Day 1
Saturday Oct. 2nd, 2004
Six riders met at my house ready to ride before
daylight for the 400 mile backroad ride to the start of the Trans-Am trail in
Sparta Tennessee. Chadd Thompson on the Triumph Tiger couldn't make it, and
John Simmons from Cape Girardeau Mo. would ride straight from his BMW shop in
Cape Girardeau and meet us there.
We have a few mechanicals---have to build ramps up an old bridge to get across
it----have to ride over huge dirt mounds to cross another very old bridge---have
quite a few crash and burns (the best one of me was caught on video)-----eat
a ton of dust----- cross a river on a ferry----and down one dirt road where
the bridge is washed out, we go down thru a creek, beat it thru thick woods,
go thru an interstate fence and climb up on the interstate to get thru-----and
near the end I get chased by a cop who just can't get around traffic to catch
me. Join us for all the fun !!!
And by the way--only 4 bikes make it all the
way to Oklahoma !!!!!
|
We hit the road for about an hour
and stopped for breakfast. Here is Kevin Sweet on his 04 KLR. Kevin has
only had the KLR for about 6 months but has put over 10,000 miles on it
and has modified the heck out of it. Kevin has a helmet cam on the top
of his helmet and shot the whole ride---we can't wait till Kevin gets
it edited so we can all see it. Kevin is really packin' heavy--so we'll
see how that works out for him throughout the ride. His rear knobby is
a little worn--we'll see if it makes it !!
|
 |
 |
Somewhere in Kentucky we pull over
for a pee break. The big guy is Larry Taylor from St. Louis--he is 6ft.
6 inches tall and has a size 14 shoe---I think he turned out to be the
toughest rider of us all--this man likes to ride.
|
This is at the same stop----I don't know if these
2 guys are going to make it or not.
It was a beautiful fall day--and we were to ride
rain free for several days.
|
 |
 |
N36°24.091' W85°46.855'
Tooling along the backroads of Kentucky we came
across this little covered bridge. If you know me--you know I love
covered bridges. This one is on private property and I think was just
built by the owner---I don't think it was used for public traffic
ever.
|
 |
N37°12.137' W86°14.261'
Houchins Ferry
This ferry is actually located in Mammoth Cave
National Park and is a free ride. There are two operating in the park
and this one is real unique, in that it has a hydraulic pump driven
by a gas engine and the pump drives a hydraulic motor which turns
a paddle wheel--pretty unique.
|
N36° 08.868' W85° 50.568'
This old abandoned steel truss bridge has been blocked off and inaccessible
for years. I have been here before and found it more difficult than
ever to get on it. We had to ride around a concrete barrier and down
a steep embankment to get on it. Few people are coming here anymore
as you can see grass is growing up in the middle of it. It is a about
500 ft. across as is a beautiful old structure. This bridge is in
the opening scene of the movie "The Green Mile" with actor
Tom Hanks.
|
 |
 |
Now the fun begins---on the other
side it seems we were blocked by this tall mound of dirt meant to keep
the ordinary traveler out--I was determined to ride thru and continue
on but was worried about getting the big bikes over this obstacle.
|
|
I blew over it with ease---keeping
up good momentum over the top so as not to get stuck on top. Rodney
needed a little push on the 1150GS Adventure.
|
 |
 |
Joe Hart didn't have any trouble
either on his smaller DR650.
|
|
Big ole' Larry was packing heavy
too and needed a shove !!
|
 |
 |
With arms in the air--we all cheered
after all of us had made it over the mound of dirt.
|
|
This was down the road a little
ways-----we met several road closed and bridge out signs on this trip-----but
we barged our way thru every one of them---we actually looked forward
to seeing them, wonderin' what challenge would be ahead of us. Everytime
we would see one--I think all of us just grinned a little !!!
|
 |
 |
N36° 05.869' W85°49.543'
On the North end of Center Hill Lake on the Caney
Fork river we ran across this hydro electricl plant and dam. Our route
didn't go over this dam----of course we had to ride over it anyway.
|
After 400 miles of nice backroad riding we arrived in Sparta,
Tennessee in the dark at the Royal Inn where John Simmons was already there
waitin' for us drinkin' a cold one. We shot the bull for awhile--but I hit
the sack early as usual ad I like to hit the road early.
Day 2 The
start of the Trans-Am trail in middle Tennessee
Back
To my Homepage