TAT 22

Took the red trail again. Really wasn’t that difficult. Some really sandy sections but they were for short distances. 1st cool thing, I had a bird (swallow?) flying in front of me at eye level at 40MPH for a long time - probably about 1/4 mile. It was like he was daunting me… Got so hypnotized, I almost ran off the road - Doug was laughing his a%^ off.

30 minutes later we were riding down a dirt road (fields on both sides). I catch something running on my left in my peripheral vision. I was going 45 MPH and this 4 point buck is running diagonally through the field and will intersect the road I’m on if he doesn’t change course…. I’m screaming through the comm for Doug to check it out and he says “I see it! I see it!”

The buck can see me and hear my bike, but it’s like he’s racing me. I slow to 40MPH and keep going… The buck jumps out on the road in front of me and continues down the road for 20 yards before leaping over a 6 foot fence on the right - insane and beautiful at the same time.

The buck continues running, obviously not impressed with motorcycles. It felt like he was showing off, saying I don’t need wheels or an engine to go this fast…

Next we were tilting at windmills - (pics attached). I took some pics and videos, and told Doug to keep going, so I had to catch up! Oh yeah, almost forgot - hit a bird doing 60 miles an hour. Didn’t like that. Doug said he passed him later on the road. Poor little guy didn’t make it.

Finally we ended our day at the Red Rock Inn, where Becky welcomed us and gave us a tour of their beautiful cottage. This place is so cool. Very eclectic, lots of antiques and history and even a Sausophone (sp?). This is exactly what we need at the end of a long hot day. My fuel was even boiling - see attached video.

Took a couple of pics and videos early during the ride, and then decided we should do a red trail (Doug says this is never a good idea). Anyway, trail was very old and overgrown but had several downed trees. No chainsaw with us, so… while I was scouting the trail, Doug met some random cool dude - pic attached.

Best day on the TAT yet from my perspective… Very very remote riding - rocky, hilly and yes a little scary. We stopped at the Oark Cafe, oldest continuous business in Arkansas - established 1890! We have some pics… We had some food (delicious) and filled up with fuel at their old fashion fuel pump. And boy were we glad we did…

From there the riding got very very remote and difficult. We came across a ”Road Closed 5.9 miles ahead” sign, and Doug stopped and said we should re-route… I said “Let’s just check it out”. We did. The road ended, but we found a smaller dirt road and decided to take it.

40 minutes later, rounding a bend - I almost had a heart attack as a bear was running down the trail (away from me thank God!). Scared me half to death. Big reddish brown bear with black ears. As tall as my bike but wider, running on all four paws and then jettisoned into the brush. I didn’t stick around to investigate. Doug later said that he had seen bear scat about 10 minutes earlier, but thought that there weren’t bears in the Ozark’s. White rock mountain. Turns out there are a lot of bears there! Doug said I saw a Cinnamon Black bear. I don’t care. I don’t want to see anymore bears this trip.

The next challenge was War loop Rd. The sign said Dead End. Doug said what do you want to do? I said “Let’s just check it out”. Turns out it is a dead end, but not for us… The most difficult section of the TAT to date. Crazy downhills with rocks, shale, turns, dried up creek beds -in other words, Nirvana - for me, 🙂 but hell for Doug. He never wavered. Gonna turn him into a pro rider yet. Beyond proud of what we both were able to accomplish. Hoping some of his Go-pro footage will put it in perspective….

Day was Very hot! Bike even overheated at one point so we stopped and had lunch at the Kountry Kitchen. Yep - No typo. Only place open on the 4th of July.

Doug dropped his hamburger on the floor but invoked the 5 second rule, and ate it anyway. He was VERY hungry!

Before lunch I had a near miss with a very large deer. That would have been ugly and a premature ending to our trip

Gotta couple nice pics and videos and signed in at the TAT Stop. 488 riders signed the book in 2021 - not sure how many signed it this year, but there were people from all over the country who did.

Total mileage on the trip to date is 1660. Staying in Batesville MS, Hampton Inn. Doing my normal MO and updating Facebook poolside. No crazy kids today - YET!

