Thursday Sept 13
I had long made plans to attend the MSTA Just For Fun event at the Two Wheels of Suches motorcycle resort. This was different than staying at a motel. The resort has camping sites, small 2 bed cabins (no AC or bathroom), rooms in the lodge, and a large dining area serving breakfast, lunch, and supper. I had taken my GS Adv to STAR and now it was time to take my Triumph Explorer. The Explorer (Tex) had fresh rubber and fresh oil change. I departed Hahnville around 6:00am. I took US 90 (Chef Menteur Hwy) to get out of Louisiana. All the camps along US 90 in the area between Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne had been wiped out by Katrina 13 years ago. The camps have been rebuilt bigger and taller, and it amazes me when I ride this road and see all these camps which are really raised fortressed houses. After 90, I jump on I-10 east and headed to Mobile, then north on I-65. The ride was mainly uneventful, except for a stop in Oak Hill, AL at an old country store at the corner of highways 10 and 21. I went inside and got a corndog, sausage biscuit and coke. There was a commotion going on and this 79 year old black guy was ranting about carrying a pistol, shooting intruders, crime, prison, etc., etc. I was having a hard time understanding his dialect, but after 10 minutes of standing around eating and listening to him and 2 other folks, and 1 guy on a ladder with a crowbar removing ceiling panels, I put together that some “lad” had broken into the attic overnight, then stomped a hole in the wood ceiling, made access into the store, loaded up some convenient store valuables (whatever that is) and departed under the cover of darkness. I then realized my unattended Tex, with the key still in the ignition, was across the street under a tree. I wished the Oak Hill people good day, and took off. My first night was spent in Prattville, AL at a Super 8.

Friday
I departed Prattville around 7:00 am and it look me a little while to get out of the suburban area and the morning school traffic. But I was soon on the back roads of Alabama headed in a northeasterly direction. Alabama highway 50, US 431 and Alabama 22 got me to the Georgia line. Once in Georgia, I meandered my way along back roads and stopped for an early lunch at a Waffle House in Fairburn, GA. My routing took me thru downtown Atlanta around 12:30pm. Once headed north on I-85, traffic started to back up. I simply jumped into the HOV lane and never got below 45 mph the whole time going thru the city. After Atlanta I took highways 400, 19, and 60. I arrived at Two Wheels of Suches at 2:00pm, and checked in to my small two bed cabin. I ate supper at the lodge; baby back ribs, bake potato, and a salad. Very good and affordable.

Saturday
Friday night, I slept like a baby. The cabin was oh so cool, quiet and dark!! I headed down to the lodge and ordered a regular breakfast of eggs, grits, toast, bacon and coffee. Service at the lodge was fast and the food great. I headed out about 8 AM. My day’s route consisted of the regular well ridden roads. Highway 60 north to the NC / Tn state line where 60 turns into Tn 68. Then 68 north to Tellico Plains. A short pit stop at the Tellico Plains Exxon. From the motorcycles stopped at the Tellico Plains Exxon, I was expecting to encounter some traffic on the Cherohala. But to my surprise, there was very little cage or motorcycle traffic. I’m guessing hurricane Florence had kept people home. The Tennessee side of the Cherohala is starting to show it’s age. The road surface is okay, but the NC side is much more uniform and smoother. If TN doesn’t do anything to their side, the road will soon be rough. The Cherohala is my favorite road. 50 miles of great curves. After Cherohala I rode the dragon north to the overlook, then turned around and rode it south to the Deals Gap store. At the store I took a break and had lunch. After lunch I headed back to Suches. The highlight of the day’s afternoon leg was Wolf Pen Gap Road. It’s like the tail of the dragon, but shorter and no traffic. After I arrived back at Suches, and had rested for a bit, Geoffrey Green, the event organizer, stopped by my cabin and told me, he and the rest of the MSTA folks were headed home that night, because of the expected rains for the area from tropical storm Florence. I had looked at the https://ruc.noaa.gov/hfip/tcgen/ modeling and wasn’t too worried about the expected rain.

