South Carolina?

[fintip]

The plans changed again (his work schedule, he's on call, was a bit unreliable), so I took the chance to go see my cousin in East Texas, who recently blacked out in class, took a hard fall to the head, and woke up with complete (total retrograde) amnesia. Sad to hear. He's fine now, still doesn't remember anything other than vague glimpses of familiarity and random bits and pieces (he unconfidently randomly stated at the table that he thought he remembered the name of what used to be his favorite game, "Kingdom Hearts", and then wanted to hear if that was a real game or not). Parents, his own name, everything. In person, he seems pretty normal, so it's hard to make sense of his behavior and put it together with something so extreme. But then, if you think about it, you know when someone walks up to you and recognizes you, and you don't really remember them, and you just act normal?

Now imagine you don't like attention, and everyone in the world is like that for you. And how you would appear if you just used that same routine on everyone. Pretty normal, a little standoffish. And you seem perfectly normal otherwise. (Weird, right?)

He started getting harrassment at school from people accusing him of lying about the whole thing. Thing is, he's just not that good of an actor.

I digress.

So it worked out better for everyone (soon-to-be-PO in SC included) to come down this next weekend, so that's what I'm doing. Saturday or Sunday, should be there.

In the meantime, planning out my route. Drew some inspiration from the fj rally shirt I made, looking at the rally locations, and decided I could hit up Tellico Plains, TN, (do the tail of the dragon back and forth), and then Dogpatch, AR, on the way! Any other suggestions for that route? My family in East Texas lives in Mt Pleasant, an hour west of Texarkana, so I'll probably go there last, show off the bike, before going home. I'll probably start sending CouchSurfing requests tonight or tomorrow.

Have some soft luggage coming in the mail, got some Chase Harper ET4000's for $107 shipped on ebay, used once. (Lifetime warranty, and apparently these were offered with the FJ in the original accessories brochure?). See them for sale new for $180. Thought I'd try soft luggage for this trip and see how I feel about it--then either swap over my hard bags and rack and sell the softies at a small profit, or keep them and sell the rack and bags with the bike as-is. I finally get to use the soft-bag holders that I got from mark a while ago that have FJOWNERS engraved in them--I knew I would! I don't hate the look of the givi's the way I used to, but they still don't feel like 'me'.

Also have some wiring that will let me keep my phone charged in. Bringing my handlebar phone mount setup. Hopefully my tent will be in by then, if I'm lucky. (Lost my last one in Mexico a month before I got my current FJ.)

Anyone in any of these areas want to ride with me while I'm going through? I won't be in a rush. 

[Country Joe]

Kyle,
Let me know when you will be coming through Arkansas. I'd be glad to show what little that I know about this part of the world. I will send you a PM with my contact.

Joe

[rktmanfj]

IMO, you should do the Dragon, get the t-shirt, etc, and move on.
Honestly, there's too many better roads to ride in that area to spend a whole lot of time on just that one.   

[fintip]

IMO, you should do the Dragon, get the t-shirt, etc, and move on.
Honestly, there's too many better roads to ride in that area to spend a whole lot of time on just that one.   

It's only 11 miles, and I figured I'd go that way and back so I could do the south loop around Tellico plains as well. I'm not going to spend all day on it or anything, though. More advice on what those 'better roads' in the area are is welcome, though.

[Tiger]

More advice on what those 'better roads' in the area are is welcome, though.

The Dragon is an adrenalin rush!!...however, not a lib is right, there are many better RIDING roads around that area:

Along with The Dragon, I rode these two years ago...
Cherohala Skyway, (NC/TN)...40.9 miles Superb!!!
Blue Ridge Parkway, (NC/VA)...469 miles (Sadly, not the whole length). Superb!!!
Diamond Back, (NC)...38 miles Superb!!!!

Others, (some!!), that I'll be riding in a few weeks time
The Devils Triangle, (TN)...44 miles
Moonshiner, (NC/SC)...28 miles
Six Gap, The Gauntlet, The Snake, Wayah Road (Warrior Road), Devils Drop, etc, etc...

That should keep you busy for a few months Fin  ...

John.

