Mototrip with the Other Half

Since my most recent trip was rather cool, I feel that it should preface the actual upcoming trip. I am currently sick and have nothing else better to do, so I will accelerate the process of sharing this trip with you guys. Someone also requested pictures from my recent October 2014 trip so they will be included in here as well. Images from my older March 2014 trip can be found in my older posts on here.

So without further ado, here we go.

My wife and I live in Jacksonville, FL. If you want a decent road, you will have to road trip it for quite a while before you get to anything interesting. Being that it is Florida, many of the roads here are going to be straight, vast expanses of level ground. As someone so eloquently put it on SVrider.com; "Florida's Tail of the Dragon...11 turns in 318 miles." As sad as it is, I could not agree more with whoever said that. I wanted to test my wife's mettle, so we packed up the bikes and headed up north. It was pretty cold when we left, but nothing we had not dealt with before.  Temperatures might have been in the low 40's when we set off. It warmed up nicely as the sun came up though. Of course there was the obligatory stop at Chikfila for breakfast and coffee. Our check in point was a place called Whitewater Express. We had stayed there on a previous trip and really liked it, so when we saw the groupon for them again, we had to take advantage. It's right on the southern Tennessee/North Carolina border. 

It took us about 8.5 hours to get up there. No problems whatsoever, which is always a good thing. Our stay this time around was going to be very short, so if we wanted to knock out the dragon, we had to do it the same day as the trip up there. That meant humping it 8.5 hours, checking in, unpacking at the cabin, then jumping back on the bikes for another 1.5 hours to get to Deal's Gap. Since my wife was on unfamiliar roads, she took her sweet time and it took us much longer than anticipated to actually reach the dragon. An oversight on my part, I suppose. We finally reach the start of US129 around 6 pm and my wife is already kind of panicky just from the roads to get there. I told her if she could tackle the roads earlier, she would do just fine. Just look through your corners and avoid target fixation at all costs. 

We set off and I realize it is slow going right away. Those that have been on this road know that bikes will literally eat it up and it's super fun to ride on. Since my wife was spooked to begin with, there was no spirited-ness about this jaunt at all. There were a few times where we had to use the pull-offs so CARS could pass us by. I started to get frustrated, which rather kills the mood for both of us. Just before the overlook to the gap we were lucky enough to catch the Killboy photographer as he was packing up. We were the last set of bikes he got shots of before he took off. After getting to the overlook, we get off so my wife can relax a bit and I can be grumpy. She managed to get one of the funniest pictures while we were waiting to get back on the road.

Also, as the trip was short, you can see that our packing set-up was quite light. We were also wearing backpacks for stuff we wanted to keep on our person the whole time. We get back on the dragon headed north so we can finish it out. I take off because I was getting antsy. I reach the end and it's nearly a full five minutes before my wife comes petering down the road. We still have to go back to the cabin for the night and I was hoping we would make it back before the sun went down and it got cold. Maaaaaaannnn was I wrong about that one. Due to everything taking much longer than anticipated, the sun was almost already down by the time we finished 129 going south. My wife wanted to get a picture with the metal dragon they have there at the resort and we were going to get some stickers, but the gift shop had closed maybe 15 minutes before we got there. I will make a note to get her some on this upcoming trip.

Aside from the cold and riding for probably a solid 12-13 hours that first day, I'd say we did pretty stinking well. Both bikes performed admirably and operated without a hitch. The rest of the trip consisted of whitewater rafting on the Ocoee river and paintball on a mountain side. We also made an aside to Nantahala Outdoor Center for dinner one night as well. As always, Killboy knocked our action shots out of the park!!!

The trip back took us a bit longer. We stopped at a gas station after we had gotten out of the mountains in order to do a spot check with maintenance, lube the chains, check oil levels, etc, etc. Since we take very good care of our steeds to begin with, they treated us just as well on this trip. Neither bike needed much of anything aside from a spray of lubricant on the chain. After a quick breakfast and coffee at Dunkin Donuts, we scooted on back to Jacksonville in roughly 9.5 hours.

This next trip will be done all by my lonesome again, but I don't mind the solitude at all. Ever since becoming a teacher, silence and time to myself is something that is hard to come by. I wonder if I will appreciate the upcoming tour more so because of that fact. We shall see!

Dedicated Video Post!!!

441 South from Gatlinburg to Cherokee

Nothing was open so I could eat. Turned around and headed back up 441 to Gatlinburg for some dinner.

My first try on US129. It was extremely wet which made it that much more entertaining.