Sunday
I departed Suches about 8:40am Eastern Time. The rain had not materialized. There were only very light patchy sprinkles. I had planned on taking some unpaved roads, to get from highway 60 to highway 52, but I skipped this plan and just took paved roads: South on 60 to 19, south on 19 to 52, West on 52, south on Bailey Waters, West on 53, south on I-575. I continued my way west on I-20 and took exit 199. Going north on hwy 9, and then west on US 78, will get you to Alabama 281 (Talladega Scenic Drive). This is a great road. I had ridden it before going north. It was literally no traffic, great pavement, nice fast sweeping curves. If you are ever in this area, ride this road. From this point on, I was on back roads to my night’s designation of Centreville, AL and the ~70-year-old Windwood Inn. In its heyday, before the interstate system, The Windwood Inn was located at the major intersection of Highway 25 and US 82. It was a thriving, and glamourous hotel, so I was told, by a very nice desk clerk. I had a descent, cool, quiet, room, for $55 including tax. On future trips, I think I will look to take more of these old non-chain motels, with the caveat to look at the room before paying. On my way to Centreville there was a “recalculate” situation. I had routed to take National Forest Road 600 which is located in the Talladega National Forest. For some reason, I had thought this road was going to be graded and would be fun to take. I took a 2 second look at goat trail, and then immediately hit recalculate.

Monday
I departed Centreville at 5:50 am and headed south on highway 5. It was still dark when I left, but soon the sun started to rise. I always enjoy Sunrises when they are to my left or right. This day’s sunrise pic is attached. I stopped on Beaumont Brooklyn Rd (near Beaumont, Ms) in the middle of nowhere, with NO traffic, at the crest of a small hill, to take a break(code for whiz). Where I had stopped there was a wagon trail going into the woods. Halfway thru my “break”, a late model silver Suburban came out of the woods straight for me. I looked at them like they were crazy, and they looked at me like I was crazy. When they got to the road, we gave each other thumbs up, and they took off down the road. I still wonder what they were doing. . . . . or maybe it’s better not to know. The rest of the day’s travels were uneventful, save for Orleans and Jefferson Parish. On I-10 in East New Orleans heading to the high rise, I was putting along at the speed limit, and I was forced over twice. I sort of snapped, and then went full-on-crotch-rocket-crazy. I blasted thru Orleans and Jefferson parish and finally cooled down to the speed limit at I-310. I arrived home around 1:00 pm and had a total trip mileage of 1560.

Click the below link for a 5 minute youtube video of clips I took on my trip. https://youtu.be/UVRqj0atDIU

The morning of August 4th we headed up US 61 to Natchez and got on the Natchez Trace. All but the most northern part of the trace is mostly gentle sweepers with mild elevation changes. For summertime travel it is nice because the pastures and forest that it winds through keeps it a few degrees cooler than 4 lane US 61 that gets several more hours of direct sunlight. We exited the trace at Lorman and pulled into Mr. D's Country Store on US 61, home of a great country cooking buffet, boasting the best fried chicken in Mississippi. It was a bit before 11:00 am but we were welcomed inside and told the buffet would be ready soon. The food as always was delicious.

Back on the trace after lunch just north of Port Gibson we came to a construction zone and some very rough pavement. I had my eyes glued to the road surface trying to avoid the harshest bumps but many were unavoidable. I glanced down and to the left to see what the slow pace was doing to Zumo's eta and saw just an empty cradle. I made a U turn and began backtracking, looking for Zumo. I was looking at the left lane and shoulder and missed it but Stacie spotted it and alerted me. I stopped for Stacie to hop off but before she could retrieve poor Zumo an automobile rolled over it! ARRRGGGG! It was intact except for a crack in the screen. It would power on but the screen was blank.

