Day Two

On to see Tom and Charlotte.
The morning came early, as usual. That's actually a good thing. We're up before most people in the camp grounds. We can take care of the morning rounds....then wake everybody as we leave.
Actually we're pretty quiet when we take off in the morning....unless there's reason not to be.

As a side note...I really need Doug's pictures for the rest of this trip. I'll try to get them tomorrow. Meanwhile I'll post what I have.

In the morning, we gathered up our gear, packed the bikes and hit the road. We drove out the lot and turned left drove half a block to the Cadillac Ranch for breakfast. The Cadillac Ranch is a restaurant dedicated to Elvis. The food was good though. Is there an Elvis thing on bike trips? We really aren't Elvis fans but we seem to stop at places dedicated to him. Oh well. Onward!

After breakfast it was on to I81S to the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway.

Now at this point, I think I figured out part of our problem. We’re really good at making a 3 hour trip turn into a 9 hour trip. When deciding to go to the parkway, Jim, Doug and I were looking at the map. During the mounted portion of the day my glasses are safely tucked away, so I do no reading. Looking at the map, Jim said it was only a mile or two, Doug said it was about ten. Fourteen miles later we hit the parkway. As we entered the Blue Ridge Parkway the weather started turning a bit wetter. Not really raining but we were definitely riding through the clouds. This was starting to turn into an interesting ride. The higher we got, the wetter it got. The wetter it got, the less I could see. Doug and Jim both ride Electroglides. Their bikes are built with fairings and wind shields that allow them a little better protection. Me…not so much. I ride a Wide Glide with an after market wind shield. I wear dark glasses most days because the sunlight really bothers my eyes. The more overcast and misty it got, the less I could see. The wind shield doesn’t shed the mist so it gets very hard to see through. Add the dark glasses that also fog up and we have a recipe for nearly total blindness. Picture this…..we are now riding on some very winding roads with no guard rails, with drop offs of, in some cases, a couple hundred feet. Now…close your eyes! It got to the point where I was riding down the road with my glasses in my teeth looking over the wind shield trying to see the road in front of me. At times it wasn’t too clear where it was or which way it turned. After a few miles of this I had to turn off the highway into a scenic overlook, take out a clear pair of glasses, clean my wind shield then resume the ride. I caught up with Doug and Jim a few miles later where they had stopped to see what had happened to me. Explaining why I stopped I found that both Jim and Doug had similar problems. None of us were to keen on driving these roads in these conditions. Unlike the ride out west, these drop offs we might actually be able to ride out for a hundred feet or so before we smashed into the trees or rocks. I digress..... Fortunately, we road out of most of the foggy areas in just a short while.

Our first stop of the day was the James River Way side Museum. This was an interesting little stop. It consisted of a small museum along the James river with a restored lock and canal for moving traffic up and down the river.

Doug on the bridge across the James River.
To get to the restored lock, we had to cross the James river on this bridge.



If you look at the picture closely you can see, in the upper level of the lock, the original pine planking on the bottom. Cool!
After the lock and canal it was on to Virginia Beach!

We stopped for a couple of pictures at this scenic overlook.
We continued on 39 until we came to I81

East Coast

East coast trip

8-12-10

Jim Doug and Fran

This time, we’re heading for the east coast. This time there’s a real reason for the trip besides ‘cause it’s there. We’re going to visit relatives! Several of them. First there’s my son Tom in Virginia Beach. He and girlfriend Charlotte will be our first stop. Actually our second. We’re going to take 2 days to ride out to Virginia Beach. So, technically, our first stop is Natural Bridge, Virginia.

We started out on rt. 52 through Ohio to Augusta where we took the Augusta Ferry across the Ohio River, to KY rt 8.

We continued on rt. 8 to Vanceburg, KY where we picked up rt. 10 and then 9 on into Greyson, KY. In Greyson we picked up I64 for a few miles. In Huntington WV, we picked up route 60. The intention was to take 60 on through Virginia. Obviously, we had never traveled 60 through West Virginia before. After our eleventy hundredth and 3^rd turn on rt. 60 through back alleys and driveways, we decided this might not be the "best" most scenic route to take. We saw a sign for 64 and made a bee line for I64 again. We got on I64 and didn’t get back on 60 until after Charleston. 60 was much better to ride at this point.Of course, at this point we looked at the map and found that had we stayed on 60 instead of taking the 3 mile detour to I64, we would have been out of the city and onto the "highway" portion of 60 in about 5 blocks. Live and learn.

