Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Day 4 - 143 & 165 (Cherohala Skyway)

My last day at Iron Horse, headed back to Texas for the Texas HOG Rally via NC, TN, GA, AL, and MS.

Started with breakfast with the guys at the Iron Horse.


Then getting revved up to run 143.




Here's a bit of video showing the ride and showing Steve getting lost, no wait, he's not lost - now he is.




We made a stop at the Thunder Mountain General Store, made popular by the Discovery Channel semi-reality series Moonshiners. A couple of the guys took photos with Jim Tom.


Off from Thunder Mountain to run the Bald River Road and check out Bald River Falls.




After Steve ran us through mud - twice - it was time for me to leave. I had to head back to Texas, with a stopover in Meridian, MS. I appreciate the time spent with the guys and hope to be able to participate in their annual run in 2016.


Thursday, May 14, 2015

Day 3 - Finally on the Tail of the Dragon

Left Mount Juliet early, but stymied by allergies and couldn't find anything open at 7am (we're spoiled with 24 hour pharmacies in our area). Finally found a Walmart that opened at 7 - still struggling with the fact that they're not open 24 hours!

I ran the Tail of the Dragon once south before checking in at the Iron Horse just before 1pm.


You can see My Bike and My Room highlighted by arrows below.


Ran the Tail north and then south again. Definitely burned some calories, that's a serious upper body workout.
(VIDEO LINK TO BE ADDED)
I had a great 2nd run south on US 129 (The Tail of the Dragon) but let my GoPro battery get too low and didn't get any video of the 2nd run south. Disappointing, but that's what I get for not using it prior to the trip.

I also ran Highway 28 and a portion of 143, some great twisties on those roads!

Here's our crew at the Stecoah Diner for dinner, a local family run restaurant.



Great group, it was a blast hanging out with them.
We headed back to the lodge after dinner and had meaningful and earth changing conversation around the outdoor fireplace. Well, maybe not so much. But we had a lot of time to compare stories and talk about previous trips.

Tomorrow will be the large group ride.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Day 2 - Back to Texarkana

What a night; terrible storms, tornadoes and hail.
The bike was outside but under a bike cover, no apparent hail damage.
It was a sleepless night with power outages and the raging storm.

Bike was towed to Whiskey River H-D in Texarkana (35 miles the wrong direction) on Monday morning, arriving at the dealership about 11:15am. I should have called for the tow earlier and I could have been on the road much earlier, poor planning on my part. Thanks to Cooter from B & B towing for being quick and efficient.

They thankfully had the part, did a great job and had me on the road quickly. The service manager said they see a failure on this part at least twice a month.

I spent Monday evening at another HI Express, this time in Mt Juliet, TN. Equipment failure put me almost a full day behind, I should have been on the Tail of the Dragon today!!!!

I'll be on the Dragon around noon tomorrow!

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Day 1 - Stuck in Hope

The weather was a minor hindrance today, but my Street Glide let me down. Same shift lever failure that I experienced on my Route 66 trip in November.

I noticed the problem about 15 miles from Hope, Arkansas. I kept it in 5th gear and coasted off the exit when I picked out a hotel. After coming to a stop and killing the engine, I was able to manually shift to 2nd gear. I then cruised to the HI Express where the check-in desk cancelled my Memphis hotel reservation and set me up with a room for the night.


I called HOG roadside to confirm what my options would be on Monday.
They were extremely helpful and answered all my questions.

We'll see how quickly the dealership deals with the shift lever tomorrow.

Rain prevent mode

Geared up to help fend off the rain. I even delayed departure a couple hours to avoid the worst - I hope.



Hopefully I'll be out of the bad stuff early in my ride.


Headed just over 500 miles to Memphis today.

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Last minute packing

Throwing everything together and trying to avoid missing too much stuff!

The plan was to have everything together a night early, but.....it doesn't always work out that way. 

I'm excited to get on the road tomorrow and hope I miss most of the rain. I look forward to seeing the guys in Nashville on Monday. 

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Rain rain go away!

Well....the weather forecasters really suck. Still a few days out, but it looks like 3 days of straight rain on the road. It's going to follow me east, all the way to the Tail of the Dragon. It looks like the rain gear will get plenty of use this trip, I can't say that I'm excited about that.

Starting in Frisco on Sunday....


On to Nashville on Monday....

Then to Knoxville and Robbinsville, NC...


Riding primarily Texas and west, I don't have a tremendous amount of wet riding experience. I would say this trip is going to give me plenty of that. Who picked this date anyway?