ZEN and the Art of Drafting.

Monday morning had us on the bike before 7am focused on getting home and putting this weird trip to bed. We had scattered showers around plus heavy fog. Out onto the highway when I noticed the bike struggling to reach 60 miles per hour, any incline dropped us to the low 50's. OH CRAP! This worried me greatly. I stopped and added the last of the fuel cleaner, checked tire pressures and even removed my rain coat to reduce drag. NO LUCK.

Then it dawned on me. We were the ONLY vehicle out moving this early and there were no other vehicles to run with, the wind drag on the loaded down bike was just showing itself. We needed a drafting partner!

It was no time until a empty horse hauler made it's way past us on a long down hill section. In a move that would have made Richard Petty proud we ducked in tight behind the horse trailer and we were off and running again. The vacuum behind the truck sucked us down the road in the mid to upper 60's and we even hit 75 mph! The cowboys in the truck understood what we were doing and gladly pulled us all the way to Birmingham. But there was a trade off. Every once in awhile wind would get to whipping around inside the horse trailer sending chunks of poo flying our way. I told Brett to keep his mouth shut! When we finally pulled off for gas our new friends blew the horn and waved. I was a little shocked when I noticed the chunks of poo on the bike were not all dried! YIKES.

We gave Charlene a call to let her know we were riding all the way home when she told us she was already heading towards Leeds, AL to pick us up. It was storming heavily outside of Atlanta and traffic had picked up as we approached the noon hour. That was fine with us, no shame in taking a lift after covering just over 2200 miles in 10 days on 1940's technology!

Gimme All Your Luvin' All Your Hugs and Kisses Too

What a great concert, ZZ Top can still teach then young'uns a thing or two. They did an almost 2 hour set and had everyone on their feet.

We left out of Claremore, OK this morning riding close to 550 miles in 11 hours, that's hauling some serious butt on a URAL!

I have the BEST WIFE IN THE WORLD, in addition to supporting this trip she was concerned about the bad weather between Birmingham and Atlanta tomorrow and offered to bring the trailer out to get us. I hope we do not have to go that route. But to be honest, we are both beyond exhaustion at this point. The heat, long hour and physical demands of the Ural are taking it's toll.

Flat as a Pancake

Got up for breakfast and noticed the spare tire was flat, how did I manage that??? It has not been on the ground in 4 or 5 days. Turns out it was a small finishing nail not much bigger than a staple did us in!

The local motorcycle dealer, "Booger John's" was closed. Apparently they are at Rocklahoma for the day! Figures.

Next was a hot and steamy ride to Tulsa for a new tube. Managed to eat another few hours our our day.

The URAL is running good although she is puling some fluid out of the final drive running at highway speeds. I could care less at this point, I'll clean it when I get home.

We Made It!

Today was longer than planned. Brett wanted to double back into Arkansas where we left the trail and pick up the chase. He understands bragging rights and wants to the do the whole trip! Couple of long and hard roads but most were butter compared to yesterday. We hit Pryor Creek, OK, our goal at 3:45 local time. We breezed in a full day ahead of schedule!

1425 total miles! 6 1/2 days!

Tomorrow is rest, ZZ Top and packing for the ride home.

Astronauts Wake Up.

Awakened this morning to Aerosmith's "Dream On" on my cell phone. Nice touch.

Got into Stillwell, OK about 8pm local time last night.. They roll the streets up early around here, nothing to eat except Mexican or McDonalds. Mexican won,,,, or did it!

Roughest day yet, we went through the trails the URAL is not supposed to make it through and even though we had to walk it up some steep ridges and ledges we made it.

The hardest parts yesterday were the "groomed" roads that the road graders left behind in far west Arkansas and Hurricane Creek road in the Ozarks. Hurricane Creel had miles and miles of rough washboard and fist sized rocks. The "groomed" or scraped roads were the worst on the Ural. The roads were about 3 inches deep in freshly tilled soil which hid the rocks. If you have ever ridden a sidecar rig up a steep incline it tends to pull hard towards the sidecar, where all the drag is. So it's a constant fight to keep it straight. The hidden rocks beat on us and the rig. At one point we went over a flat, plate sized rock that the front tire kicked out of the loose dirt and it jammed the underside of the bike so hard I figured the oil sump was crushed. It hit and wedged in so hard it lifted the entire back of the bike. It appears the center stand took the full brunt.

I'm Too Young to Feel This Damned Old

If your body is supposed to be your temple, this is mine!

I am glad I get bragging rights for bringing this bike but it is starting to wear on me. I am a bit too tall for it which puts my knees in a bind and makes them ache, my back was toast before I ever left and the hammering the front takes on these rough roads is killing my wrists. But other than that I'm ok!

Today was another long day, creek crossings and tons of gravel. The Ozarks had a few surprises. We went up one road that would have given a Jeep a run for it's money. I had to get Brett out before we broke it then I had to climb the remainder of the ridge in 2 wheel drive.

We also had our first breakdown today. It came as a result of the constant pounding these rough roads give the bike. A clamp worked it's way off one of the carburetor snorkels and we picked up a fast idle from it. I safety wired it and zip tied it enough so we could limp to the nearest town. On the way there I noticed a bad bog in the throttle response. My guess is we sucked some dirt into the jetting system. We cleaned the carbs and ran fuel cleaned for a couple of tanks and it seams to have worked itself out.

Eating the Elephant One Bite At A Time.

This picture says it all!

Today was another 220 mile day. The days are long and HOT, the scenery diverse. Kudzu that covers entire country sides, flooded areas, a deep talcum powder road system, mud requiring two wheel drive, and gravel roads running for endless miles. We have seen more tornado damage, seen rice patties and more corn than humanly imaginable. We even got to watch several crop dusters doing their acrobatics.

Great Turtle Migration of 2010

Seems like every stretch of road has a turtle crossing to the other side. We've seen them from the size of a softball to Frisbee sized.

Day 3 was a mixture of nondescript, meandering blacktop (or what this area calls blacktop) long winding dirt sections and we got to play in the mud a bit.

Several locations had been under water just a couple of weeks ago, it was amazing to see the water marks on the trees then look off into these field and realize that it must have looked like a small ocean.

We saw some storm damage earlier but it was nothing compared to what we saw in I believe was the Holly Springs, MS area. Entire homes gone, others damaged beyond repair and untold acres of prime timber country just flattened.

We are being careful with the weather, respecting every storm. They are bubbling up in the days heat and turning dangerous fast. We sought shelter yesterday for over an hour at a remote country church where we saw torrential down pours and dime sized hail.

Day 2 put to bed

The first part of the day, well it sucked. Lot's of chip seal, the scenery was not that good and IT WAS HOT!!!! I was even thinking about cutting some corners to get farther down the trail, but we stuck with it. The second half of the day brought waterfalls, stream crossing and even come cattle herding.

We finished up the trail and turned towards Savannah, TN. Tonight was the night to put the new tire on the back before we hit Mississippi. Tomorrow is 100 more miles of Tennessee and the first part of the 188 miles of Miss.

Day One Recap

This picture sums up day one. This was a reclaimed rail road bed, long and winding, great grade for the Ural as we were able to keep a great pace through here.

We saw deer, squirrels, dog, turkeys and even vultures! We saw caves, waterfalls and rushing streams.