OK, this is the test for my gear. We packed up...for the first time either of us had packed these bikes for serious adventure. Got gas. Got breakfast.
Still raining hard. Why is it so hard to start a trip in the rain? The tat starts in TN Tellico Plains but the dirt starts about 3 miles outside town. That is Wills road. Paved for a short distance just to fool you, then gravel. Actually, we got used to the gravel and were creeping along nicely. Understand that neither Mark nor I had any experience on gravel so we were really slow. Then we came to the first water crossing. We plowed through and felt great. Soon we got to #2 and that went well, wet but upright. #3 was the same. #5...another story. It was longer. I aimed directly across and made sure to feed power to the wheels so I did not lose momentum. About 5 feet from the far shore I hit a hole, got all screwed up, and dumped the bike on the bank...with my leg pinned under the bike. Mark waded across to get the bike off me, otherwise I would be there still. My ankle hurts like hell but I do not think anything is broken. This was at about mile 10.
A close look will reveal that the front beak is sheared off. Later I noticed that the right turn signal is history. Otherwise the damage was minor....except that my ankle started to hurt. You can see that Mark's bike is still on the other side. He learned from my trip and took a route downstream of mine.
We still had the real bitch water crossing ahead of us! About a mile farther down the road we came to the real challenge. There is a hole on the left ridge that can swallow a truck tire. Locals stay to the extreme right, just about where you see a big rock about to munch your bike. Somehow we made that crossing ok. All this was within the first 10 miles of the start! I was thinking that if the whole ride was going to be like this it would take us forever...between trips to the ER.
The truth was that after Wills road the TAT was mostly paved roads going through very rural TN. Yes, we did have a bit more gravel and some bothersome potholes in the Cherokee National Forest. Many of the paved sections were not really two lanes, more like one lane with the hope that noone was coming around a blind curve. The rain continued all day. Sometimes it was only a drizzle, other times made up for that. All this kept our speeds down but we did get the chance to look around.
Whew, now I am in a warm motel room. We rode 201 gps miles but only about 175 tat miles because we got lost...more than once.
I was using the roll charts and gps, mark had the maps to double check out progress..we still got lost. We found abandoned trailer parks where a scary movie could be set, saw countless turtles trying to cross the road, met locals who refused to look at a map but easily gave directions...wrong, and generally had a fun time. We were on hard surfaced roads for about 75% of the time and it was all a real slice of the real America. We were dry! At 6 we quit for the day. Found a Best Western across the street from a Mexican restaurant that had 2 for 1 drinks.
Life is good, even though I could hardly walk across the street. Actually, I had to hobble across 5 lanes of traffic (more like skipping), in the pouring rain. Did I mention 2 for 1 drinks? Well, that made the entire day soooo much better.
We got to know Rosa, the bartender, and sampled the best Tequila in the house. Smooth!
If my ankle is better tomorrow we will forge ahead, if worse...we will decide then. Another note, my father in law has been in failing health. We saw him two weeks ago for his 90th birthday. My wife just called to tell me that he died today. My wife and the entire family want me to continue this trip. Decisions, decisions.
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