CONUS Conquered...September 4, 2012...Day 6

(Kim's Perspective)
Today was highly entertaining.  We woke up, did the morning dog/trailer routine, geared up and headed to the Flint Creek ORV trails.  It took us awhile to get there - we didn’t take into account the fact that most of the roads leading to the trailhead would be dirt.  :)  We arrived and were slightly surprised to see that there was NO ONE there.  Well, actually, there was a work crew there cleaning up the trailhead parking lot, but they pulled out quickly and we were left to enjoy the trails all by our little lonesomes.  I guess that’s not a word.  I’m using it anyway.  

We paid our $3 per person fee and took off.  The trails were in great shape aside from a fair amount of mud puddles.  You can’t really expect anything less when a hurricane just passed through.  We were just glad to have nice weather and the whole place to ourselves.  

We stopped a few times to rest and get hydrated.  

I’m not usually a big sweater but with the humidity, black gear, and exhaustive efforts, I was drenched in sweat in no time.  It really is exhausting.  It makes road riding and 600+ mile touring days look like a cake walk.  It’s not like you can put your feet up on the highway pegs and ride one handed while you’re jamming to your MP3 player.  I suppose you can jam, but the only reason your feet would be up or you’d be riding one handed is because you’re wrecking.  :)
We rode both loops.  One was a little more technical than the other, but it was also much drier with far less 12"+ deep mud bogs to venture through.

I had far better luck successfully maneuvering the steep, rocky sections than the filthy mud pits that had an amazing way of taking all of my forward momentum and propelling it sideways in a flash.  Let's just say that the bikes are incredibly resilient to damage.  :)
We eventually made our way back to the trailhead and tried to clean the dried chunks of mud off the motors as best we could.  They are air-cooled after all and we had 20+ miles of gravel/asphalt roads to ride on the way home.

Again, Bill was having a great time and was super happy.  See?  He's SMILING. (gasp!)

We were both starving so after finding a restaurant recommended to us by one of the fine folks on STN and seeing they were closed, we headed down the road a piece... :)...and had lunch at Smith's.

When we walked in, there were four people in the whole place - and two of them were the staff.  They were also sitting there in the middle of the restaurant chain smoking.  What?  Oh, right.  No smoking in restaurants is not a rule around here.  The food was decent though it was hard to enjoy it given my disdain for consuming carcinogens with my meal.

We headed back to the campsite and spent a considerable amount of time washing mass quantities of mud off the bikes.

We took the Boys for a walk, came back and had dinner.  It was a pretty great day despite my gravitational challenges and frequent occasions spent pulling my bike out of the mud. :)

CONUS Conquered...September 3, 2012...Day 5

(Kim's Perspective)

We had a short travel day so we took our sweet time with our morning routine of coffee and dog walks.  We had taken advantage of the lull in the storm last night and had loaded the bikes in the truck so if we had to evacuate the campsite, the only thing we'd have to leave behind was the trailer.  The ONLY thing.  .  Anyway, we were surprised by how clean the bikes got from the hours of torrential rain and wind.  Even the undersides received a nice rinsing.  ;) 

We left the campsite around 12:00 and detoured to the Sears in Tupelo for a replacement battery for the trailer.  Much to our dismay, the battery got cooked from some power surges during the storm.  We installed it in the parking lot like any fine redneck trailer trash folks would, and off we were to our new destination - William Bankhead National Forest in Northwestern Alabama.  Yeeeehaaaaw!

We set up camp in the Corinth Campground (one of four campgrounds in the NF) and picked the most awesome (developed) campsite ever.  Stanley, Idaho still holds the record for best dispersed camping site ever - and likely always will - until we make it to Alaska.  J  Anyway, THIS particular campsite was HUGE and absolutely perfect for camper, truck, bikes, dogs, and people. 

We were able to get set up just before a storm moved in.  We made the most of it and chilled for a bit under the awning and enjoyed the sound and the smell of the rain.  

