First
I would like to thank all those who posted positive comments on my last Post
19. It really reinforced my opinion of how great adventure riders really are. I
was a little reluctant to continue to post my Blog on the TAT Facebook groups
but not anymore.
Things
are moving fast now. We had a TAT-2016 meeting a few days ago with all four
core riders participating; Mike, Steve, Terry & Woodrow. Primary topic was
setting a launch date for Leg 1 from Charleston, SC to Little Rock, AR. As I
mentioned in an earlier post that we all work for the same company and have
several projects in critical phases. Finding a 9-day window in March or April
was getting very difficult which would have delayed our Leg 1 to middle of May.
We are all anxious to get going so after much discussion we picked a launch
date of 16 Mar 2016.
We
now have a lot of last minute tasks to accomplish including:
1
Getting our bikes to Charleston. Our plan is to
load the 4 bikes in a trailer and Woodrow will take bikes and gear to
Charleston on Tuesday, 1 Mar. Woodrow has family in Charleston so will store
the bikes in a family garage until we get there on 15 Mar. We actually loaded
the bikes onto a flatbed open trailer today (pics below). There was a lot of
doubt by some members (me included) that we would be able to get all four bikes
onto the trailer. Our back-up plan was to put one of the Hondas in the bed of
the truck and three on the trailer. After lots of dragging and realigning we
got them all secured with multiple tie downs for the ride to Charleston.
2
Install new tires on my CRF. I ordered new Dunlap
D606 front and rear tires through the Honda dealer in Charleston. Woodrow will
drop my bike off at the dealer next Wednesday to mount tires and do an oil
change. Woodrow will also have his CRF get its 600-mile break-in checkup. He
will be in Charleston for several days so will get the bikes back to his folk’s
garage before he drives back to Little Rock.
3
Accumulate gear and clothes for the ride. All
four riders have until tomorrow to do this anticipating shipping the bulk of
the items out with the bikes.
4
Do last minute route planning. Once we reach
Tenn we will use the TAT maps plus GPS tracks I downloaded from GPSKevin. The
route from Charleston to Tenn will be on two-lane roads following the most
scenic route through the Smoky Mountains. I did a mile-by-mile comparison of
the TAT maps to GPSKevin track and they are about 90% the same. We will use the
maps as the master route but use the GPSKevin tracks where they are the same.
5
Get four riders to Charleston. Our original plan
was to fly out but in an attempt to save a few bucks we are renting a large SUV
and driving out. We will leave around 6 pm on Monday 14 Mar and drive straight
through to Charleston. Expect around 13-hour drive but with four drivers we can
switch off driving. The advantage of this approach is we will have all day of
the 15th to pack bikes, get our pictures riding in the Atlantic
Ocean and have a big dinner with Woodrow’s family that night anticipating an
early start on Wed 16 Mar (Day 1).
I will be taking a small notebook and wifi with me so will
be uploading reports and pictures every evening as long as I get good upload
speed. Most of the TAT doesn’t appear to be real close to large population
areas so connection may or may not be reliable.
As a side note, M&M whose crash video I posted recently
is having surgery next week to fix a broken bone and pulled tendons in his
hand. Followed by wearing a cast for a few months plus 6 months of rehab per
his doctor. The injury wasn’t identified by is GP doctor but after still having
pain and numbness, he went to a specialist who found the damage. He was never
going on Leg 1 so at least he has some time to heal before Leg 2 in the
July/August time frame.
All for now but the adventure is about to begin.
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