Day 3
7/18/17- Started at a motel…dont recall the name or town…will have to look it up. Ended day at the Hot Springs Campground in NC.
Well since I didnt get this done yesterday, it’s kind of hard to remember all of the details.
First off, Wolf Rd bridge is still closed…even though it’s fully paved and the workers were driving and walking all over it. I actually walked across to ask if I could ride over and was turned down. So I ended up having to take the highway in a 10mi square to avoid going over the bridge. I get that it’s a liability thing, but seriously, they were all driving and walking on it already. Might be open in a week or so
Now the really fun part…So you want to be an adventure rider? It’s not all camera crews with suave Scottish actors and chase trucks. Sometimes it’s hard dirty work that will test you. I was riding on a nice easy gravel road…when I see a tree across the road. It’s up fairly high and it looked like someone had already trimmed off all the low hanging branches. So I slowed down and was coasting under when I took a hit to the head by some invisible bat. Knocked me almost out of the saddle and the bike and I went Back and to the Right…right over the edge and down into a creek. It was about a 10 foot drop and I landed with the bike on top, wheels up. Luckily I was fully geared and my Hit-Air vest deployed. Scrambled out, shut off the bike and did a couple practice squats to limber up and got the bike upright. I found what looked like a ride-able slope out and took off all the luggage and proceeded to get the back tire buried in the mud. Had to dig my way out and decided to move farther down stream and see if i could get out that way. After getting stuck a couple more times, I ended up hacking my way through the bushes about 100yds and finding a clearing that I rode through and back to the road. Oh, and during this 2 hour fun fest…it started pouring rain. So, big FU goes out to whoever cuts branches but leaves invisible stubs facing into oncoming traffic.
My view of the branches as I came up the road:
Side view of those branches:
Bike upright at the bottom of the creek:
Detour off the road…down about 10 feet:
After that, it was all easy riding and had fun. I was happy to pay for a campsite to get a shower and clean clothes on.
July 19, 2017
So, never really covered the food situation. Opted to leave most of my cooking gear at home, so trying out a few freeze dried meals.
First night was a cold camp due to stove fuel fail.
Second night was a Mountain House Chili Mac…it tasted good but needed a lot longer than the 8 minutes suggested to re-hydrate. Gave me some gastrointestinal distress…had to delay start time in order make sure situation was under control. Would be a long rough day of off-road riding if you can’t trust a fart.
Third night was Mountain House Stroganoff. Tasted great and no side affects. coupled with a bowl of instant soup…mmmm red miso is a favorite of mine.
Found a nice little fruit/veggie stand that also sells local meat and cheeses. So bought a smoked cheddar and summer sausage with some peaches today. Made my lunch while sitting next to the river. Glad to get some fresh fruit….Arrrg, no one wants to be a scurvy dog.
roadside stand
lunch
swapped my boots for Crocs to stand in the river and cool my feet while I ate. That was awesome!
Day 4
7/19/17- Started at the Hot Springs campground and made it to Farmhouse Inn Tellico Plains, TN.
Started the day with a cup of starbucks Via instant…not as good as my usual fresh ground espresso, but packs smaller and lighter. Drank my coffee while sitting and looking out over this river. Also had a tasty mountain house biscuits and gravy…turned out surprisingly good.
Side note for campers…using a belt with a couple hooks sure makes camping with heavy cycle gear a lot more convenient. I had some webbing strap and buckles left over from another project and ordered a pack of 8 stainless steel pot hangers from amazon for a few bucks. Takes all of 30 seconds to set up and have a place to hang my jacket/pants/helmet
Had one of these home made fruit pies…pretty sure it was 50% lard…but damn it was good:
We were on a one lane-one way road through the Smoky Mountains National Forest and these people kept ignoring the signs to not stop in the road…and here I was ON A MOTORCYCLE about 20 feet from 2 bear cubs. The whole time I was wondering where the mother was. Now I was really glad I got the morning business taken care of before starting out.
Got to the turn off of that awful one lane road…and guess what? The road out is closed. Had to get back into that mess to get out. The saving grace was that I got to take the Foothill Parkway and it was fantastic. It dumped me onto Hwy 129…which I was several miles into before I realized it was Deals Gap…aka the Back of the Dragon. So, somehow turned an annoying morning into a fun afternoon.
Can’t forget to mention that I am now enjoying the amenities of the Farmhouse Inn. If you are anywhere near Tellico Plains TN, you should make plans to stay here. You just wont find a better place to stay. It’s run by Laura and Kyle (@Baggi’tard )
OK, finally have some time/energy/wifi to get updates posted. Looks like I was last at Day 4, and it’s now what, Day 8???. Sheesh, what a slacker
Day 5
7/20/17- Started at the Farmhouse Inn and made it to Joe Wheeler State Park in AL (this was 30mi south of the TAT route, but still a good place to camp)
Left my favorite stop, Farmhouse Inn and got to enjoy the famous Witt Rd. Didnt have any issues with the stream crossings, all were a little lower than normal due to a bit of a rain shortage. The GPS Kevin TAT tracks seem to miss a lot of the really good roads in and around Tellico Plains. I’ve ridden with Kyle ( @Baggi’tard ) enough to know just how awesome the riding is there. Anyway, no delay in getting on down the road since it was at least 90% pavement.
Made a U-turn to stop here after seeing the sign…no one home, bummer too since the shop did smell amazing.
Cool pic of some TN rock formations
Passed a lot of neat old barns and houses
Best part of the day was that I went a bit far south looking for a campsite and stumbled onto a hidden gem. The Joe Wheeler State park in Alabama was just fantastic. Cheap too! If you get the chance, check it out…30mi south of the actual TAT route, but worth it. Only 2 campers in the primitive section and I got to drop right down on thewater.
Day 6
7/21/17- Started at the Joe Wheeler stat park in AL and made it to some random forest in MS and boondock camped.
Hot Hot Hot 97F and humid.
Crossed into Mississippi today and rode some fun stuff. From the look of it though, it would be a ballbuster when wet. There were a lot of dry mud ruts that had to be at least 4-5 inches deep. Going through that with a loaded bike would be damn near impossible.
Random pic of dualsport awesomeness
Easy water crossing…slowed down in case it was slimy, but it wasn’t
Piggly Wiggly is still around, who knew?
Yep, trend continues…this bridge is probably not doable unless your are Bo and Luke Duke…Saw a group of about 4 bicycle tracks that got about halfway down to this and turned around. Guess they decided that it it’s really out, they dont want to pedal back. They could have walked over no problem. I had to re-route and go another 10mi around it.
You do get to go under this really sketchy railroad bridge to get to the one above. Kind of cool/creepy…wouldnt want to be under it with a train going over though.
Another closed bridge…luckily riders can get around and over this one
Passed a cool old museum of steam farm equip, but it looked like the owner was long gone unfortunately. Would have loved to chat with him a bit.
Mississippi river bridge, surprised it was actually open on this route
It started to get dark on me and I decided to camp in a forest…found the only place that had mowed grass…and fenced in. The place was half full of people already, but they didnt make a sound all night. Yep, camped in a cemetery. Got some wicked chiggers walking into the woods to hang my food up. Chewed me up something awful. Lucky they left me some stumps to put my boots on in the AM.
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