After the storm passed, Bill was anxious to get on the bikes - if only to ride around the park.  We wiped the rain off the saddles, popped on our helmets, and investigated the park and all of the campground loops.  We weren't out long since another storm cloud rolled in and started dropping rain drops the size of quarters.  Ouch.  That’s what I get for not wearing all my gear.  Yeah, I know - ATGATT - but I justified it by the fact that the park speed limit was 20 mph and I ride my bicycle that fast wearing a Styrofoam helmet, a short sleeve jersey and padded mid-thigh length spandex biking shorts.  I figure, based on my personal history, I’m far more likely to shred my body in a mountain bike wreck than by taking a spill on the MC while riding without gear at 20 mph in a nearly vacant NF campground.  Knock on wood.  Risk assessed.  Risk assumed.  We returned to the trailer, made some dinner, chilled, and discussed our riding plans for the next day.  We were both very excited to see what the day would have in store.

CONUS Conquered...September 2, 2012...Day 4

(Kim's Perspective)

We were trying to figure out what we wanted to do today based on the weather forecast.  It was forecasted to be rainy with thunderstorms most of the day, but we looked at the radar and decided to risk it.

We loaded the bikes into the truck and headed to Trace State Park. 

We arrived at noon and got onto the trail at 12:30. We rode till 2:15 or so and stopped to take a break.

We hydrated ourselves and snacked on fig bars and dried mango.  Bill was having a blast and was as happy as a kid in a candy store.

After we were sufficiently rested, we got back on the bikes around 2:45.  We jumped onto some singletrack and I realized that my arms were toast.  I was shocked at how much of a work out it was and how tired my upper body was.  Tired in a kick-butt awesome kind of way.  We stopped for a photo opportunity...

and then went back to the trail we had previously ridden since it was wide doubletrack.  A couple miles in I realized I was too tired to maneuver the bike through the ruts and whoops without either dropping the bike or launching myself from it.  Knowing when to call it quits - generally, before you're bleeding and broken on the side of the trail, we turned around and Bill continued on another trail while I zipped back to the truck.  When he got back, he informed me of his near drop.  I reminded him again of his “near crashes” and told him it didn't happen unless someone witnessed it or there were pictures.  ;)  Did I mention I had a tip over on the trail?  No?  Well, I won’t bore you with it.  ;)

We loaded the bikes up and headed back to Tishomingo in the rain.  During the drive, we heard a local weather forecast and learned that Tishomingo county and a bazillion other counties in MS, AL, and TN were under tornado warnings.  Oh joy!  We got back to the trailer as the rain let up slightly (excellent timing as we had to let the Boys out to potty) and Bill made Kimchi Burgers for dinner.  NOM!  They are AMAZING and will need to become part of our regular rotation.  I turned the radio on so we could stay tuned to the weather updates and we sat through several hours of some of the hardest rain we have ever encountered.  A local later told us it rained 3.5 inches.  Rain POURED down the outside of the trailer so heavy and fast that we couldn't see out the windows at all.  I had prepared an emergency bag in case we had to make a mad dash to the truck with the critters, but no such emergency ensued and we were thus quite pleased that my efforts were in vain.  In fact, we stayed nice and dry in the trailer and we were extremely grateful that we weren't tent camping.  

A very fun, entertaining, wet, and slightly scary day.  Which of course just makes for some good memories and story telling.  :)

CONUS Conquered...September 1, 2012...Day 3

(Kim's Perspective)

We tried to make the most of our time on the Parkway and give it a chance.  We were certain it had some redeeming value somewhere, so we loaded the Boys (Lane stayed behind in the trailer) and headed North towards Nashville.  We stopped at some "points of interest" and took the Boys on some short walks.

Probably the most exciting thing for me was coming upon the cotton fields.  I have no recollection of ever seeing cotton fields, but I have many recollections of hearing my Uncle Clyde tell stories of growing up in Mississippi and spending days in the hot sun picking cotton.  I just got such a kick out of it that I made Bill stop and get a picture of me posing in front of a cotton field.

