Day 168 – 25th May 09
Posted by TravellingStrom on May 25, 2009
Monday – Winchester, Tennessee
I fuelled up first thing after breakfast and while chatting with the girl in the servo, who loves the accent :), I mentioned the ‘dry’ Sunday, she told me I could have gone up the road to a strip joint and relaxed, lol, I am probably lucky I did not know about that last night 🙂
Now, it is a bit late, but in case you are wondering how I managed to get used to riding this side of the road over here, well, every time I dial in a destination on the GPS I get this warning screen, and it is still very helpful.
I had to first travel back the twenty miles to the trace via the freeway before plunging back into the green tree lined roads and some history.
The road I was on was a lot better than the one they used way back then.
An old Indian burial mound place and village and some more history.
It was about here I noticed that the rear tyre sensor had finally given up the ghost, that is the two dotted lines on the bottom of the display.
It had been flashing ‘low’ for a few weeks now and I had queried Sophie from LDL Technology about it, because I was sure the battery should have lasted 5 years. Ahh, but the response came back, 5 years or 30,000kms, so after 50,000kms I guess I should be grateful. Anyway, hopefully a new sensor is waiting for me in Florida, but it means removing the rear tyre again to install it. It is a shame the battery cannot be replaced, but I will have an old sensor to play with, so it may be possible.
There was a lot more countryside being used for farming around this area, in between the trees that is.
Just a quick note on that road I could not find yesterday. When the sign said Natchez trace to the right only, I think it may have been just a slip road, so if I had gone down it for a look, I may have ended up at a T intersection with a choice, east to Nashville, or west to Natchez, but this is only a guess and over 200 miles back now, judging by this sign 🙂
It was gone midday by now and I figured that it would take me the best part of 4 hours to do the 200 mile at this speed, so I may end up staying in the country music capitol of the USA. Well, I guess I can put up with that, as long as there is no line dancing to rap music anyway, otherwise out with the ear plugs! Along the road with some more greenery until I get to the state border of Alabama, but the side of the road here was terrible for a staged photo, so maybe I can get one on the way out as I would only be here for an hour or so. But, I did get one for Mississippi 🙂
There were more and more croplands before I crossed the Tennessee River.
Then more trees for a while until the next state of Tennessee.
I managed to have a whizz in two states at the same time here, dunny facilities are few and far between so it was lucky for the trees eh. 🙂 I was beginning to become a bit bored with where I am. I mean, I liked the info from the history boards but the actual scenery was going to be the same for another 150 miles or so. I had already crossed through Alabama and seen nothing but trees, I actually liked riding through the towns and stuff of the different areas as it was all different. Of course, this was a runners traceway, so they picked the most flatest land they could find for foot travel, so a tad boring for a bike 🙂 Anyway, once again my fuel supply decided for me, I would need to get more before continuing to Nashville, so I dropped off the trace at a small town called Collinwood where the sign said a visitor’s centre. Here I scored another good state map and found that this state was wide and narrow and where I needed to go, the Smoky Mountains, was in the south east border region, weras Nashville was up north in the centre, so bye bye line dancers, I am now heading east!
Straightaway as I headed towards Lawrenceburg I was seeing something different, still agricultural, but better than trees with a speed limit and on the Tennessee side of the border along the trail I had seen 3 cop cars with radar, so that would have been no fun anyway.
I was amongst more traffic of course, some of it crazy, so in the end I went down this lane for an out of the way kidney relief and on the way back saw this place. Check out the 4wd with wide high wheels, that is quite normal over here, in fact this one is modest, the DOT rules must be way different to back home. They have fun in the mud though in their big rigs.
I ended up getting fuel in Lawrenceville and continued on to Fayetteville where I saw some grand old houses.
And an hour or so later some not so grand old houses.
I was planning on pushing on to Chattanooga, of choo choo fame, but with the amount of road works I had been hitting, it was slow going.
With a speed limit of 45, I was nearly going backwards so about half 5 I dialled in a motel in my GPS and it found a place in Winchester where I negotiated a deal for $40. As I was starving I nuked some noodles in the microwave asap, that is when I found the internet was faulty, bummer, so I got a $5 discount from the ‘no speaka da english’ asian Indian lady. I could connect to the server no worries, but their router needed fixing and as she did not speak english it was hard to explain. I had already unpacked everything and did not feel like riding around for another so I stuck it out. There was a free network around but they kept kicking me off every time I connected, so I wrote some stuff up and read a book, once again there was no pubs around. I’ll get healthy the rate this is going!