The temperature today was supposed to be up in the 90’s, way up, around 97f I think they said. It was every bit of that. Fortunately for us, we got into the hills of West Virginia just about the time it started getting hot. It was still hot, just not as hot as it could have been. Around Cedar Grove we stopped to fill up the tanks. Here we found that Jim had had a very close call.

As with every motorcycle trip there’s a few close calls. This was Jim’s.

As good as this birds aim was, he missed Jims face, but not by much. This could have had drastic results.

It was getting awfully hot about this time too. We had a solution. At least for a short time. While we were getting something to drink, I decided that the ice machine could serve double duty.

Jim and I placed our helmets inside the ice machine on top of the bags of ice. We stayed there for about 15 minutes finishing our drinks. When we were ready to leave, we retrieved our hats. Man did that feel good! Back on the road…. It only lasted a few miles but it really felt good.

Next stop was the Kanawha River falls.

Neat little place to stop for a few minutes rest.

After the falls we decided to get onto Route 39 to take a more scenic drive. We took rt.16 north to rt. 39. This was, I believe a good choice. The road was a nice drive through the hills with lots of good twists and turns.

Here we intended to stop at a roadside turn out to take some pictures. But we kind of missed the entrance. So we just stopped here.

We took 39 all the way to Lexington Virginia where we picked up rt. 11 to the first KOA for this trip.

Our first night was spent at the Natural Bridge KOA near Lexington Virginia. Here the bikes were on level ground. Unfortunately, we weren’t. We set up tents on the only ground available and nothing was level, and the rocks and acorns made sleeping a bit tough. Oh well, such is life on the road. At least the bikes were happy.

At this KOA I was able to connect to the campgrounds wireless, just not the internet. I was told that there were too many users on line already. Oh well.

We had a makeshift dinner consisting of whatever we had in the feed bag and the beer Jim rode out and got. All night we all kept thinking about the field of grass across the street we weren’t allowed to camp on. The saving grace there was the quiet. Very little disruptive noise in this campground. That’s a good thing.

Day one is in the bag.

Tomorrow, Virginia Beach, Virginia to visit with Tom and Charlotte

I'll finish that trip to New Orleans now. All the picture have been gathered and there aren't that many. So..... Onward!

From Natchez Mississippi,the ride in to New Orleans was uneventful. South on 61 to 110 around Baton Rouge. From there it was I10 to New Orleans. This should be about a three hour ride, but of course...it actually lasted about 5 hours. A few minor detours, nothing more. Except for that stop on the I10 bridge at rush hour. Interesting, we all survived.
We hit New Orleans about 6pm on Sunday. About this time all the shops are closing for the day except bars and strip joints. We were looking for a garage to park the bikes in but they were all $15 per bike. We only intended to stay about an hour or two. This didn't seem smart. We found a spot on the street and fit all 4 bikes in the one spot. With all our gear on the bikes it didn't seem wise to let them unguarded on the street. Since I've been to N.O. several times I volunteered to stay with the bikes. Besides I could go into a couple of shops right by the bikes and still see them out the window. Actually, what I did was lay back on my bike with my dark riding glasses on and people watch. This was interesting. New Orleans certainly has it's share of unusual people. At the time I counted myself as one of them. A big ole biker seemingly asleep on his bike in down town New Orleans. Fits the unusual category to me.

