Tennessee to Kansas City to Nebraska

Tennessee to Kansas City to Nebraska

I woke up really early.  It must have been 4am by the time I gave up trying to fall back asleep.  The tent was on top of a solid wood deck and it must have been 85 degrees out.  I took it as a sign to get up and start my day.  I started cooking coffee and taking down my tent at a really slow pace.  I wanted to be on the road right at sunrise so that I could alt least enjoy the views on my way out of the park.  I was so deliriously tired the night before that I skipped the lake and all the scenic outlooks.

The roads were wet and just as I started moving on the interstate it started to rain.  I changed into my waterproof riding gear and just pressed on.  My goal for the day was to make it a little more then half of of the way to Denver.  I knew I couldn't make it all the way there in one shot so I figured I would just set up to arrive at my buddy's Brian and Jessica Millers house just before dinner.  

There really isn't much to report on today.  I rode most of the miles on the interstate and stopped to chat with people every where I took a break.  I met 2 guys that were going to BassPro for the big sale. They were sure everyone and their mothers were going to be there buying ammunition and fall hunting supplies so they were going to spend the night and get there when the store opened or something like that.

I saw a town named Danville so naturally I pulled in to say hello to someone.  I met 3 old dudes there riding GoldWing trikes.   They were just out for a 3 day ride "so they could get away from their wives"  I asked them If their butts hurt too or if its just something us young guys have to deal with.  They got a kick out of that one.  It was funny swapping stories with them about our latest adventures on the road. These old guys get it.  We sat and talked for almost an hour then we passed around a bottle of Ibuprofen and said our good byes.

I crossed the big Miss river today.  That wasn't planned benchmark but if I turn around tomorrow at least I can say I made it that far.

The rest of the day went on and on.  Mile after mile of highway until finally 12hrs later I had had enough.  I googled hotel and took the first one that popped up.  It wasn't cheap but after the lousy nights sleep I had on the wood planks I didnt care what it cost.  

I made it to Kansas City.  That was enough for the day.

I woke and hauled ass out of town.   I was headed to Denver when I got the call from my buddy Mark. He has purchased a toy hauler off of craigslist and has a campsite reserved at the Broken Spoke Saloon.   SAYWHAAT.   So, I made a immediate right hand turn and headed to Sturgis.   Luckily when you start at the bottom of North America everything is on the way to where I'm going.

The ride for the day was beautiful.  So much better then yesterdays endless hours of highway miles.  Don't get me wrong today was a lot of miles but at least the views were stunning.  To top it off I was able to get myself a five billion star room for the night in a quiet pasture.

I'm headed into Sturgis next by way of the Badlands.   I promise no detours.

Pictures pictures pictures..  I am pretty sure you can click on them to make them bigger.

Atlanta to the Dragon and some more miles.

I slept like a baby at my Sister's place.  My niece and nephew went over to stay with my parents at a hotel for the night.  They also drove into town the last night for my Nieces birthday.  The house was quiet when I woke up.  My Sister was just about to peel off to work and my Brother in law Neil didn't feel the need to get out of bed to see me off.  I don't blame him one bit.  He didn't have to be at work until much later in the day.  I took a hot shower and made myself some steak n eggs for breakfast.  Today was going to be a big day so I wanted to have a full belly and not have to worry about food for a long time.  There is also something inherently manly about having steak for breakfast and I was setting off that day to do a manly ride called the Tail of the Dragon on an iron horse.  The only thing that could make it more manly was if I poured a shot of Jameson into my coffee and carried my gun on my hip the whole day.  We'll skip the legalities of being truly manly.

My sister and her husband have a sweet VW bus they're restoring into a full blown family camper.  I cant wait to steal this thing when they're done with it.

So fast forward a bit and I'm packed up and off on the bike.  It takes me a little while to get out of Atlanta.  Everywhere I look I see people sucking down coffee and frantically putting on makeup at intersections.  I can't help but laugh to myself as I twist the throttle passed them.  I'm finally going to get into Tennessee hill country and ride this bike as hard as I possibly can in some of the best motorcycling roads in the country.

I chose route 3 because it takes you along all back roads and passes thru Tellico TN.    Tellico is the official start of the Trans American Trail (TAT).   The TAT is an offroad trail that was mapped out by some dude that goes across the whole of the US and dumps you off in Oregon.  I wanted to scope out the shop every forum I read about on the subject raves about.  I've read soo much about this trail and it's challenges that I'm already looking for people to tackle it with me next summer.  Any idiot can drive across the country but it takes a rider to do it off road.   :)   More on the TAT hopefully next summer. 

I made amazing time into Tellico.  The roads were amazing and there was hardly ant traffic at all.  For the first time in days I wasn't getting rained on or in sweltering heat.  I was finally able to real hammer down on the throttle and warm up the entire surface of the tires.  I was fully loaded with gear and fuel but the 1200cc engine hardly seemed to mind at all.

(Im working on uploading video.. my internet is slow here)

The shopkeep at Tellico Mototcycle outfitters was stoked to see my bike all sticker'ed up and we chatted a bit about where I came from and where I was going.  He must see people on these kinds of trips all the time.  He asked me if I was up for slight detour.  I asked him what type of detour and he said one word.  "offroad"  Well, that was that, I simply said hell yes and he started to draw me a makeshift map. The trial he detoured me added about 40 miles to my rally point with Capt Keith Schultz but I didn't care at all.  What's forty miles when you've got 11,000 to go.

(video coming soon)

I arrived late to meet with one of the Capt's of my rig.  He lives an hour away and has been wanting to take me up to the Tail of the Dragon for a long time now.  Today was finally going to be the day.  After grabbing lunch, a beer and syncing up our headsets we were off.

(video coming)

The dragon is arguably on of the top 5 motorcycling roads in America.  311 turns in 11 miles.  It takes a lot of concentration, bike control and its actually pretty physically demanding when you're doing it well.  At no point during the ride are there any true straight aways or breaks.   It'd be nice to have a week up there playing on a few different types of bikes.   My little cafe racer and I will be back here very soon.  I might need to bring extra brakes and tires after day two.

(Video coming)

The traffic going up was awful but I could still get a sense of why 2-3 people a week total their bikes on this road.  Fatalities are a common thing up here but no one seems to want to talk about it or build a guard rail.

The way down was exiting.  We took off like bats out of hell and I launched a wheelie pulling out of the parking lot.  The Beemer was the only one of it's kind in this crowd so I had to show them what it was made of.  I literally saw some old dudes jaw drop when he saw my fully loaded pirate ship on one wheel.

(Video coming)

After the last go around I still needed to get some miles done.  I was hardly in the mood for it but that nagging voice in my head has been asking me for a while now to get out of the South East.  We took off North towards Nashville.  Capt. Keith was awesome enough to ride a hundred or so miles with me away from his house just to keep me company.  He was happy to be riding and I was happy as hell to have someone to chat with.  Our bluetooth headsets were fantastic to about 75 yards.

I tried like hell to make it to Nashville but the sun was dropping fast and my body was begging me to get off of the bike.  I randomly took an exit and by chance stumbled upon Edgar Evin State Park.  It was a nice place but all the normal campsites were taken.  I begged the ranger to give me wooden deck they use for RV campers.  Within an hour of getting there I had my tent set up, dinner cooked and I was off to sleep.  This was a fantastic but exhausting day.