Author: eemcclure

A rough start this morning when I misplaced my GPS, but eventually I found it buried in a side case and we were able to recover. We were expecting rain for most of our route today – but it did not materialize and we were very happy about that.

We covered four states today, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas. Crossing the Mississippi River is an awesome sensation on a motorcycle. This river is the gateway to the Midwest and it feels, I don t know, sort of definitive. We also passed the 1,000 mile mark on our journey today.

A lot of today’s ride was spent being buffeted around by tractor trailers on interstate 40 significant speed, so that part was draining. But tomorrow should make up for it because this is one of the “fun” days. We are riding 279 mile loop through the Ozark mountains with lost of curves and interesting places along the way. I should finally be posting some pictures and videos.

One segment of the trips to date that Marshall and I are enjoying great success on is dinners! Tonight we ate at the Crosswoods restaurant in Clarksville, AR and it was fantastic. We both ordered 16 oz ribeye’s that were cooked to perfection. Marshall also ordered the best cabbage and sautéed square either of of had ever tasted. What a great end to a tiring day on the road.

Tomorrow is a big day, early to rise ……..

A good start this morning, just after 8am. We are getting more efficient with the repacking process but its still one of the more time consuming tasks we encounter. An aggravating glitch with the Garmin Zumo XT GPS. I create the routes for each day with Basecamp, a software package to create downloadable routes for the Garmin GPS. Todays route seemed to have all the right directions but displayed an expected arrival time that was clearly bogus. Not sure if this is an issue with the routing software or the GPS itself or the Garmin GPS. Luckily, an Google Pixel 8 Pro along with Google Maps is a good cross check and backup when needed. That kept us on track.

The ride kept us in the saddle for about 8 hours today. No major issues other than some rain for the last hour of the ride. We were able to get into rain gear quickly enough to avoid any problems.

About the lack of commentary and pictures so far: When we were starting the planning phase for this trip we started with two initial goals. The first was to make it to Boulder, CO by June 10 to see a concert. The second was to spend a full day riding a 300 mile loop through the Ozarks. That necessitated making the other routes subservient to the main two. So, the routes so far have pretty much been get from A to B, not filled with any sightseeing or interesting locations or pure fun mountain rides. After June 10 our plan is to stop and smell the roses which will hopefully result in somewhat more interesting posts.

Hopefully things will pickup on Wednesday as we have a go at the Ozarks. Tomorrow we are off to Clarksville, AR which will be the starting point for our Ozark ride Wednesday. Looks like rain most of the day – oh well, it IS and adventure, right?

Until then ………

Packing – Packing for a months long motorcycle trip is an art that is not easily mastered my most, and I think Marshall and I fit into the “most” category. When I took my first cross-country trip in 2018 my brothers accused me of taking the “Beverly Hillbillies” approach to packing as evidenced below.

I have to admit, they weren’t too off base. But having learned from my mistakes on the last trip I made a valiant attempt not to overpack for this one. Well, I did pare it down and I do think I this attempt is much neater but packing and unpacking every day is still a major chore. Marshall, without fail, is most definitely neat, but again we both struggle with how long the re-packing stage takes each day. Pictures below from this mornings pack up.

We will continue to try to hone our skills in this area.

Riding today was wet. As we pulled away from Spartanburg it began to drizzle and gradually developed into a steady rain. We had both donned rain gear from the start so we did manage to stay dry but rain can certainly cast a pallor over the ride. But we still managed to have a good time, and the sun joined us for the last couple of hours of the trip.

We had an excellent dinner this evening at the City Cafe Diner in Cleveland, TN and finished up the evening learning the more intricate details of our Cardo PackTalk Edge communicators.

Tomorrow we are off to Memphis. Till then …..

This morning was, as Thais will attest to, hectic. Though I certainly spent a lot of time on preparation, you wouldn’t have known it with my last minute scurrying. Met Marshall at around 9:20am at Willis, VA and the trek began. I did want to give a big thank you to Thais, for putting up the the last minute scrambling and Scott and Cassie, my LOF neighbors, for the thoughtful surprise send off. They made the effort to get up early on a Saturday morning and cheer me on holding encouraging (and humorous) signs (pictures below) as I made my way down the driveway.

Today was a fairly light day, but hectic enough at the start that I really didn’t take any pictures or video. We traveled to Spartanburg, SC, primarily on US Route 221, through Boone, NC, Blowing Rock and a host of smaller cities. Rough Map below.

Marshall and I had purchased Cardo PackTalk Mesh Network communicators prior to the trip and they have worked out really well. It really adds to the trip to be able to chat back and forth as we ride and well as alert the lagging bike of dreaded gravel in a curve or deer in the road, both potentially serious hazards to motorcyclists.

We made it to Spartanburg around 5pm and after putting up our gear and showering had a very enjoyable dinner with my youngest sister Carolyn and her husband Rob. The very recently move to Spartanburg from Pennsylvania and were kind enough to treat Marshall an I to an excellent meal and beers at the Green Olive Grill.

Overall and generally quiet, enjoyable ride for our first day out. I will try to keep up the daily posts. Till then ……