I was intrigued by how prickly and sharp the plants were.  Of course I heard about it, but never experienced it for myself and I was amazed to find that it feels and looks just like processed cotton balls you buy at the store.  I just assumed it would be something totally different and the manufacturing process of cotton turns them into cotton balls, but lo and behold, they just kind of come like that out of the pod.  Bill accidentally pulled one off while he was touching it and gave it to me.  I reprimanded him for stealing from a cotton farmer, but I couldn't put it back so I happily took a piece of Mississippi cotton as an Uncle Clyde souvenir   ;P

As I mentioned, and aside from cotton fields of course, there is little to see on the Natchez Trace Parkway.  The intent was to check out the northern most section of Parkway (everything north of mp 370) but after a few dozen miles, we were highly bored and ready to find something else to entertain us.  Enter Cherokee, Alabama.  Cherokee consisted pretty much of a bank, a car wash, and a Piggly Wiggly.  I had been trying (unsuccessfully) to find a map of the area at all the different gas stations we had previously stopped at.  I had high hopes that P.W. would reward me with what I was seeking.  No joy.  BUT, we decided to try some local flavor and picked up this...

What is it you say?  It's Grapico of course!  A Southern Tradition.  Basically, it's like any other high-fructose corn syrup, artificially flavored, grape soda that tastes more like Dimetapp than anything resembling a soft drink.  This particular brand is manufactured in Alabama.  This particular bottle, had expired 6 months ago.  We knew this before we purchased it....all of them in the cold case at the end of the aisle were expired.  I guess that's a Southern Tradition too.  :)  

We left Piggly's with no idea where we were going or what we were going to do.  There’s not much to see in Cherokee, Alabama until you come across this…

Oh, yes, this is a must do.  How many Coon Dog Cemeteries will you ever have the chance to see?  Uh….apparently only one.  I know, I know, that’s just so shocking.

We drove, and drove, and drove some more and finally pulled into the cemetery.  Only to find some “event” going on.  I was immediately concerned.  The parking lot was packed with pick up trucks and I saw some shovels nearby.  Uh-oh.  Did we seriously just drive up on a coon dog funeral?  Nothing good is going to come from this.  These people have guns in their trucks and are not going to take kindly to a bunch of northern tourists stopping in for a look see.  

Fortunately, we weren't intruding on a funeral and the folks couldn't have been any happier to see us. They were part of a local tourism association that was cleaning up the place for an annual event that is held over the Labor Day holiday.  They took our picture (we might become famous on the Coon Dog Cemetery FB page!) and asked us to sign the Guest Register.  Rather than going into it, I will simply say you really must pay the Coon Dog Cemetery website a visit and do yourself a favor and friend them on FaceBook.  No, seriously.  Do it.

We spoke with one very nice older woman who informed us of a nearby hummingbird migration.  She gave us directions and wished us well.  

We left the "CDC" and headed back on the Parkway.  We tried to find the place where the hummingbirds were purported to be and walked the trail a bit.  There were indeed some hummingbirds but not by the hundreds.  I was largely disappointed.  We continued on and stopped to see a spring. Yep.  That there is water coming out of the ground.  "L I B" 

We found ourselves on the verge of complete boredom so we drove to Muscle Shoals (AL) for a late lunch. We stopped at a little but seemingly popular joint called "Champy's" - a very cool, eclectic place with interesting decorative themes.

Catfish platter for both and a side of pickled fried green tomatoes.  Oh, baby!  I’d be 200 pounds if I lived down here. 

We headed back to the trailer and then took the bikes to explore the park.  There’s a fair amount of things to do here for such a small park.  We were lucky enough to be entertained by an owl that I scared from the side of the road.  He perched himself on a tree and spent some time checking us out before he finally got freaked out and flew away.  We found an old pioneer house and a cool swinging bridge.

It started getting dark so we returned to the camper and stayed put the rest of the day.  We were still stuffed from our catfish and fried pickles so we skipped supper and turned in early.  Boring Parkways really take it out of you. 