Day – 307 miles and 494 km
Trip – 11,045 miles and 17,775 km
Cheers
TravellingStrom
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TravellingStrom 
vstromcharlie said
I don’t know if you got my other comments but here is the Deals Gap[url=http://www.tailofthedragon.com/weather.html](Weather)[/url] and how about some [url=http://www.tailofthedragon.com/dragon_radar.html](radar locations?)[/url] and another link with[url=http://www.tailofthedragon.com/] (General Information about the gap and nearby roads)[/url]
Hope these help.
travellingstrom said
Hi Charlie I only just got these links today and I have left the dragon. For some reason these were in my Spam pile, but thanks anyway for them. As I had no access to the internet while there, this is the first time I have seen email since Monday. Cheers TS
Art Wallace said
G’day Richard,
Looks like you’re moving right along. BTW, I really liked the pics of the sleazy no-tell motel-LOL. Probably worth mentioning that you’re in the “Bible Belt” so dry counties abound… It’s one fo my biggest pet peeves about riding down there. Best advice is when you find a place that sells booze stock up!! Speaking of which, you’re only about 40-minutes from the Jack Daniel’s distillery. If you’ve got the time (and of course, if it interests you) I’d recommend a tour; although, you’ll need to bring your own. It’s in a dry county!
I’m guessing you’re probably going to make tracks towards Deal’s Gap while in the area?? If so, you’ll certainly want to check out the Cherohala Skyway- http://www.cherohala.com/
A really nice place to stay in the area is the Iron Horse Lodge- http://www.ironhorsenc.com/ I’ve stayed with them in the past and they’re good folks!
Gimme a shout when you get close to Ohio… I’ll make sure to have the fridge stocked and plenty of shrimp for the bbq!
Safe travels,
-Art
travellingstrom said
Hi I saw the signs for the distillary, but was not interested, I am a rum man 🙂 I actuallly did the Cherohala skyway on th eway in to Deals Gap, and yes I did the dragons tail many times. I actually stayed at the Deals Gap MC resort. There was a bunch of riders from Ohio there and I met up with them, this was preplanned. Look forward to a beer in the next month. Cheers TS
GrahamD said
Keep up the good work TS.
Enjoying the virtual trip.
Still read it every update 🙂
Looking forward to Deals Gap
Cheers
Graham
travellingstrom said
Hi Thanks, Deals Gap was great, I am about threed days behind, so you will have to wait sorry. Cheers TS
Southroads said
Hey Richard,,
Im Still checkin in every couple of days for an update on your trip,, and totally enjoying it !!!
thanks for sharing mate,,your goin well!!
catcha,,
skip
travellingstrom said
Hi Skip, I am glad it is still worth reading. Cheers TS
Jack Bowen said
TS Are you sleeping in the side ditch ? I can’t think of a campground at your 50 spot report for Thursday. Where are you going next like for the next week ?
travellingstrom said
Hi Nope, not a ditch, but a campground at Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort. Mind you it rained so much and th tent leaked like a freaking sieve, so it might as well be a ditch 🙂 Cheers Richard
Vstrom_Charlie said
Hey Richard,
Did the coppers lock you up somewhere along the dragon? Waiting for an update. Hope all is well.
travellingstrom said
Hi Nope, no cops, although they were around picking up bodies and bikes etc. I survived but as there is no internet, I have been doing other things, like ride. Cheers TS
ybg said
It is interesting that LDL would not design their box to be solar powered, seeing as you tire pressure indicator is in the sun all day. Hmmmm?
Chattanooga is a nice town. On the south end of town there is a street, it’s dry on one south side of the street and wet on the north. It happens to be the county line. The history of that area is quite amazing, if you are into that War of Northern Aggression stuff.
travellingstrom said
Hi again Well, the battery in the main unit is a CR2032 watch battery and is easily replaced. I am talking about the sensor that is inside the tyre itself, it does not get much sun 🙂 I did not see much of Chattanooga, maybe another time, I was riding to ther Dragons Tail, that is better than history any day 🙂 Cheers TS
ybg said
So true 🙂
It looks like the Gap was the real Deal for you. ;{0
travellingstrom said
Yep, I liked it, even in the rain 🙂 TS
Jack Bowen said
Ok See your moving again -8 minutes ago. I was just about ready to come down there and get you, not. I was going to call the ADV possy at 3:00 pm tho. The week of the Strom eastern rally a guy went off. He was able to crawl back up to the road and was ok. I guess his bike was toast tho. Then another guy had a battery issue. He was out of cell phone range and pressed his spot button. He got the problem fixed or someone helped him before the sherrif found him. They were looking for him so the thing worked. Now go have some more fun and post some pictures.
Jack
travellingstrom said
Hi Yep, I am sick of the rain and sleeping in a wet tent, so i am heading south and east. There was a car take out a Goldwing, car driver dead I believe, no seat belt and a Harley rode over the edge, he was unhurt and bike a bit bent but OK. I stayed upright, but nearly dropped it in the mud of the camp ground 🙂 I did not use the SPOT much because it would have looked real messy on the web page, but I had it attached in case I went down. Cheers TS