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.

Camping at the Hampton Inn

We got on the road much later than expected. Charlene hauled Brett and I to Chattanooga where we unloaded and set out North in search of the Trans America Trail. We made a pass through River Canyon Road along the banks of the Tennessee River (A must do ride.) Next we went through Pikeville, TN where most of my family is from. I was amazed at the money spent to revamp the downtown area, and it's still empty.

We picked up the Trans America Trail just south of Crossville, TN. We ran chip seal roads, dirt, gravel and even a reclaimed railroad bed.

The URAL did great, for what it is. All in all it is much slower over the whole day than I thought it was going to be.

Brett was a GREAT co-pilot/navigator. We got into a routine about 1/2 way through the day and worked well together.

In an attempt to stick to our schedule we pushed a little further than planned and made it Manchester, TN.

Adapt and Overcome

Left work early yesterday, had about 4 hours worth of misc BS to take care of.

On the way home the boy calls and wants to know how to dress a cut.
"Hydrogen peroxide and a teflon bandage, I'll be home in a few minutes"

3 1/2 hours at the local doc-in-a-box and 10 stitches later we make it home with the same 4 hours worth of stuff to do. Driving till 2am was not an option.

It's an adventure right?

Our moto is adapt and overcome. We are modifying the starting point, since momma cannot take more time off to shuffle her children around we are going to let her drop us in Chattanooga. We are going to do River Canyon Road then head North up 27 through Pikeville towards Crossville and pick up the trail there.

We have had a minor setback in departure time. We will be leaving Atlanta tomorrow morning and joining the regularly scheduled programing.

Closing in on Departure

This weekend was split between finishing up odds and ends on the bike and working on my "Honey Do" list.

After spending too many hours wandering through the Cherokee National Forest last week into the wee hours of the morning it was obvious more lighting was needed on the bike. We added HELLA lights to the sidecar. Next I broke out the welder and added a sheet of extruded metal to the push bumper for some added protection.

Shake Down Cruise Part Deux

Hard to tell but the packing was much better on Saturday morning. Weight distribution is the lesson learned.

Other than a downed rider that we ran across early in the day it was pretty uneventful. We even found roads bad enough to force us to put the URAL in 2 wheel drive. FUN!

290 miles ridden on a mixture of Hwy, secondary roads, gravel, dirt and mud.

I now fear that our distance goals for the Trans American Trail may be a little too industrious.

The Ugly Details

First, we were late leaving. I had worked a 12 hour day and was late getting home. We should have stayed home and left Saturday morning. We forced the trip to happen, we loaded the bike in a rush, no harm no foul but that was stupid. The result was less than 45 minutes into the trip we were in the dark, it was COLD and we forgot even log sleeved t-shirts.

I had upgraded the factory lights on the URAL but they are still piss poor by today's standards. As we reached the top of BURNT MOUNTAIN (just East of Jasper) we rounded a turn to be blinded by a large trucks high beams,,, then we realized why he was not dimming them, A HERD OF DEER!

Dark, poor lighting, slow traveling speeds and now my Deer-Radar is up. It's going to be a long night. We got to the area we were shooting for about 10:45, exhaustion.

To our surprise all the campsites appear to be full, we were cold and tired. C R A P.

Our next mistake, we pushed further and further into the Cherokee National Forest, in the dark and cold, looking for a camping spot. This resulting in us finally getting back to the main road about midnight. We checked two more locations without luck.

The closest location for shelter was now Dahlonega, a cold and long 25 miles to the south, over the mountain. Brett was bundled up and laying low in the sidecar. We arrived in Dahlonega, frozen, just before 1am and took last room the Comfort Inn had.

Shake Down Cruise A Success! Kinda

The shake down cruise was a success,,,,,,,,, well kinda.
Lessons Learned:
We underestimated the popularity of Trout Fishing as a destination for Mothers Day.
Don't force anything.
Stop, regroup and live to ride another day.
Pack, practice, execute and learn from your mistakes. Then repack.
Less is actually more.