So....Doug, Jim, and Tom, went off to explore a little of New Orleans. Being on bikes the bar scene wasn't exactly a good idea, the strip joints weren't exactly attractive either. So, after about 45 minutes, curiosity exhausted, they all came wandering back to the bikes. So....off we went. After leaving New Orleans the clouds started rolling in. The sky was beginning to look very threatening. It was no idle threat. When they finally let go it was a down pour. It was almost impossible to see and ride in that stuff. We finally stopped and donned rain gear, but it was already too late. We were soaked. We eventually rode out of the major portion of the storm, but it was never far away. We continued on to Hattiesburg Alabama. We arrived at our destination very late. The park offices were closed, but we did stay the night at the Paul B Johnson State Park. No pictures from here on out. It rained off and on during our ride. From Hattiesburg we moved on to Guntersville AL where we stayed at Lake Guntersville State Park. The evening was uneventful except for the robbery. This was the off season, no one was in the park. They told us it it would be 20 dollars next morning for a tent site. In the morning we were told it would be 20 dollars per bike. We was robbed!
From here we decided to ride as far as possible towards home. It was continuing to drizzle a bit so rain gear was the uniform of the day. Tom headed straight to 65 for a relatively peaceful ride all the way home. Jim, Doug, and I opted for the ride across to Chattanooga and then up 75 to home. We took some state routes, 11 and 75 into Georgia and up to Chattanooga. During the ride the rain would stop and start so it wasn't entirely unpleasant. The temperature however was dropping. With the occasional rain and the colder temps it was beginning to be some what miserable. We were riding for home at this point. It was decided to just ride on. The weather was not going to make staying out another night a worthwhile option. So on we rode Up through Chattanooga where we picked up I75. This would lead us right home. Unfortunately the temps were no longer biker friendly and the rain or drizzle / mist to be more precise, continued off and on during our ride. We stopped for some dinner in Kentucky at a Pizza restaurant. I was so cold I used the bathroom hand dryer to try to warm up with. It helped but not much. The restaurant served no hot drinks! I was crushed, I was sooooo looking forward to a hot chocolate, coffee, tea, anything to take the chill off. No such luck. After a short dinner it was back on the road.
Somewhere near Berea Kentucky the thing every biker dreads happened. A bike went down at highway speeds. Jim was leading, I was in the middle and Doug was in back. Traffic around us was clear. We were in a small bubble by ourselves with all of the other cars and trucks in front and behind us. Doug was going to pull out and pass me to tell Jim to stop at the next exit. When he accelerated to change lanes his rear tire just went right out from under him. Jim and I both watched his bike go down. We immediately started to slow and pull off to the side, all the while watching in our mirrors, Doug's bike slide down the highway on it's side. We could not tell if Doug was still with the bike or not. We got our bikes off the highway and were running back to Doug's now still bike laying in the high speed lane. At this point, all the traffic on the north bound side of the highway was stopped. As we approached the bike it became obvious that Doug was not with the bike. We were just turning to run down to the line of stopped cars and trucks to look for Doug when a man I had seen getting out of one of the cars came around the line of stopped cars, he was followed by another man. As they got closer I saw that the other man was Doug. He was up! Not only was he up, he was walking fine! First thing he wanted to know was if his bike was ok. Then he wanted to know if he had damaged his helmet. He did....a little tiny scratch about a 1/4 inch long. He wanted to see if his bike was OK so we lifted it and he tried to start it. The bike started just like normal. We checked out the major parts of the bike ad all were good. The crash bars took most of the damage. Doug said lets go, so we did. Extremely lucky. Some torn clothes, a minor scratch on the helmet, damaged crash bars, certainly damaged ego, but no injuries. Unreal! God watches over fools and children....I know we're in there somewhere.
I waved to the cars that were still stopped on the highway, and we started up the bikes and off we went! Just like that. Amazing, simply amazing!
The rest of the trip home was simply cold. The temperatures seemed to drop by the hour. Doug, Jim and I parted in our usual fashion on the highway as we headed in our separate directions. Since it was late, I stopped to call Marie and warn her that it would be me coming in the back door. I was so cold I could barely hold the phone. When I got home, I got into the shower and stayed in the hot water for 15 or 20 minutes. When I got out I was still shivering. Been a long time since I was that cold.
I stopped over to see Doug the next day to make sure he was OK. His rain gear was torn up a bit, a glove was scuffed but not torn, his rain jacket was torn, but he was OK. Sore but OK. Wow! What a lucky man.

Below are a few of our last pictures from New Orleans.





Certainly an interesting ride, all in all. The ride through Kentucky is always a good ride. The Natchez Trace Trail is interesting if a little boring. The side trips off the trail are worth the time. The overall trip was good but would have been better with less rain and no crash.
Six more states notched up on the bikes. I believe that puts us at 20 for the last 3 trips. I don't think we're consciously trying to hit any certain number of states, but we seem to be hitting quite a few. That's OK with us. 'Till next time. Check back on occasion. I'll write when I can and we'll ride when we can. There are plans in the works for a short ride or 2, just day trips, and then another week long ride to the east coast. There's also some plans for another longer trip fomenting in the minds. We'll see what happens.
Keep the wheels down and the helmets up.

