Today started early, breakfast at Cracker Barrel with Bob & Joan at 7.00. Tried to get a word in, but Jody feeling exceptionally chatty this morning. Hit the road at 7:45, dark clouds looming overhead. We were heading for the Barber Motorsports Museum in Leeds, AL just outside of Birmingham, and the weather report called for afternoon showers from 1PM to 4PM so the plan was to get to Barber by 1, hang out in the museum until the rain stopped, and head to     Tuscaloosa for the night. Things don't always go according to plan.....
     Even with the clouds overhead, the ride from Crestview to Leeds was great! The scenery was a significant improvement over yesterdays Florida panhandle . Plenty of twists and turns, up and down hills made for some spirited motorcycle riding. Especially great were US-31N and AL-145W, but by far, the most fun was Bailey RD, a little single lane paved road, a couple of miles from Barber. It was only about 1.5 miles, but was fully tree covered, with multiple blind, 90 degree turns, up and down hills, Only once did we encounter a car coming the other way, but managed to get by without incident.
     The Barber Motorsports was well worth the trip, excellent vintage street and racing motorcycles and Lotus race cars. See my review.
     Now here is where our plan for rain avoidance went awry. We did get a little lost going through Montgomery, but managed to make it to Leeds by 12:45. It took us a couple of hours to get through the museum, but unfortunately, the weather did not stick with our plan. Just as we were preparing to leave, the sky opened up and it began to pour. Luckily, we had just enough time to make an online reservation for tonight's hotel, put on our new Froggs Toggs rainsuits and get under way . The rainsuits worked great! Stayed very dry throughout the ordeal! It rained on an off for the 70 mile trip to Tuscaloosa, The only real disappointment was that the wet roads sort of spoiled the enjoyment of the twists and turns of Old Tuscaloosa Highway.
      We made it to Tuscaloosa by 5:00, with dinner at Chili's and a caramel sundae from McDonald's, we are bushed and ready for an early night. Tomorrow, we are off to Hot Springs National Park in Hot Springs, AR. It's a long day, but we plan on staying put in Hot Springs for a couple of nights. The weather looks promising, hopefully we can avoid the rain.

321.5 miles today
754.5 miles total

8.131 gallons today
17.403 gallons total