Trial Run

Most of our gear is already packed and ready to go. This weekend will be a trial run from Marietta, GA to Suches, GA in the Chattahoochee National Forest. We are going to ride up after work, arriving about dark. Brett will get to try his tent putting upper skills in the dark if my plan goes well. I hope we can get close to the stocked lake so we can fish a little after dark and tomorrow.

Epic Flooding in Tennessee

All we can do is sit, watch and wait to see how the flooding plays out and effects our trip. The Eastern sections of Tennessee are supposed to be OK but central and Western sections are going through "EPIC" flooding. From what I see on TV this is the same type of flooding we had in Georgia last summer.

Sunday May 2nd

I broke out the welder and made a rear fender rack for the bike. More storage is always good and I doubt I'll ever use the rear tractor seat anyway.

Last Week.

Most of the spare parts are in and the final accessories are going on the bike. We added a front rack to the sidecar as well as another 2 1/2 gallon Russian Jerry Can. We now have a range of about 250 miles without stopping.

Trans American Trail Itinerary

Friday May 21st
Brett gets out of school and we make a late day run to Jellico, TN where Charlene will dump us out.

Saturday May 22nd
We hit the road early and will either camp for the night at Rock Island State Park in Rock Island, TN OR if really bad weather or my back gives out we may hotel it in McMinnville, TN

Sunday May 23rd
Night 2 will be a cheapie motel in Columbia, TN

Monday MAy 24th
Looks like a cheap motel yet again! Either Selmer, TN or Walnut, MS

Tuesday May 25th
Hopefully we'll eat Mississippi in one day staying in Helena, AR. This might be a good night to get a better hotel, swim and have a really good meal.

Wednesday May 26th
Looks like a nice camping area just WEST of Clinton, AR

Thursday May 27th
Devils Den State Park just shy of the Oklahoma border

Friday May 28th
Should be an easy stroll in to Pryor Creek, OK for ROCKLAHOMA! and ZZ TOP on Saturday!

This is where we turn into NOMADS. We have toyed with hitting ROUTE 66 and heading to Joplin, MO then to Branson, MO to Graceland and home. We are also looking at heading south the CRATER OF DIAMONDS STATE PARK to dig around in hope of actually finding a diamond so we can pay for this trip!

The first days of the URAL

After getting the Ural, prep work began to get it ready for the trip. Actually the first 2 weeks consisted of Brett and I constantly riding it trying to get used to a side car rig (when it was not broken). Not much of what you know about motorcycle riding applies here. Weird geometry, not putting your feet down, strange sensations of pushing and pulling. Within 20 miles of the dealership we broke an exhaust rocker arm, POP! And there we sat for almost 2 hours waiting for a ride back to the dealership. A 15 minute repair and we were back on the road.

The second week of ownership resulted in a final drive failure. The URAL folks were quick to resolve the issue and we were back on the road yet again!

Since we picked up the bike and worked the bugs out we have focused on breaking it in and putting it through it's paces to get an idea of what we are in for.

The Idea.

I will be turning 50 years old this year and like most of us dumb ass guys want to do something to make it memorable. I had actually planned on doing the BAJA 500 and went as far as buying and setting up the bike for it. Trained hard over 2 summers and actually was confident in finishing. Then the economy turned sour and that dream just drifted away.

The back up plan that surfaced earlier this year was to do part of the Trans America Trail or TAT. The TAT is a series of dirt, gravel and primative back roads that run from Jellico, TN to the Oregon coast with as little black top mised in as possible. I have a BMW R1200GS Adventure and figured weather permitting I could do at least half the trail this year and finish it up next year.

Then one night Charlene saw me drooling over the new GEAR-UP motorcycle on the URAL page. She asked if I would ever think of taking our son along on the trip if we had a URAL. We talked about it for a few days and the next thing I know, I have a new URAL in the garage.