No, I did not bring any paper maps, but for the first time ever I had brought a backup GPS, my old Nuvi 500. I had done so after reading reports of Zumos locking up while navigating long routes. I had loaded my routes on both units. I only had to stop and swap mounts and I was good to go. Back on the Trace we rode through Jackson and along the Ross Barnett Resorvoir and on to Kosciusco, MS for the night. But not before receiving a performance award from a friendly state trooper. It was an expensive first day on the road!.

Sunday monring we were back on the Trace and rode it to its northern terminus in Nashville, our destination for Sunday night. Our Comfort Inn was just a few blocks from the heart of the downtown honk tonk district. We had supper at Jacks BBQ and then enjoyed some live music and comic entertainmnebt by Buck McCoy at Legends Corner.

For Monday we had an Air B&B loft apartment in downtown Bardstown, Kentucky. The plan was to ride back roads to Bardstown and check in in time to visit the Heaven Hill Bourbon Heritage Center and catch the last tour of the day. However I failed to take into consideration the time zone change and we arrive just a bit too late. Riding direct to the tour was not an option since it was a tasting tour. So instead we had a nice walk and tasting tour of historic downtown Bardstown. We settled in the Old Talbott Tavern, also known as the Old Stone Tavern, built in 1779 just a few blocks from our apartment. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places. It had what is probably the best selection of Bourbon I have ever seen and friendly and knowledgable bartenders. They also have excellent food and we returned later for our evening meal.

On Tuesday we rode southeast on backroads through Kentucky and Tennessee to the Skyline Village Inn in Spruce Pine, North Carolina just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Spruce Pine is just a few miles north of Little Switzerland, home of the MSTA Big Lynne Lodge event organized by our friend "Brick" Brickner. We had stayed at the Big Lynn a few years ago and enjoed it verry much but decided to give the Skyline Village Inn a try. We were not disappointed. We had a room with a balcony with a great view and the Inn has a well stocked beer and wine store as well as bar and restauarant. The Inn is motorcycle friendly with covered parking for bikes only and even a small fleet of rental bikes.The owners, Mike and Lynn are motorcyclists themselves and very friendly and accomodating. The restaurant is open for dinner only on Thursday through Monday and we had therfore expected to eat at the highly rated Mountain View Restaurant a short walk away but this was closed due to the owner's illness. Mike and Lynn however opened their restuarant just for us. Mike grilled some great ribeye steaks and Lynn made her homemade crab cakes. It was a meal to remember!

Wednesday morning we jumped on the BRP headed for Helen, GA another long time HSTA/MSTA event town. But first we had a date for brunch at the Pisgah Inn on the Parkway with a highscool classmate of mine. Alice, who I had not seen in about 30 years lives in Henderson, NC about an hours drive from the Pisgah Inn. We agreed to meet for brunch at 9:45. The speed limit is only 45 on the Parkway but I had thought I could easily make the 76 miles with and 8:00 am departure. However, not too far down the BRP I started seeing ominous signs: "Loose Gravel - Two Wheeled Travel Not Recommended." YIKES! I recalled reading that stretches of the BRP had been badly damaged by recent bad weather. The BRP wa being repaved! But despite 4 or 5 such signs still on the road there was no gravel, the road had been freshly paved all the way to the Pisgah Inn. We arrived right on schedule. It was great to catch up with an old friend after so many years. We took a selfie for Facebook in the parking lot, hugged and said goodbye.

After about 30 miles back on the Parkway we reached the section that was still being repaved - deep loose gravel. I had to slow to about 30 mph. We pulled into the first scenic pull out and stopped to regroup. I asked a fellow tourist and he confirmed my fears - loose gravel all the way to the end. He was local and suggested an alternate route at the next exit. We got off the BRP at US 19 and then took US 441and US 23 to Franklin. From there it was US 64 to the Georgia line and then 155 and 17 to Helen. The alternate route was about the same 250 miles as our original route. All good roads and the weather was great. We checked in with plenty of time to walk around and have a brew or two before a fine meal at the Troll Tavern restaurant with an outdoor table on the river.