My final run on the Dragon for the day. It was my third go at it. Run number 2 is for my own personal memory banks :)

And that concludes my recording of this fantastic trip. Thanks for riding along with me.

Post-trip reflection and Damage Report

Was I unprepared for the events that took place on this trip? 

I've been asking myself that ever since I got home. To be honest, I don't think I was. I may not have prepared to fully cover the extent at which the rain came down on my return, but other than that, things could have been much worse. Who actually expects to be caught in rain all the way down the east coast? Yes, I did get a spook with the assumed bad gasoline at the start which eventually led to the spark plug boot snafu on the way back. I did my best to make sure I had the resources and capability to overcome such instances. Aside from not packing dialectric grease (which will be done on trips here on out), I stand by my previous statement. Even my amateur-ly set-up suspension performed better than expected, now that I come to think of it. If one were to remove the circumstances that were outside of my control, this trip could have been 99.5% successful

99.5%? Why not 100%? There still were little things that affected overall success, but only in ways if they had not been addressed during the trip, where they could have led to possible catastrophic failure. For starters, I probably should have replaced my chain prior to leaving. The thing already had about 18,000 miles on it, and I was about to put another 1,500 on it pretty much in one go. It's been a good chain, but I could tell that it was beginning to bite the dust, but I decided to roll with it anyway. Maintenance is top priority when it comes to this essential piece of equipment already, with it getting cleaned, lubricated and properly tensioned (if needed, which is few and far between) about every 700 miles or once a month. More so if it rains due to the possibility of rust. The chain was perfect before I left. Had a bit of a sag the day I left. I lubed it before I got on the road to head home. After putting it on the stands and giving Jarvis his post trip inspection, I found it to be quite a bit on the loose side. The tools were available to adjust it, but it really hadn't gotten to the point where I needed to worry. Perhaps I put myself out there in this regard. If the chain had broke or jumped the front sprocket, it could have made for quite the dilemma thanks to the rather fragile clutch push rod and oil seal that are ridiculously close to those moving parts. I made a note to make it the first thing I address to get him road ready again.

Oil consumption was a larger issue than I had anticipated during this trip as well. All of my trips before making this one had been sub 200 miles. I had made some to Orlando before where I get there one day and come back the next, but that's still a piece of cake in flat Florida. The mileage on the oil was a tad on the high side before I left, but well within the suggested replacement window. When I arrived at the hotel, Jarvis' oil was right where it needed to be according to the manual. Smack in the middle of the sight glass window. This was checked on flat surface with the bike upright (not on the kickstand!). Bombdiggity! That's right where it was when I left. After my day of romping in the mountains, the same procedure was used and NO oil could be seen in the sight glass. No biggie. I had some with me and was expecting some level of consumption. The entire quart ended up having to be used. This surprised me quite a bit, since I'm used to longer trips using less oil. Again, I was prepared for such an occurrence and knocked it out of the park to get myself home.

The rain. Oh, the rain on the way back. I'm not sure I could have been prepared for that even if I wanted to be. I wore rain pants and the waterproof liner every time I was on the bike. So I was prepared in that aspect, but I really could have used a few changes of clothes on the way home. Packing them would have been in vain though since it took a very short amount of time for me to go from dry to wet. I learned that sometimes "waterproof" things can only be so waterproof. And of course the stupid spark plug issue...

As cliche' as it sounds, I overcame quite a bit of adversity during this trip, should it be the weather or mechanical issues. Since it is my first of many. I'm sure what I faced on this trip will pale in comparison to what is coming. If you're wondering if you should take a mototrip or something of that nature, just go ahead and do it. You will test yourself mentally and physically, as well as your machine. Of course, be careful and certain while getting your bike and supplies together. If you don't feel comfortable doing your own maintenance, have a shop do it and plan to have it done at your destination if you have a far trip. If your bike is in good shape and you pay attention to what it's telling you en route, you will be able to take it anywhere you want.

Plan for what you know and what you don't. If you choose to travel by yourself, make sure plenty of people know where you're going. Share your route and don't stray too far from it in case something happens. If that doesn't suit your fancy, just be sure you have a way to reach someone should something happen. Traveling solo means that you can move at your own pace and do whatever it is you please. This also gives you a chance to reflect on things and just enjoy the simple and scarce pleasure of being alone. If you choose to bring along some buddies, make sure everyone is on the same page at all times. I'm sure that would make things exponentially easier. Most of all, be sure to ride well within your limits when you are someplace you don't know and BE SAFE!!! Nothing can beat how rewarding a feeling you get when you finally get to "Point B" intact and it's always better to arrive home in one piece. Regardless of where you choose to go or who you choose to go with I highly recommend doing it.

