Heceventure

I took the rest of my days in Austin very easily. I played with my favorite  (and only) niece, went to see some cool cars. Visited a hardware store, fixed some fence and saw the statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan. I also took a little walk in the forest nearby. From the Finn's point of view it was more of a walk in the bush. On Tuesday I took Lyft to the airport and noticed that Norwegian Airlines had organized me a new adventure. The flight was delayed for an hour. In the end it departed nearly 3 hours late which meant that I couldn't get to the next flight from London to Helsinki. That meant an extra 9 hours waiting at the airport. It seems destiny didn't want me to get home yet. Even the last flight was delayed for one hour. But finally at around 2 am I got home and straight to bed. Being awake more than 36 hours in a row takes it's toll. My trip is now over. It's hard to understand that I left quite precisely 6 mon...

After arriving in Austin I haven't been too productive. I managed to find a service shop that could change the oil to Rosie and I got her washed. Originally I planned even polishing her but as she got pretty clean in wash I ditched the whole idea of buying wax and necessary equipment. I put Rosie to Craigslist on Friday afternoon. Within an hour I received a message from Brent asking if he could come to see the bike on Saturday. That suited me perfectly and we set a meeting at nearby Shell. Guy sat on the bike, started the engine and said he'll take it. Wow! Was it really that easy? I was so surprised about the speed of the deal that I didn't even realize to take a photo. I walked back to my brother's house carrying a helmet and a riding jacket. And a pile of dollars. Not a big pile of course but still. I felt a little weird... After all I had ridden Rosie more than a half of the distance I rode with Annie during this trip. Actually quite precisely two third...

As I was feeling a bit sick I took morning in Pine Bluff really slow and easy. I started at around nine and headed to a motorcycle shop I found nearby. I noticed a couple of days ago my rear tire was getting slick and I wanted to have a new one. Cycle and Marine Supercenter was great. They had suitable tire on stock and as one of the mechanics was missing they got someone else to do the job. Absolutely fantastic service. If anyone needs service near Pine Bluff Arkansas visit Cycle and Marine Supercenter. The mechanic said I could have continued with the old tire all the way to Austin but I didn't feel comfortable with it anymore. It had worn a bit flat in the middle so I could feel the "edges" when taking corners. With new tire Rosie feels a lot better. Riding through southern Arkansas was pretty uneventful. The views were nice but nothing spectacular. Small villages and towns, hills, rivers etc. In the afternoon I arrived in a town called De Queen. One junction wit...

Morning in Birmingham was literally freezing. The temperature had dropped below zero during the night and even in the morning it was only 2 degrees Celsius. I had no chance to postpone my departure as I had more than 250 miles to go. Riding in coldness wouldn't be bad with proper gear which I don't have. Especially the problem affects to my hands. The gloves I bought in Los Angeles are made for summer. And as the bike is not equipped with heated grips my hands and fingers get cold really fast. Again I had to stop to warm up every 10-15 miles. Fortunately the weather got a little warmer during the day. According to my phone and Accuweather.com the temperature reached as high as 8 degrees Celsius. Not too hot I'd say. Roads from Birmingham to Memphis were quite okay. As usual I avoided using the interstates and had a chance to see normal little towns and villages. Even though I wasn't on interstates the road was mainly 4 lanes. The Americans really like...