[rktmanfj]

If you come up 28 (which is better than the Gap) to Deals Gap, and go across and back, you could, for example:

• Hang a right at the store and go down the hill past Fugitive Dam, and turn right onto the goat path to Joyce Kilmer Forest.
• Turn left at the end of the goat path. If you turn right, you end up in a cul-de-sac in the middle of the forest DAMHIKIJKOK?
• Turn right at the end of the road and follow the Cherohala Skyway to Tellico Plains

Or any one of a dozen other routes, about any of which are better pure riding than the Dragon.   

[fj1289]

Anxiously waiting for updates!

[fintip]

Packing up! Got Randy's engine bars to put on immediately upon arrival, some ET4000 Chase Harper soft bags, my corbin, and all the other fixin's. Still packing as we speak...

Leaving at 7am tomorrow for Dallas with a friend of the truck driver who is meeting him, and from Dallas we're leaving for Memphis, and spending the night there. The next day we arrive. Soon-to-be-PO will trailer the bike out to a nearby highway intersection, along with the spare parts. I'll hand the parts over, load up my luggage on the bike, and drive off.

Waited until the last minute, but sent several couch surfing requests out to people in nearby Greenville, hoping to just stop and collect and plan my attack on Tellico Plains (taking all this great advice to heart!), drive the next day all day through as much of those roads as possible, end up in Chatanooga, got a CS host there probably already with several other requests out.

Then thinking of going straight through to AR, didn't see anything interesting at a glance between there and Arkansas--maybe stop for a bit in Memphis? Anyone have something that I should absolutely see or ride? Don't have a host there yet (Country Joe offered to ride with me, but he didn't mention staying with him), so I need to send out some more couchsurfing requests. Assuming those don't pan out, camping is of course always an option.

Crash in AR up in the northwest corner, and then ride around all day slowly getting south towards Mt. Pleasant, where I have family, in East Texas. Stay there for a day or two, and then head back to Austin.

[fintip]

Well, this is officially a ride report now. Hello from Memphis, home of the blues! Pictures to be uploaded when I get some WiFi. Should be arriving st the bike tomorrow evening if lucky, day after if not. Couch surfing hosts arranged in Greenville, Chattanooga, and Arkansas, and thinking about trying to find one in Memphis so I could do some judo and BJJ here before I leave town.

Enjoyed Beale street tonight, crashing now. More updates tomorrow hopefully!

[airheadPete]

Well, you'll certainly never forget this road trip! Congratulations on your new significant other!!
(Gotta say, this has been one hell of an amusing thread!)

[fintip]

My life is just never boring. Truck broke down leaving Memphis. Overheating, let it sit, drive a half mile, repeat, until we got to a truck stop. Fan belt tensioner snapped and the belt came off. 5 hours later and we're off...

However, I've been learning the ins and the outs of this job listening to the two guys I'm riding with, old friends, talk. The guy I'm riding with works for three companies, one of them run by a guy named Pete. The delivery he's doing right now to south Carolina is for Pete. The other rider refuses to work for Pete anymore because he didn't pay him for a job... The guy who is taking me acknowledges that sometimes he drags his feet but always eventually pays.

Well, long story short, Pete avoided his calls and hasn't sent him money he was supposed to send for the past three days, and it all blew up. Pete finally called back, yelling and cussing, saying he wasn't going to pay him a dime.

Looks like my driver (a genuinely nice, honest family guy who told me I don't have to pay him anything because of the drama and schedule absurdity) wants to hide the truck as leverage until he gets paid, and I'll probably be giving him a ride from anderson to Greensville to make his connection to his next truck.

Another day in the life... Haha. Should be getting the bike tomorrow morning, but weather looks sketchy. Crossing my fingers.

[fintip]

Flood warnings blowing my phone up all day today. Lovely day to get stranded on the side of the road.

The truck getting worked on:


Beale street, downtown Memphis:



Some road pics that aren't very interesting:


Trucker number 2, who won't work for Pete anymore, and gave me a ride from Austin to Dallas, in front of us:


On the way to Dallas:

[novaraptor]

Good to see you back out on the road fin.. It's the non scheduled things that make a trip memorable, most times..
Best of fortune to you.. Watch out for tornados...

[fintip]

That last post was incredibly tedious from a phone, so I'm going to be lazy until I get to a computer and just post this link to the pictures:
http://imgur.com/a/PIPSP



It's even better than I hoped. More details soon. Out to get my kookaloo on for now.

[Arnie]

Nice, clean looking bike.  Does it run as good as it looks?

Enjoy your ride back home (after the twisters calm down).

Cheers,
Arnie