It was cold, it was wet, mentally and physically taxing, extremely unfamiliar, almost scary at times and far away from home. But would I do it again?

You bet I would.

Damage Report:

Jarvis handled the trip remarkably well. Not too many things went wrong aside from what I've already wrote about, but a problem has arisen that may be related to the trip. Here is a list of things that happened or needed to be fixed when I got home.

- Chain needed a massive adjustment and extensive cleaning due to rain and salt scum from the road. It will probably be replaced in the near future.
- Left rear turn signal needed to be rewired. I must have separated some wires when taking my tool kit out on the way up. I thought it had been flooded since it was full of water at one point, but I lucked out.
- Entire bike needed a massive cleaning
- The bolt that held my horn to its bracket decided it wanted to stay in the mountains. I noticed my horn swinging by its wires at one point.
- My gauge cluster had some internal moisture for a few days, but that has since dried out.
- My winter gloves are completely worn out and need to be replaced.
- Something in my Sena SMH5 headset has malfunctioned and won't work properly. I imagine from excessive water exposure. I have already contacted Sena and will be sending the unit in for a replacement since it's still within warranty.
- Although it may be unrelated, my laptop crashed a few days after I got home. The main reason why I haven't gotten to any videos yet.
- I have been getting error codes (C42 for my fellow SVers that may be reading) pertaining to the ignition system every now and again. Thought it may have finally been the "dreaded green connector" problem, so I removed the said connector altogether to no avail. I think I have it isolated to the actual switch inside the key barrel. Too much water/grit/whatever may have found its way in there and is messing with the internal contacts. Hopefully this will phase itself out, but is quite the nuisance whenever it occurs. It's gotten better over the past few days.

Nothing too out of the ordinary. All can be easily fixed or adjusted aside from that occasional error code. All it takes is one or two more tries at turning the key and everything comes on as it should.

Thanks to an extremely helpful friend who was able to back up my hard drive from my crashed laptop after the fact, I now have access to all my videos from the trip again. They will be posted soon after I sort through and edit them.

An Epic Sunday Funday

March 16th

It's raining. A drizzle at first while walking to go eat breakfast at the Donut Friar, but it ended up becoming a steady downpour by the time I left. 

Inside the Donut Friar

I could clearly see those mountains the day before.

I was in a hurry to get on the road because I was really excited and had completely forgot to grab the box of attachments for the cameras before I left. That left me with my helmet mount for the ActionCam only. Bummer, but I still got some good stuff. Headed south on 73/441 for a bit to Old Scenic Highway 73 and Little River Road to the strip that would lead me to Foothills Parkway. I didn't mean to take Little River road, but I'm glad I did. I would have missed some beautiful stuff.

The rain had picked up by now, but I was still able to get some amazing views from the parkway. This photo sums up my views until I got to US129.

Note the soaking wet asphalt.

The parkway takes you straight to US129. I stopped for a little bit next to a huge rock outcropping on Chilowee lake to ring out my gloves and warm up some. For some reason, I got extremely excited during this stop. I was yelling as loud as I could and laughing, not believing that Jarvis and I had actually made it. Aside from a car here or there, things were quite desolate. I had not seen another motorcycle since I-95. Despite the rain, cold and general removal from everything, I was unbelievably happy at that moment. 

Putting things into perspective...

I thought there would be more signs indicating when the Tail of the Dragon actually started, so I didn't realize that I was on it until I had the first few curves under my belt. 

"Hey, you're about to be on The Dragon"

Stopped, fired up the ActionCam, and filmed my first, very wet, run on the Dragon. It was loads of fun even with the rain. Before I knew it the Deal's Gap resort was in front of me. I pulled aside so I could dry off and buy some tokens of my completion of this famed road. A small truck had pulled over to let me pass during my run, and it had also come into the resort. The old couple that was in it walked up to speak with me, the lady starting off the conversation with "You're a true die-hard!!!". Continued to tell them that I was up from Florida and it was actually my very first time on the road. 

Awwww yeahhh!!! Nothing to donate!

Needless to say, they were impressed. Hung out in the maintenance bays to dry off a little more and congratulate myself on not having anything to donate to the famed tree of shame. So I buy a hat and some stickers, chat with the employees that were working for a bit on where I should go next, then got back on the road headed for the Cherohala Skyway.

