Last I saw the Orange Warrior she was in a Nashville warehouse, waiting to be packed up for shipping.
There's a whole sub-industry in cargo shipment around motorcycle shipping. Makes sense, and not just for manufacturers and dealers. Lots of riders will ship their bikes to destinations, ride the heck of them, and then ship the bikes back home. The cost is pretty reasonable too. When I dropped her off, there were at least 3 other bikes already on palettes.
I used motorcycleshippers.com. They had the best price for shipping. Next time I go on one of these long-range adventures, I just might ship the OW and then ride her back here.
Or rather I previously knew but have since forgotten and now re-know; a collection of learnings that maybe you didn't know.
The US is a big, big country with lots of nothing in-between.
But you gotta see it for yourself.
Eating moonpies with your nieces is always awesome.
When camping in the Mt Rushmore area, pack your own water--unless you like iron deposits.
The primary interstate route through the northern US (I-90) is often closed for bad weather. And when winds get to 40+ mph winds, the feeling is akin to being smacked on the head and body by 3 dozen whiffle ball bats. For 8 hours.
There are enough poisonous snakes in South Dakota to warrant a sign at each rest stop.
People will eat just about anything.
Always be on the lookout for the little surprises in life.
When visiting Mt Rushmore, leave the drones at home.
Finding long-lost friends never gets old.
If you are lucky enough to visit inside Ohio Stadium, Stay. Off. The. Field. (My apologies to the grounds crew)
Put out good vibes and you can meet great people anywhere, anytime.
Sometimes you choose the robe. And sometimes the robe chooses you.
Route 129 connects North Carolina and Tennessee on the southwestern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. At its core, it is a twisty little two-lane road that climbs and dips its way along hillsides and water. It's the type of road you'd expect when you want to get away to the countryside.
The Tail of the Dragon, as it's known, is also considered one of the most technical stretches of road in the country. The road's mystique and attraction have grown over the years due to the 318 turns in 11 miles, along with the bikes and lives its claimed. Long tractor-trailers are for the most part banned, and motorcyclists and sports car drivers from around the world converge on this remote part of Appalachia for a chance to push speed.
You can start on either end of the Dragon, though the Tennessee side seems to be considered the start. I started on the North Carolina side at Deal's Gap.
A motorcycle resort and another roadside bar/store greet you on this end. Though you can buy TOTD t-shirts on either end of the ride, this side seems to be more established and more commercial. Go ahead and buy a t-shirt or sticker here--prices are decent and the selection is good. But if you're the superstitious type like me, pack those trinkets away until you've earned them at the end of the ride.
This is also where you'll find the Tree of Shame. It bears the wreckage of bikes and tributes to riders who've died in this stretch of road.
Spending a few minutes at the tree should be required reflection for anybody about to ride the TOTD.
There are plenty of copyrighted maps you can look up to see the route, so I'm skipping the turn-by-turn description, but check out the video below. I mounted the Drift Ghost HD vidcam on the right front turn signal for the first time.
A few photographers have set up shop along the TOTD, and if you can wait a day or two you'll have a professionally captured image of your ride to glory. The ones I know of are www.killboy.com, www.129slayer.com, and www.us129photogs.com. Here's the best one of the bunch from my ride.
Just make sure you are finished with TOTD before engaging in a suitably embarrassing display of celebration.
And if you do ride TOTD, have fun, be careful, and don't let the squids rush you.
The Setting: The intrepid reporter (yours truly) is lugging 50 pounds of camera gear through a forest trail to reach an outcropping overlooking Mt Jackson. This is where the National Park Service is conducting a peregrine falcon release program.
As we climb through the brush, sweat soaking my clothes, the forest ranger stops in his tracks and turns to me:
"You hear that rain?"
Listening through the pounding of my heart and heaving of breath I manage to hear the steady trickle of rain splashing through the leaves. It's weird though, as the rain hits me, I don't get wet.
"It's not rain," he says, "it's caterpillar poop."
True story.
Why bring it up? Because the caterpillars are still pooping up a storm in SNP. Riding along Skyline Drive, it seemed like a good idea to leave the face shield open to catch the breeze. There were occasional raindrops, but it occurred to me after a while I wasn't getting wet anymore, and they were the same type of "raindrops" that fell on me 26 years ago.
Pennies from heaven indeed. Anyway, here's some footage from the ride.
So many folks to thank for making it a success and worthwhile--from the overnight stays to the free meals and coffee. A lot of folks I couldn't visit--so next time...
Most of all, thanks to Cece, Natasha, Jackson, and Robby for supporting me the entire way. Yes, I brought you something.
Now, all employees are reminded to wash their hands before returning to work.
(Nashville, TN) Sitting here in the Springhill Suites hotel lobby, surrounded by Swedish teens who have been indoctrinated into some sort of international book-selling scam, eating breakfast, and FOX News is on the TV.
The news producer for this segment decided that we should watch a steady barrage 'flash and trash' (as we used to call it) video; first the deadly stunt plane/mid-air collision in Italy, and then the aerial circus accident. Now it's the extreme weather segment.
I don't watch FOX--I miss the Steve Deucey of old; the one who produced the fun and goofy segments back in DC--and it's been really nice, in general, the past two weeks ignoring the news, but it's a reminder that when I return home, I can start downloading all the video I shot this trip and uploading all those moving pictures.
The Drift Ghost vidcam (http://store.driftinnovation.com/cameras/drift-hd-ghost) shoots really great video but requires a desktop/USB configuration. I was able to use a couple computers in hotel business centers to compile once video, but this is a really long process. So look for those videos in the coming days and weeks.
Hold on, can't write anymore--there's a story about Kimye on TV...
