Day-1 & 2

July 8th, 2006

The adventure begins...

Steven writes:

The morning started off in a mad rush to get the rest of my packing done. Every item I needed seemed to be hidden away in some random corner of my apartment. I finally finished my packing and then met up with the rest of the crew who were all busy packing up the chase vehicle and doing a final check to be sure we have everything we'll need for our adventure. After the challenging process of strategically jamming all the gear into the truck and loading up our bikes on the trailer, we headed out for a days drive to Jellico Tennessee - and the start of the Trans-America Trail.

There was concern for a while that the trailer might not be able to safely make the long trip with our Honda, Suzuki and BMW motorcycles on it. But after a few adjustments, the problem was soon solved and we finally hit the open highway.

Ten hours later, with the crew of five all jammed into the chase vehicle with all our film equipment, motorcycle equipment and camping equipment, we arrived at our first planned destination - the Cumberland Falls in Daniel Boone State Park, near the beginning of the Trans-Am Trail. Even at night the falls were impressive. The park itself was ominous and looking into the dark fog I'm very interested to see what is looks like in the day. We have just arrived at our first destination and the beginning of the trail in Jellico Tennessee. Tomorrow is the first day of riding and I can't freaking wait. Enough of this riding in a truck stuff.

James writes:

Getting ready has been the name of the game here. It's been 8-months of getting ready and finding the right crew. But even up to the very last second it was still all about getting ready. The night before we took off, I got about two hours of sleep as I just kept thinking of more and more stuff to prepare. And without the help of my crew, my family, and my friends, I probably would've had a break down. Our chase vehicle now looks like a low-rider completely loaded with all our gear and the trailer, designed for light weight dirt-bikes, will work extra hard to carry our dual-sport motorcycles.

Starting off the road-trip by leaving my home town of St. Louis was a real treat. I'm a proud St. Louisian and it was great seeing the Arch, the new Busch Stadium (Home of the Cardinals), and the mighty Mississippi.

After all the packing and concerns with a dirt bike trailer carrying a 450 lbs BMW, a 350 lbs Honda and a 300 lbs Suzuki, we finally got on the road at 4:00pm... a bit later than our planned 6:00am departure.

Nonetheless, we put in our drive time and made it to Cumberland falls at the Kentucky/Tennessee border. It was too cloudy to see the "Moon-bow", but the waterfall is an absolutely amazing sight to see... even at 2 o'clock in the morning and after being on the road for 10+ hours.

We checked into our rooms in Jellico Tennessee around 3 A.M. and I can't remember if that was Eastern or Central Time... but you get the idea... not a lot of sleep. Now it's Sunday morning and we're packing up our rooms to start off the ride... 192 miles starting off the Trans-America Trail in Jellico and ending in Sparta Tennessee. We're gonna ride through the Catoosa Wildlife Management Area and it looks like it's going to be an amazing ride even though there's almost a 50% chance of thunderstorms... but we will ride on.

 

 

Photography Copyright © 2006 Motorrad Media and Chris Rankin. All Rights Reserved.

 

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