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.