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!!!
.
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 andearly 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