Honestly, I couldn't really tell you much about the North Carolina side of the Skyway because I COULDN'T SEE A DAMN THING. It was covered in clouds and I could barely see more than 30 feet in front of me. At first it wasn't that bad, but as soon as the climb started, man did things turn sour. Prior to riding into the clouds, I was actually admiring how cool they looked crawling down the mountainside. Little did I know that for the next 45 minutes Jarvis and I would be going 30 mph up this winding road. A small break allowed me to assess the full gravity of my situation... 

Where I just came from...

Where I was going...

I passed the highest point of the road at 5,377 feet but didn't bother to take a picture of the sign because I was just too damn cold. Shortly after, something wonderful happened. THE SUN CAME OUT!!! Never thought that something so simple would bring me so much joy. I stopped at the first pull off I found, parked the bike and spread out on the ground to stretch and warm up. If you ever get the chance to ride through a cloud at the top of a mountain, I would suggest that you pass up the opportunity. The down hill back into Tennessee was beautiful and made for some spectacular views. I tried to stop for pictures as often as I could, but by this time I was so cold and hungry that I wanted to get to Tellico Plains as quickly as possible. 

"Sunshine yes! Sunshine yes!"

Winding through the valleys was uber fun and I did actually have to brake for wildlife once as I came through a turn. A fairly large buck decided to plant himself in my line, but took off before he could cause me any more trouble. Arrived at Tellico Plains around 2:00 and ate at the TelliCafe and conversed with some wonderfully hospitable people. The old lady who ran the place kept wanting to feed me coffee and place my gloves over the oven to get them warm and dry. That beats Jacksonville "hospitality" any day.

During my research before the trip and speaking with the Deal's Gap employee, I added "Moonshiner 28" to the list of roads I wanted to complete, but I had to go a round-about way to get back there since there was no way I was going to head back over the skyway considering what I had just dealt with. Went up 68 to whatever the main road is it runs into to 72 then US129. Did the Dragon again in order to get to 28 and noticed that it was drying up. Made a note to come back this way in order to do it one more time going north. 

Just one of a thousand waterfalls I passed.

Fontana Dam

28 was more relaxed a very pretty. Civilization was so far and few between that I could essentially stop in the middle of the road to take pictures and rest, as shown in the waterfall picture above. Made a stop at Fontana Dam to take some pictures and continued on my way. Went up and over some more mountains and through more clouds to get to Robbinsville, gas up and head north on 129. Cell coverage was nil in these areas and GPS on my phone was generally unavailable, so I actually had to use a paper map to figure out where the hell I was. Filmed a fast, third and final run on the Dragon. It started out wet, but dried up nicely afterwards. Went on to take Foothills Parkway back to Gatlinburg. Because it was raining that morning, I missed a lot of the views offered by the pull-offs. Because it cleared up for the most part, I was able to catch most of them on the way back. Same goes with Little River Road and Scenic 13. A pretty epic selfie was taken before I got back to the hotel.

Am I doin' it right?

You may be wondering why my hands are blue in the photo above. Through my browsing of forums, I read that wearing a pair of latex or nitrile gloves under your liners and gloves helps keep your hands warm and dry. Riding a motorcycle with hands that are wet and cold is not safe at all. This was put to the test when riding Cherohala. It did work for the most part, but there was just too much water to keep things completely dry. They never got too cold though, which made me extremely happy.

 Altogether, Jarvis and I probably scooted around the mountains for a good 300 miles that day. I tested my mettle and riding skills on many unfamiliar roads in less than favorable conditions (sometimes much less than favorable) without incident. A sigh of relief was exhaled when I did get back to the hotel. All in all, I was happy, Jarvis was happy, and everything was right in the world.

**If you're wondering where the videos are, they are still in post production so I can make them nice and pretty for you. They will have a dedicated post in a few days.**

Brake First, Ask Questions Later

The trip was a success. I made it back in one piece and so did the bike. Despite the weather's best efforts to bring me down, it didn't happen. I was able to do all of the roads that were originally slated on my ride plan and make it back to the hotel before dark both days I was in Gatlinburg. Because each day was so eventful, they warrant their own posts delivered over a few days. That will make things more manageable for everyone involved. These will be photo heavy with each shot preceded by a narrative. The post trip montage will follow after all the updates. So get comfortable and let's start from the top.

March 15th

With everything mostly packed the night before, getting ready that morning was rather easy. All that had to be done was pack a few more cords, eat breakfast, get geared up, say my goodbyes and get under way. It seemed like Jacksonville didn't want to let me go because there was a rather large crash blocking three lanes on 95 near downtown. It was 6 in the morning and people still managed to find ways to smash into each other when no one else seems to be around. Passed that and opened it up, preparing for the long haul.

