Kermit, the 2002 Kawasaki Ninja 250R
Camilla's Ninja, Tommy's Gixxer 1000 Camilla's Ninja Camilla and Tommy heading out from my place... ...past Lucille
Well once again I have been influenced by my friend Tommy. After he sold me his Harley, he had sworn himself off of bikes for good. Seems it's too easy to get killed. After I sold it, I arrived at the same conclusion. Plus, Harleys have turned into status symbols for show-offs and dudes with bad 'tudes. No more bikes for me, either...

...until Tommy went out and bought a Suzuki Hayabusa rice rocket, one of the fastest production bikes in the world, capable of running 9 sec. 1/4 miles and topping out over 180. Live hard, die young. Unfortunately, the bike got stolen out of Tommy's hi-rise in Houston, TX, and has been replaced by a Suzuki GSX-R1000, also wickedly fast. He also bought a Kawasaki Ninja 250R for his girlfriend, Camilla. Cool gift.

They spent a weekend up here in Starkville after riding their bikes up from Hazlehurst, and I spent enough time riding the yellow Ninja around to make up my mind and ordered one of my own, except mine is frog green. $2999, 0 down, 0 payments til April 2003. Oh, 75 MPG, 14 sec. 1/4 mile, and can park by the front door at my office. No more parking tickets! Yeah, sign me up please.
that mileage won't last long... matching helmet-
Zorak on 2 wheels...
Little Sturgis, August 23-26, 2002- Sturgis, MS
main street, HWY 12 E main street, HWY 12 W Erin rode with me on Friday Kermit, a sweaty me, and Erin
Kristen rode with me on Saturday...
...what a cutie...
; )
Labor Day weekend, August 31-September 1, 2002

Kermit is now thoroughly broken-in. Seven hundred and fifty (750) miles in 2 days. Damn straight! On Saturday morning, I left Starkville and drove to Hazelhurst, MS, to meet up with Tommy and Camilla, who had trailered their bikes from Houston, TX, the day before. We took the backroads from Hazelhurst through towns like Pinola and Puckett, then hit I-20 in Morton to Forrest, MS. From there, it was up through Sebastopol and Union until we hit the Silver Star and Golden Moon casinos in Philadelphia, MS, where we had a decent meal. After that, we left Philadelphia and headed up HWY 15 to Louisville, then on to Starkville via HWY 25 where a few beers were in order.
this is pretty much the ground we covered...
great weather, light traffic, twisty roads...big grove of trees in Pinola...
Silver Star and Golden Moon in Philadelphia...front-door parking (!), Miller time...
...and on we went. Sunday, we headed out without much of a game plan. We hit HWY 389N out of Starkville on another great day with even less traffic, and weaved through Pheba before hitting the Natchez Trace south of Houston, MS. Lots of other bikers out on the Trace, and we followed it up to Tupelo for a lunch stop and a visit to Elvis' birthplace. Thank ya...t-thank ya very much...after that we got back on the trace and rode it all the way to Cherokee, AL, where we turned off and headed back into MS for a brief loop through the JP Coleman State Park at Pickwick Lake. By then it was 5:30PM, and any hope of getting back to Starkville before dark were looking dim. An overnight stay anywhere else would be that much longer of a drive on Monday for Tommy and Camilla, who would have to drive all the way back to Houston, TX, so we turned around and headed back home. This time, we headed down HWY 25S through Fulton and Amory, MS, and hit HWY 45 until we made it to Columbus. We made it back to S'ville in the dark at 8:30PM, with 750 miles worth of June bugs on our helmets. I'm ready for another trip...
cruising up the Natchez Trace, stopping at the indian mounds and for Elvis...all before sundown...
...feeling the need for speed...Columbus in the dark...insect collection...
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