Marc leaves us on Wednesday 24th June and we prepare for the first day of dirt tracks. However this proves to be somewhat of an anticlimax as the only dirt section is an 8 miles track, which though fun, feels way too short for what we had hoped.
However this leads us on to the end of the Tail of the Dragon, a legendary road that has 311 bends in just eleven miles. It's a great way to end the day and we pull in to a tiny town at its base called Robinsville. A sleepy little town with a few gas stations, the obligatory huge drug store and a supermarket. We you are living on diner food on the go, the opportunity for some fresh food can't be over looked.
However this leads us on to the end of the Tail of the Dragon, a legendary road that has 311 bends in just eleven miles. It's a great way to end the day and we pull in to a tiny town at its base called Robinsville. A sleepy little town with a few gas stations, the obligatory huge drug store and a supermarket. We you are living on diner food on the go, the opportunity for some fresh food can't be over looked.
As it happens we are sharing our motel with 7 crazy Canadians, who insist we share a few beers from their cooler, which in light of it being a dry town is indeed a welcome gift after a long and extremely hot day. It has been pushing 100 degrees every day, with humidity to match. Not ideal biking weather.
The Canadians who not only ply us with beers, but insist we join them for a bbq (they are traveling well equipped) 6 Harley's and a back up vehicle with said bbq and cooler plus 26 crates of beer (there are many dry towns in this part of the world). We are also appointed honorary members of the Screamin Chicken Motorcycle Club, we are now the British chapter 😎
We make an early start the next day, it's misty and cool as we get our first taste of real dirt road and some water action. The trail lead through the Tennesee hills and forests, it's a blissful start to the day as we find our feet on the dirt.
Later in the day we bump in to another TAT rider , Brenton from NZ, who it turns out is a bit of an off road legend, having competed in the International Six Day Enduro several times for his country. We have another long hot day in the saddle and the three of us eventually arrive at a nondescript row of gas stations, motels and face food outlets, that pass for a town that I can't remember the name of. We eat a mound of buffet bbq and salad and digest some very cold beer. The next day we all ride together to Lynchburg, it's on our way and of course happens to be the site of the Jack Daniels distillery! We do the guided tour, which is very informative and I'm impressed with how traditional the methods and machinery are. Ironically Lynchburg is a dry county, so though JD is made there, you can't drink the stuff. Surely only in America ?!
Saturday 27th June is our designated off day, five days on, one day off is the rule. Time for bike maintenance, laundry and rest. Simons CCM has some minor issues that have to be overcome and we do a good job at fixing the issues, it shod get him through the journey. Weather still hot but the edge is taken off by some storms and a good down pour.
Sunday 28th - our best day riding yet, we cover 253 miles of tiny back road and dirt in very rural Tennessee and Mississippi. We pass mobile homes with semi tractor units outside, the size and decal of these monsters dwarfs the owners living accommodation . Food and fuel are starting to thin out as we get further away from habitation and the highways.
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