Doug is still trying to get our water crossings from his go pro. Probably be Christmas before we figure it out. We got chased by dogs a LOT today. It really is comical to have 5 small dogs vying for your attention and chasing you. What would they do if we stopped? Every time this happens, Doug and I crack up laughing through the intercom.

Me - Dogs, Dogs Dogs!

Doug - Oh boy!

Me - cackling, wow that was fun!

Doug - You just piss them off just in time for me, then i have to swerve and swear to get around them! F&*^%

Me - Heee Hee Heee

Homer and Dwayne and the rest of the gang at Lake Hill Motors were nothing short of incredible. Not only did they service our bikes - they fed us lunch! Including Homer’s homemade vanilla ice cream. This small town dealership thinks big! They have a motorcycle museum that is truly unbelievable. They even had 3 Honda CBX’s - rare 6 cylinder in line powered bikes. Bikes from the 1920’s and even motorcycles I’ve never heard of. We asked Dwayne why so many bikes in the museum. He said his Dad started it but his love of motorcycles just took over.

This is a must see for anyone into bikes if your ever in Mississippi! Homer is even building his own TAT bunkhouse and showed us pictures. It’s awesome! Should be done Fall of 2022. Homer even worked on our GPS loading new Sam tracks for over 2 hours. He did this because he shares our passion for this sport. He asked us to call him if we run into any troubles along the trail. Says he can help us remotely if needed using his own software and knowledge of the trail.

It amazes me the generosity of all the people we have met since we began this journey. There are so many good people in this world and this trip is proving it to me.

…Steep drop off into a stream where the bikes were literally pointing straight down. Several sections we had to pull the bikes over physically. We only took a couple photos of these because we (me) were very frustrated and we were sweating so bad, our clothes were soaked through. We really need to take more photos but when we get behind, we know we need to get to our next hotel - and then its hammer down time.

Oh, and then - 2 different roads to the same place were closed! We had to go way around North and West to get to Historic Tapoco Lodge. (Google it) you can also see the route on our tracker.

Doug said it reminded him of Ireland - the rolling green hills, just add horse farms. Sections where the trees made a tunnel you were riding through… We saw deer (one near miss) and later some Buffalo. But that happened after a wonderful breakfast on Skyline drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Rick and Craig headed back, and we continued on. No pictures because it was so early in the ride, and then the rain and fog began. Ugh.

But as we came down the mountain, we followed crystal clear streams along the twisting roads and the sun started to streak through the trees. Steam rising off the asphalt. Absolutely beautiful. We are really trying to enjoy the beauty but we are also far behind schedule at this point - even thinking we wouldn’t make it to Pembroke VA. Time to go.

Put some time down doing the twisties, and that was super fun. Turns out Doug has some skill on the roads - and we motored along at a good clip. Doug has some video of him putting the hammer down to catch up with me. I’ll try and post it here…

After that we got on the official TAT. Uh oh…

First time on the trails and we were both doing pretty good, until the first water crossing 🙂. We never stopped. Came around the corner and I told Doug over the comm that we were crossing. (No time for him to think about it.)

I made it through and started to turn around to see how he did when all I heard was Oh..$%^&*! Just as i turned around, Doug had made it through the creek, but as he came out his line was crossed and he couldn’t make the turn. After the bike was done cartwheeling, I couldn’t control my laughter (he was ok).

Doug will proof read this in a few minutes and I’m confident he won’t change this description. When I got back to check on Doug and his bike, the bike was pointing towards the sky laying against a steep bank. It took 2 of us to get it back on the trail. Doug busted up his knee guard but is perfectly fine. Unfortunately no video because his go pro wasn’t on. It is however firmly entrenched on my brain!

Before we post a few pictures/video from today - yesterdays post “Make it Stop!” - was in reference to a huge night of fun with Diane, Paul and their friends. Turns out, I can’t handle sitting in the backseat of an SUV, with 2 crazy women that don’t have filters. 🙂 Just picture being told things that are personal that you don’t want to hear! TMI! It was like a nightmare in stereo. Honestly - their friends and family are VERY funny, and we had a blast.