Natchez Trace Parkway 5-1-10

Day One

On the road again.....
Just a note...pictures coming soon....
This is the first long bike ride of 2010.Once again the folks involved are Jim, Doug and me (Fran). This time we have 2 additional riders with us, Tom, cousin to Jim and Doug, and Dick, a friend of Tom's. The original count for the trip was 10, but that number was slowly reduced to it's present 5. We had 6 on our first day but Mike, our sixth, had been bitten by a brown recluse spider and his doctor didn't want him too far from home as the damage from the bite progressed. Mike did however ride part of the first day with us. He left us when we stopped outside of the Buffalo Trace distillery. Hmmmmm. You don't suppose.....Nah...I'm sure he left and rode towards home....I think....


The day started when Doug, Jim and I met up at the Kroger in Cleves. We were to meet Tom and the others in Lawrenceburg. I noticed that when we were pulling out of the parking lot, Jim’s bike was smoking every time he accelerated. This might become a serious problem as we ride on through the day.

We met the others in Lawrenceburg IN. We were still expecting to be meeting 5 people. Tom was there along with Mike and Dick but no one else. Seems this was all there was going to be.

Ok, we can do this, not a problem. Before the trip officially started, we went into the local McDonalds for a cup of coffee to start the day. Not exactly the restaurant of choice but it was close, so McD’s it was.

After coffee, it was on the road to Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and beyond.
The first leg of the trip was west on 56 to 156 to Belterra and across Markland Dam.

On the way, we all were watching the smoke from Jim’s bike wondering if it would last the day. Various guesses were tossed about as to how long Jim would last and what was actually wrong with the bike.

We continued on through Kentucky on route 127, 62, and 31E stopping briefly at the Buffalo Trace Distillery to say so long to Mike as he turned and headed back home.


The trip through Kentucky was a very neat bike ride. The only drawback today was the wind. The wind was blowing strong from every which direction. Sometimes it was hard to keep your line on the road.
When we stopped for gas just before we turned on to Rt.62, Jim suddenly looked surprised and said,” I think I know what the problem is.” It seems that when he stopped for gas in the morning he thinks he got the wrong hose at the gas pump and put diesel in the tank………what? And it’s still running? Well, what’s going to happen if you mix some diesel with gas? It’s going to smoke a lot and run like crap! Mystery solved! After a couple of tanks of new gas the bike is running swell!.....except for the rear brakes not working. It seems that somewhere along the road a rear brake pad had come unglued and fallen off.

OK…..We continued on toward the Natchez Trace Highway.

We stopped at the Harley dealer in Nashville for new brake pads. Jim figured we could install them at the campground tonight.



At the Harley dealer Tom asked if they had any of that Diesel fuel additive for a 2005 Harley. Jim won’t be living this one down for a while.

I told you..I need brake pads for a 2005 Harley diesel!!!






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We stopped at the Lovelace Café for a few pictures and an RC and a Moon Pie. Traditional snack at the café. We stopped long enough for a nice rest. After the snack it was on to the Natchez Trace highway









The Natchez Trace highway is built on the natural trails for American Indians, game animals and
early settlers of the Tennessee - Mississippi area.















We pulled into the Meriwether Lewis campground on the Natchez Trace. It was time to change the brake pads on Jim's bike. I think I heard…We can do this in a half hour…. Sure….This maintenance was done with the help of the campground host Jim Wagner, a gator, a log, a hatchet, and several assorted hand tools. Tom wants to know if that was a genuine Harley hatchet. OK…..we have pictures, I’m not kidding!










Note the log at Tom's foot....


I think it actually took about an hour. Not too bad considering the circumstances. Note the hatchet by Tom's knee.........ats a real Harley hatchet!



















See the Gator behind Jim's bike?
below is Jim Wagner without who's help this would have been a genuine ordeal!













On to bed. By the way, Doug is disappointed, my new tent works just fine. He was soooo looking forward to getting pictures of me all tangled up in the tent poles. He missed his chance.






Day Two

Waking up at the Meriwether Lewis Campground was accomplished with little fanfare. As we were packing up to leave our neighbor in the campground stopped over to visit for a bit. He and his wife were from Michigan. We had a nice conversation while we packed up. Jim Wagner stopped by to see how things were going. All was right with the world.