Thursday's 300 miles took us to to Tuscaloosa via Rome, GA, staying clear of Atlanta, and Anniston, AL where we got on I-20 and rode it and I-459 the rest of the way.

The last leg of our trip was uneventful with a long stretch on Interstates 20 and 59 to Laurel, MS and then back roads to home. All in all it was a great trip. The weather was not too bad for August, with the exception of the hot night in Bardstown. We rode in light to moderate rain several days but never for long and we never really got wet.

On Friday, August 31 we began Part 2 armed with a replacement Zumo 390 loaded with routes headed to Branson, MO. We left late in the afternoon stopping in Natchez, MS at the Grand Hotel on the bluffs above the Mississippi. We walked a couple of blocks to the Cotton Alley Cafe for a fine meal. Afterwards we grabbed a seat at Bowie's Tavern, on the river next to our Hotel and enjoyed a talented local band called Scratch.

On Saturday we crossed the river into Louisiana and rode back roads, including 126 and 4, two of my favorite LA roads, to Ruston where we took US 167 to Eldorado, Arkansas. There we got on twisty and scenic AR 7 which we rode to Hot Springs and our motel on Lake Hamilton. We had a room with a balcony with a view of the Lake, which was busy with boaters of all kinds. The motel had a bar/restauarant with good beer and friendly bartendars. And good food.

On Sunday we continued up Scenic 7 to Pelsor then went west on 16 through Ozark National Forest then north on the Pig Trail to Eureka Springs and finally northeast to Branson. It was a nice ride until we got to Branson. Stories I had heard of heavy traffic proved true. To make matters worse the location of our motel, the Clarion Branson, was off by about 7 miles in Garmins latest City Navigatior map! We arrived at the checkered flag to find nothing but a private residence. Navigating a heavy fully loaded bike in stop and go traffic on hilly streets is no fun. I parked and called the hotel for directions. The desk clerk was good at giving directions and we found it without further trouble other than the stop and go traffic. Unfortunately the same desk clerk was not very good at her real job. After 40 minutes or so we had our keys and checked into a very nice room. The hotel was huge and multi-leveled as it was built on a steep hill and the floor numbering was bizarre but we eventually found our room. After the stressful day we were ready for a cold beer. A sign in the lobby beckoned to the lounge upstairs on the third floor. Since our room was on the second it was hard to find the lounge since it was next to the pool on what appeared to be the ground floor. The lounge was absolutly beautiful with a huge hand carved wooden bar and African Safari decor with numerous stuffed exotic animals. But it was empty! We "hellooo'ed and an old guy emerged from a room behind the bar and greeted us. He assured us the lounge was open for business. As he got us some beers he explained that the hotel had changed ownership and a lot of changes were under way. The lounge had been closed for several months and he was now in the process of starting it back up, single handedly. We drank a couple of beers as he proceeded to give us the property's history as well as his own. He was an interesting character and quite entertaining.

Later that evening we enjoyed a great meal at the Buckingham Prime Steakhouse. However, by now the news all over TVs was the approach of Tropical Storm George. The predicted track showed it making landfall at New Orleans with potential heavy rain over Louisiana on Wednesday, our scheduled day to return home. We had planned to stay two nights in Branson and have a full day to enjoy it's many attractions but we decided it best to cut the stay short. We had already had our fill of riding in the rain for the year and the prospect of spending a day riding in a tropical storm was not at all appealing! We checked out Monday morning and rode to Texarkana. We found a cool sport bar called Fat Jacks not far from the motel and had some good pub food. We rode home on Tuesday ahead of the approaching storm, our only day with no rain.

Hurricanes and tropical storms have really impacted our travel plans recently stretching back to our escape from Key West and Hurricane Maria. However when I see and read about the total devastation sufferred by so many in many locations around the country I am truly thankful that only our travel plans have been disrupted! I think I will make a donation to the recovery efforts for Hurricane Michael. Karma...