Friday, 14 September, 2012  Atlanta, Georgia to Nashville, Tennessee (315 miles) Total Trip Miles – 14,721. 5.0 hrs hours riding

Weather Temperature mostly sunny in the upper 70’s…a perfect ending to an incredible trip around the world

Hard to phathom that this journey around the world is finally coming to a close after almost 15,000 road miles on a motorcycle in just 49 days…Around the World in 49 Days!…has a nice ring to it for a book title.

For my last day on the road having Rick and his dad, JR, join me was quite special…as you remember, Rick rode to St. Louis on my first day of the ride and to have him close the ride was only fitting.  It was also quite relaxing to have someone to simply follow back to Nasvhille and, for once, have the opportunity to begin to reflect on this journey of the last several weeks.

We made good time and rolled into the Cool Springs area of Nasvhille about 12:30 and I met Shanon for lunch…Rick and his dad didn’t join us for lunch saying they were just going to head home.  It was truly incredible, emotional & exciting to see her after so many days away for the first time…she looked terrific and for the first time I truly began to feel I was finaly home!

After we finished lunch and were walking through the parking lot, I noticed Rick was still there and his dad was nowhere to be found; his dad had driven off after we arrived at the restaurant and vanished.  Rick had family members on the way, was calling neighbors and the like – still no word on his whereabouts.  After about 10 more minutes, his dad, who had no cell phone, came rolling into the parking lot; he had been at a Krispy Kreme nearby waiting – I guess there was some miscommunication between he and Rick.  We all had a good laugh and Rick decided to load his bike on the trailer and drive his dad home – don’t believe JR had any objections!

I decided to head over to the office and visit my co-workers before beginning my first day on Monday…enjoyed seeing everyone and looking forward to getting back to work!  It was another one of those “are you kidding me” moments as I begin my transition back to this place called the real world…in an odd way there’s an element of surrealism to the whole experience.  I was truly beginning to feel that groove again that was only a distant memory for so long – Big Time’s Back!

Met Chuck & Dave for a celebration drink in Cool Springs and caught up on some of the events over the last several weeks…great to see them!

Got home to a home-cooked meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, carrots and green beans that Shanon had prepared…so goooood to have some good southern home cooking.  Ended up going to bed about 7:30 and sleeping for about 13 hours – I was totally exhausted and my own bed felt awesome!!

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