Two hours and 110-120 miles in and the bike cuts out. WHAT. THE. HELL. I begin to pull over, but Jarvis turns back on. There is a noticeable lack in power and I'm getting the "FI" light and rotating "CHEC" on my instrument cluster. I'm still running, so I decide to try and ride it out. Until it happens again! He cut off for a little longer the second time, so that instigated finding a gas station to figure out what the hell was going on. I'm not really panicked but rather extremely pissed off. I pull apart what I can in the parking lot of the gas station I was at with the stock tool kit, with people looking on in confusion. I checked battery connections, made sure the spark plug boots were seated properly and that the plugs were actually tight, scraping up my knuckles on radiator fins in the process. Thought the tank vent might be blocked or clogged due to the heavier than usual tank bag, so I removed the bag, opened the gas cap and cranked him up. He ran fine for a minute, then the idle dropped again and up flickered there error signs. Damnit. Something has to be fouling up the fuel pump in one way or another. After a distressed call to the fiancee' and some deliberation that I should call off the trip and turn around, it was decided that I should fill up, add some fuel system cleaner, and push on. Jarvis ran strong after that with no hick-ups for the next 6-7 hours. I'll chalk this scare up to bad gas that I filled up with at the Gate station the night before.

After navigating around an accident on 95 that had people hanging out outside of their cars, I kept going until I hit 26 west that cuts across South Carolina. Heading further inland, the road became more and more hilly. It was fun, but was killing my miles per gallon. Stayed on 26 until Highway 40 in NC. It wasn't that long before I started seeing mountains in the distance and I couldn't help but hoot and holler at the sight of them. 

I was getting close to my destination. 40 was super fun! An excellently paved road carved through the mountains along the Pigeon River. I don't think the Pilot Road 4's that Jarvis wears have ever actually been "warm" in Florida, but they sure were blazing down 40. 

I wanted to do an actual mountain road before I got to the hotel. I made a lot of rest stops along the way up and amazingly wasn't really that tired. Pulled off on Waterville Road to take 32 West shortly after passing into Tennessee. 

Researching this road on Google Maps left me with some questions as to whether or not it was fully paved. It wasn't, but only for a short portion. Still fun though and I was able to get my dual-sport on for a bit. When the road became paved again it started to get twisty to the point of epic proportions. I quickly learned that I needed to adhere to getting all of my braking done before entering a corner, else I would be shunted off down the side of a mountain. Brake first, ask questions later, you know. I had my fiancee on the phone via a Sena headset so I wouldn't have to worry about calling someone if something detrimental happened to me. Completed that little filament of hell with a smile on my face, giggling all the way.

Whoever thought it would be a good idea to have a Shriner's parade on the main drag of Gatlinburg needs to rethink what they are doing with their life. I got there around 3:45 and didn't get to the hotel until AFTER 5. Officers were redirecting huge amounts of traffic onto tiny back roads. In my opinion, it wasn't really that well thought out. The temperature had also risen to an uncomfortable level with all my layers and gear on and I was sweating up a storm while stuck in all the traffic. 

I had already decided that Saturday night would be spent back on the bike heading south on 73/441 towards Cherokee for dinner after checking in. 

This was a beautiful road! The weather was nice, although it did get pretty chilly as the elevation rose. I had stripped a few layers off before leaving the hotel since they were soaked with sweat and I was somewhat unprepared for the trip back because it got so cold. For some reason I decided to leave my overpants in the hotel room. Getting to Cherokee was interesting. There was a Toyota Camry in front of me that I decided to pace myself with since I was on an unfamiliar road and was under the impression that the speed limit would at least be heeded. Boy was I wrong. This dude was hauling ass! I did try to keep up, but stayed a little slower because I wanted to get some good shots with the ActionCam and there was a lot of salt residue on the road. Snow was everywhere once we got pretty high. Finally get to Cherokee and NOTHING is open because the season for them hasn't started yet. Awesome. I originally planned on getting there, eating dinner, and getting back on the road before the sun went down. One of my highest priorities was to stay off of the roads after dark because I knew nothing about them. Since nothing was really open, I turned around and headed back the way I came, stopping here and there to snap some pictures.

Ended up walking around a little and eating in Gatlinburg. Got back to the hotel room to transfer all the video and pictures, made sure all the cameras were charged, and got some much needed rest for the following day.