First stop was breakfast at the General Café in Hohenwald TN, hometown of Minnie Pearl. Ok, see, we come across all kinds of interesting tidbits. Breakfast was really good. Staff was friendly and contributed to a good start to the day. We were obviously the strangers in town. A young boy and his mother entered the restaurant and the boy immediately approached us and asked if we were the bikers. Mom, of course, told him “ leave the men eat”. I don’t know if that was from common courtesy (probably) or a stay away from the dangerous biker dudes. I’m sorry, that doesn’t even come close to fitting. Imagine seeing Doug, Jim, Dick, Tom, and me at a table. Can you imagine anything LESS threatening than that?
The photo on the left is of Doug (L) and Dick (R)
From here we went back on the road to the visitor’s center at Collinwood TN. We stopped and picked up some maps and travel info. We also had some very good oatmeal raisin cookies baked by the hostess only this morning. We found out that this visitor’s center caters to visiting motorcyclists. It sounded like they had some good plans for the future. Possibly a joint effort with some other cities or visitor centers on the Natchez.

From here we headed back to the Natchez highway. We drove into Alabama for a short period. We crossed the Tennessee River rode 15 more miles and on into Mississippi.


Next stop was the Pharr Indian Mounds for a brief rest stop and a little education. These Indian mounds were found to be burial mounds and in an interesting side note, the mounds contained artifacts traceable to the Hopewell Indians of the tri-state area. The Hopewell Indians were known to have traded all over the eastern United States. Cool.

See 'em out there?









From here it was back to Natchez Trace Parkway and more riding.




Doug's getting bored,

In Tupelo MS we stopped at the last Confederate battle site of the Civil War. It was a small park about 200 feet square, with three monuments two cannon and a flag and maps of the battlefield. Needless to say we were expecting something a bit larger. Still, it was interesting.

From here it was on to Elvis’s birthplace museum!!! WOW! They had his birthplace home that his father built, the church they attended AND the CHURCH OUTHOUSE!!! Wow! Elvis crapped here!!! (maybe). I can't believe none of us got a picture of that out house!


We took some interesting pictures at Elvis’s house. Swingin’ on the porch swing, settin’ on the porch steps….We all went into the gift shop…to see what there was to see. We saw it, and we left. Couldn’t see paying hard earned dollars for an Elvis coffee mug or place mat. Obviously we were in the minority on that one.

After absorbing all the atmosphere we could stand at the Elvis museum, we headed back to the Natchez Trace Highway. We still had nearly 1/3 of the highway to travel. Now, at this point it had already been decided that the Trace is better handled in smaller bites. The Natchez Trace highway is a beautiful ride, just not all at once.

Doug's getting bored again.

We rode on to Jackson Mississippi; Dick had to leave us at this point to go visit family. We settled in at the Askew’s Landing Campground.


Now the campground was a nice area with a couple of lakes and a large camping area. What it also was, was a home to several very vocal geese. After a while we were trying to decide which would be better to use…..a shotgun, a pellet gun, or just wring their necks.

Geese are really annoying.

For dinner, Doug and I had some Mountain House freeze dried for ourselves. These are actually quite good. We used them on the Grand Canyon trip and the last bike trip. We offered Jim and Tom each a dinner but they decided to go to town and buy some hot dogs, hamburgers or something. When they returned to the campground they had some buns and some canned sloppy joe mix. They were so proud…. They were going to have sloppy joes while Doug and I only had our freeze dried food.

We asked Jim where the hamburger was “What hamburger ?” They had purchased 2 cans in case Doug and I wanted some thinking that if we didn’t, they would have it tomorrow too. Always read the label….. I contributed a bag of chili mac and they mixed the sloppy joe mix with the freeze dried chili mac. Jim was ok with it, Tom, not exactly. Ya’ll really shouldn’t attempt these rides without your wives along. Maybe with detailed instructions for the days meals. Doug and I had a couple of chuckles over that one too.

In the morning it back to the Natchez Trace highway.
Along the way we had to stop for some minor repairs.
We continued on the Trace to the end of the trail in Natchez Mississippi.


From here we had just completed the 440 miles of the Natchez Trace parkway. This was a very cool ride, but as stated earlier, best taken in smaller bites.

After a couple of hours, it started to get old. The interesting parts, after the scenery, were the side trips we made to the smaller towns for lunch. Some pretty neat little places out there.

From Natchez it was on to New Orleans for the afternoon.


More soon