hopping across the tarmac gives you a thrill, but not going Mach 8 you have plenty of time to react, and remarkably most of these state highways the brush has been cleared back I think hundreds of feet, and that gives the deer a chance to see you coming.

The other morning, I spotted a large steam plume off beyond the cotton fields, and pretty soon I came to a sign and road that lead to the visitors center of the Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Power Plant. I thought that might be interesting, and something to see, and about 15 miles later I found the visitor center closed. Oh well I have gone 30 miles or more on motorbikes only to find the road closed.

The plant is very safe. It says so right on their web site. It also says that the capacity of this plant is 1,800 megawatts. Alaska on the railbelt  has about 2,000 megawatts capacity in gas, coal, and hydro.

Redi Isn't Joking Around

Since coming online in 1977 the plant has produced more than 350 million  megawatts of power, and if those megawatts are shuttering coal plants, then we are all better off.

Joseph M. Farley Power Plant 

Agriculture appears to be the economy in these southern states.

Pine trees I guess are hauled to mills on tree trucks  that carry some with nasty looking loads that hang off the back of the trailer, some low to the ground. The overhang logs  get a little red flag on the overhang.  Those loads are spooky looking, and I avoid those trucks.

The big crop around here is cotton. It’s a gnarly  looking plant that grows low to the ground. There are fields of cotton that go for miles, and miles in every direction along these bike roads I have been driving. I can’t look at these fields and not think of the people that were murdered, beaten, lynched, and made to pick this crop.

Now its done by massive machines that roll it up into Costco sized rolls of cotton.

Just Like Hay Bales But Cotton

If You Touch It, It Feels Just Like Cotton Balls

Rolling through a little town, that became a bigger town with more traffic, and a narrow street with parked cars, and lots of slow-moving traffic. I was having a great time negotiated all of this when suddenly I looked up and saw a railroad over pass that was marked 10’ 2”. I quickly figured out that those numbers clearly represented the clearance under the overpass. I also quickly figured out that the van with no name is 12’ tall. Right before the point of no return I syphered using all of my math skills that I was 1.8 feet too tall to make it under the bridge. I signaled and made a left turn up a street that I thought would probably lead to a way to cross the track, and despite the protest of the GPS sure enough just around the bend was a grade crossing.

 This is the second time this has happened. The first one was easier as it was 11’0. I knew right away that I was 1 foot too tall and unless I wanted to violently rip the air conditioner off the roof I better turn.

There is a GPS available for trucks and RV’s that supposedly will not take you on a road with low clearance, or a dead end. So far, I’m doing okay just looking up.

My plan for the end of the day was to make it to almost Hot Springs Arkansan, and I did. I stopped for the night at Pine Bluff, at just a little private RV park, that looked to be mostly residents staying there.

When I arrived, I was greeted by a older (about my age) fellow in a Chevrolet Pickup Truck that sounded like it hadn’t run on all cylinders in a long time.  He was raking pine needles and had a good-sized load of them in the truck. He took me over to my site and offered more than once to help me with hook ups, he even came back later and wanted to help.

We had a nice conversation. He watches Molly from Denali with his grandchildren. He was going to the doctor for ringing in his ears. I said you get something that works on Tinnitus give me a call, because I want that cure.

I fussed about. I filled up my water tank because if it was going to be freezing in the morning, and it was I didn’t want to deal with a frozen hose. I plugged in my power cord, had a nice lunch of left-over chicken.

After a bit the boss man came around in his 6-wheel Ram Pickup. He said he liked the 6-wheel van with no name, and we exchanged pleasantries, including talk about Alaska.  He wanted $20.00, and I paid him in fives.

Before he left, he pointed to his employee and said “He couldn’t say Alaska he said elastic” I took this as my cue that because this fellow raking pine needles, couldn’t say Alaska, and cuz he has dark skin, that I should say something to degrade the man. I looked the owner in the eye and said “We are Flexible Unless we are Frozen”

This racist south ain’t for me.