Day 5 Memphis to Birmingham

Well, today's route was a little longer and they said we may run into some rain.  So we planned to be on the road by 7:30 this morning and go straight to Birmingham on the highway.  We pulled out of the parking lot at 7:25.  We were off to a good start except that by leaving that early and being in a city like Memphis, we got into some traffic trying to get out of town.  It wasn't too bad but we all know how nervous that kind of traffic makes me. 

 

I realized today that by going down the highway instead of following the route I miss going through the small towns with all of the people watching and waving.  There were a lot of other participants that had the same plan that we did.  We meet some of them on the road and at our first pit stop in Fulton Mississippi.

 

 

 

 

After a quick lunch stop in Adamsville Alabama we headed for today's venue, Hoover Stadium.  This place had the best set up for all of the cars coming in and going out.  There were no long lines and I didn't see any cars overheating.  After we got there (around 1:30) we found out that there was HEAVY rain along the route and some participants were running behind because of it.  We had not been there very long when they started announcing that there was a storm coming in about 15 minutes they were expecting heavy rain.  So, we got checked in and visited with the vendors that we needed to see and left for the hotel. 

 

Just before we got to the hotel it started pouring.  Our timing was really good today.  So we were checked into the hotel by 3 o'clock.  Neither of us slept really well last night so we took advantage of the down time and just relaxed for awhile.  We got out later and had a nice dinner at Out Back.  The front desk staff here is great, very helpful and friendly. 

 

Tomorrow we are off to Chattanooga.  According to the weather people we could be in for rain the next couple days.  We will probably not stay on the route tomorrow either just in case.  They have an event scheduled for us tomorrow evening at the Coker Tires headquarters in downtown Chattanooga, that should be fun. 

 

I can't believe that this tour is almost over already.  We only have 2 more stops.  This week sure has gone by fast.