CONUS Conquered...August 31, 2012...Day 2

(Kim's Perspective)

Today was 8/31, our 16^th wedding anniversary.  No need for applause, just send money.  We both woke up at 5:30 and were ready to hit the road but we took our time getting up, had our morning coffee and took the Boys for a short walk.  It was quiet in the campground and no one was up.  We went in search of someone so we could pay for our site – no self registration kiosk here.  The two nice ladies at the visitor center let me in, even though they weren’t open.  I told them I needed to pay for our campsite and the kind woman said “are you from Tennessee?” and I replied “No, Maaaaam, I’m from Maryland”.   I’ve been “down south” for less than 24 hours and BAM, I’ve got the southern drawl creeping out.  It’s amazing.  

The drive was pretty standard except of course when "Toonces" decided he wanted to drive.  

It was somewhat unsettling as he has very little driving experience and we were at full speed on a multi-lane road. Fortunately for the safety of us all, he quickly grew bored and decided that being in the passenger "Lane" was just fine by him.  ;P

We got on the road at 7 and headed towards Nashville.  Our destination was Tishomingo State Park in Tishomingo, Mississippi.  We decided to nix the full drive from the top of the Natchez Trace Parkway at mp 444 outside of Nashville and jumped on at mp 370.  We arrived at the park around 2 pm and got set up pretty quickly.

The site kind of sucked.  It was paved, but it was very narrow and just dropped off on all three sides.  We seriously considered finding someplace else, but we had already paid for it (reservations are generally a necessity when traveling on a holiday weekend) so we sucked it up and just made the most of it.

We unloaded the bikes and decided to ride down to Trace State Park just south of Tupelo.  

We soon realized that the Natchez Trace Parkway and the Blue Ridge Parkway cannot be compared.   I’m not sure what I anticipated, well, actually, I anticipated a BRP in Mississippi and Alabama and instead got a flat, only slightly curvy road with absolutely NOTHING to look at or stop to see.  Oh how I take the BRP for granted.   Who knew that our little East coast parkway could be so stinking awesome?  Now granted, the awesome factor generally increases exponentially with every 10 mph over the posted speed limit, but even caging it can be somewhat enjoyable.  Not so much here.  In fact, not so much at ALL.  Wow.  The tallest peak on the Parkway is 800 feet.  Seriously?  800 feet?

We chatted with Joshua, the park ranger at Trace SP for a bit and got info on the ORV trails in the park.  I'm going to like it here.  :)  

We were hungry and needing dinner – it was our anniversary after all – so we headed into Tupelo to find some grub.  Grub we found and it was surprisingly good.  I say this because, as we walked across the parking lot, I noticed a drive thru.  A drive thru?  Uhh….no.  For those of you who don’t know, I am vehemently opposed to eating fast food.  The closest I get to anything with a drive thru is Starbucks.   I was scared.  Very scared.  We walked in and walked up to the counter. I asked the clerk if it was a sit down restaurant or a fast food joint and she smiled and replied in her Southern drawl “it’s a combination fast food and family owned restaurant”.  Buh?  I don’t even know what that means.  I looked at the menu – much like that of any small family owned restaurant and glanced over at the well stocked salad bar and ordered a burger and a salad.  The burgers come plain – you take them to the salad bar and dress them yourselves (think Fuddrucker’s).  They do, however, come in foil wrap (think fast food).  

I must admit, this was one of the best salad bars I’ve ever had.  Everything was crisp and fresh and there was an impressive variety of items.  Nom, nom, nom.  So, our wedding anniversary dinner was at a “combinaaation faast food, and faamily owned restauraaaant”.  I swear if I’m here much longer they won’t know I’m from the North.

It was getting dark, so we quickly geared up as best we could with full bellies.

