Day two...and the end

Mark got up at 0400 to take a look outside...rain.  We got up at 0600 for real and you guessed it, RAIN.  Weather radar showed that this was probably going to be a heavy downpour lasting most of the day and maybe into tomorrow.  We have rain gear so that's not catastrophic, just worth noting.

More importantly, my ankle still hurts whenever I put weight on it...like if I had to support the bike.  That means I would be in danger on any non level surface, gravel, or another water crossing.  It's just not worth taking that chance because we may well find ourselves in the middle of nowhere when that happened.  It's one thing to start out at 100% and have a problem, quite another to get in the saddle knowing that you have a critical problem.  In short, we had to abort.

Once again we loaded up in the rain.  This time we hit the Interstate for a 70 mph blast.  Although the rain was really heavy all went well.  We had really heavy traffic in Chattanooga TN.  Believe me, riding bumper to bumper in heavy rain is exciting....excitement I can do without. 

Back in Tellico Plains we loaded up (damn, seems like were here just yesterday!), got a great BBQ lunch, and headed back to Roanoke.

Beth was glad to see Mark again, as was their new puppy, Oliver. 

Here's another shot of the bike, showing that the beak simply sheared off.  I think my aux light bar caught in the sand and got enough leverage to just rip the plastic apart. 

I'm now back in Portsmouth, Virginia.  Tomorrow I will drive to NC so I can attend the funeral on Thursday. 

Looking back on this adventure I'd say that we had enough excitement and left ourselves open for learning more about riding off road, particularly water crossings.  The TAT itself was less of an adventure than I was expecting, much more pavement than I thought we would see.  Granted we only rode 175 of 430 miles in TN but the map made it look like the rest would be more of the same back roads.  Sam's roll charts were generally very good but there were enough places with either no road name or a wrong one that we got lost a few times.  The GPS coordinates on the roll charts were what saved the day.  If we missed a turn we could go to the listed coordinates and get back on track.  For the future I think I will pick up the TAT in OK or CO.  Now it is time for an Advil!