Took off from Wisconsin at 5:30 on Friday May 9th at 5:30 am with the goal of making it to southern Missouri. 14 hours later, after 685 miles, and 3 hours of rain, I pulled into a hotel in Blythesville, Arkansas! It was a long first day, but 2/3 of the way to Hattiesburg. The next day I made it to Hattiesburg at 2 pm. There was plenty of daylight left, and the weather was in the 80s, so I dumped the leather jacket and headed for the Gulf of Mexico. I went though Gulfsport, Biloxi, and Kiln, and after dipping my toes in the ocean, I made my way back to Hattiesburg for the night. I had now ridden 1260 miles. I accomplished my goal of seeing the ocean and was very happy because after visiting with Clint on Sunday would be heading back up north.
Every stop along the way someone would stop and ask me either where I was from, or where I was heading. Riding alone makes you very approachable to people who otherwise would never walk up and talk to you. I met some very nice people along the way, including a Honda rider (deputy sheriff) that took this photo for me.
Sunday morning I got to sleep in a little as I wasn't able to visit with Clint on base until late morning. Got onto base without any problems and the military police station was more than helpful. They located Clint's unit on the base at an area called Dog Lake. As it was a few miles into the base, the were even nice enough to lead me there so I wouldn't get lost. Camp Shelby is an enormous complex that houses multiple units and covers several square miles. I was lucky enough to be able to visit with Clint for over 2 hours. He was definitely surprised to see me as he did not know I had permission to come there and see
him. I also got to meet Captain Billings, and 1st Sgt. Brown. Capt Billings is Clint's commander and gave me permission to see my son on base before they deployed.
This is a photo of his friend Yang who he served with in Korea. I guess this is the photo pose for the 2228th!! The unit was having lunch at the lake and I got to join them for a great chicken barbecue. It wasn't what I expected for army food. I now understand why Clint doesn't complain about eating! 
While I was sitting with Clint, Capt Billings came up and told me what a great soldier my son was. He stated that the Army has Challenge Coins that are given out to soldiers when they do an exceptional job, much like someone in my profession would get a commendation. Capt Billings presented the Challenge Coin to Clint. The captain told me that Cint has taken on a leadership role in his squad. The Captain had planned on giving the coin to Clint earlier, but knowing that I was coming down, waited until after I had arrived. As I was leaving, Clint passed the coin on to me for safe keeping, and to thank me for coming down to see him. I was very honored that Clint would give me the coin and I will keep it safe until he returns.
Getting to see Clint before he left for Iraq was well worth the trip. They had work to do, so Clint had to leave and at 2 pm I was heading back out for the highway. I made it to Batesville, Mississippi for the night and the next day made the run up to Bloomington, Illinois. Finally made it back to Barbie, and her two best friends (Gunner and Zeus) on Tuesday around noon. I went a total of 2261 miles in 5 days and told Barb that she had just lost me to my motorcycle for a trip every year as this was even better than I had hoped it would be.
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