We rode back to the trailer side by side (well, me illegally riding left of center so as to shine more light on the road) and chatted about our day and our plans for the rest of the week.  It was a good day – we hit Alabama and Mississippi and thus have now been to every state in the lower 48.  Wooo hoooo! Bill lived in Hawaii for 3 years, so he’s one up on me.  He’ll probably hit the 50 mark before I will as I’d prefer to visit Alaska next.  We’ll have to save for that one.  Maybe that can be for our 20^th anniversary.  Meh, maybe 17^th.  Like I've said before, that’s what credit cards are for.  J

CONUS Conquered...August 30, 2012...Day 1.5

(Kim's Perspective)

We got up early and Bill started calling tire places to see who had what in stock and finally had success with Tires Plus in Frederick.  If you’re ever in need of tires, pay Sergio a visit.  Nice guy.  We put the old/new tires in the back of the truck (Bill will simply sell them on CL later or swap out for a new set of rims to put them on) and headed back to the house to repeat the bike loading and trailer hitching for a second time.  The second time seemed to be the charm (glad it wasn’t the third).  We got on the road at 11:00 and took 70 to 340 to 81.  We weren’t sure where we would end up staying – it largely depended on how far we got when we were tired and ready to stop.  We took a few breaks throughout the day to let the Boys out and have a quick lunch, then finally started giving serious thought to where we would be staying around 8pm.  We decided on Cumberland Mountain State Park in Crossville, TN off of I40.  We stayed here overnight on our trip to Arkansas last year so we knew the park would serve our purpose. It’s actually quite nice, but we’re never in a position to spend more than a night here as we journey through so we located a PERFECTLY level (don't let the picture fool you) campsite that allowed us to stay hitched up. 

This was awesome since we got in at 10 pm and planned for an early departure Friday morning.  Rather than it taking 15 minutes to set up, we were able to pop out the slide and connect to shore power in under 5 minutes.  Oh yeah! That’s the way to do it. It was a long day – 11 hours of pretty stressful driving for Bill (had a lot of trailer sway down 81) and 11 hours of exhausting passenger time for me.  I have a harder time staying awake when I’m riding shot gun than when I’m driving – but alas, these are the burdens one must bear.  It was a good day.  Any day that you make it in one piece to your destination always makes for a good day!

CONUS Conquered...August 29, 2012

In our quest to bag all 50 states, we decided to travel to Mississippi and Alabama for our 16^th wedding anniversary.  It’s been almost 2 years since I’ve blogged about a vacation, and nothing will compare to BKEA, but I figured bagging the last two states in the CONUS was worth some blogging time.

Plus, this trip was going to be a little different…

Our trip was supposed to start on Wednesday, August 29^th.  We both left work a little early and rushed home to finish packing the trailer and get the new toys loaded in the back of the truck.  We finally finished getting everything ready to go and, after the realization that we needed to make a quick trip to the pharmacy en route, we got on the road at 5pm.  We left with some farewells from the neighbors and headed to the pharmacy.  I jumped out and walked past the trailer…and stopped…and walked back…to tell Bill that I smelled propane.  He checked the tanks while I picked up his RX.  One of the tanks was leaking at the connection so he shut it off and flipped over to the other tank.  Problem solved.  We figured we’d just get a new tank and deal with it when we get home.  We got on 70 and took 340 to 81.  Or would have had we made it more than 14 miles before we smelled something burning and pulled over to investigate.   Bill jumped out while I stayed with the Boys (all three – we have Lane with us for this trip) and when he climbed back in the truck he informed me that one of the airbags exploded and was melting onto the exhaust.  Joyous.  He also said the tires weren’t riding well and were extremely hot to the touch. Humpf.  These were brand new tires that were put on just a few weeks ago.  We went with a different tire than we usually put on the truck.  Lesson learned.  Stick with what you know.  The extra weight in the bed and the tongue weight of the trailer puts us at max payload, but hey, it’s a truck, it’s supposed to be used hard.  What to do, what to do?  Returning home, we discussed our options. We could not take the newly purchased XTs with us and haul the trailer without issue, OR, we could upgrade to an LT tire to give us more weight capacity.  Naturally, this option would cost us another thousand bucks, but  hey, we just bought two brand new 2013 dual purpose bikes specifically for this trip.  What’s another thousand dollars?  That’s what credit cards are for.  ;)

So, that was the start of our vacation…or the false start as it turned out to be. We kept a positive attitude about it and pointed out that we would have another night of sleeping comfortably in a king size bed. We’re also both confident that all of these things happened for a reason and we’re quite fine not knowing what that reason was.