Day-4
July
10th, 2006
Setup, review, ride, film, eat, film, breakdown, sleep,
repeat for 35 days...
The
film crew is now working more efficiently as we all begin to settle
into our routines. Still in Jellico, and anxiously awaiting
the moment when we're actually begin riding the Trans-America Trail,
the morning is filled with preparing the day for our riding and shooting.
Footage from the previous days shooting is reviewed, cameras are checked,
tape stock replenished, batteries charged, bike-cam positions altered
and helmet-cam lens cleaned.
We
were in the parking of our hotel in the morning for about 2-hours,
all busy with our respective duties, when the local police
cruiser drove by to see what was going on. A motorcyclist
himself, Officer Jeff Smith of the Jellico Police Department was very
interested in our our 5,000 mile motorcycle ride across America and
our documentary along the way. He agreed to an on-camera interview,
which worked out perfectly, considering the historian interview the
night before didn't work out.
After
the interview with officer Smith, we did the final packing of the
chase vehicle, topped-off our tanks on the bikes and headed to the
trailhead. We stopped at the beginning of the Trans-America Trail
for a celebratory toast (with energy drinks) while
Mathew filmed our comments before riding the first few miles of the
trail. After our brief ceremony, the chase vehicle stayed behind and
the three motorcycles took off, only to meet up again at the end of
the riding day.
We're
finally riding the trail - and ride it we did! The
first few miles were a perfect start to the 5,000 miles and ten states
we'll encounter in the next month and a half. The start of the Trans-America
Trail has rolling hills with beautiful scenery of the Tennessee landscape.
After about 3-1/2 hours of perfect riding we encountered our first
serious water-crossing... actually "mud-crossing"
would be more accurate. The first step was to get off the bikes and
assess the severity of the crossing - How deep is this? How far is
the crossing? Any large rocks below the surface? A few rocks thrown
into the water/mud helped give us an idea of the depth, and James
decided he was going to be the first to try it and hope for the best.
It wasn't very deep but it was very slippery and James, a seasoned
rider, made it through with little difficulty. Steven was next, and
although he doesn't have as many miles in the saddle as his older
brother James, he rode it across and made it look easy. Next was Michael,
riding the heaviest of the three bikes. We took the High-Definition
("HD") camera out of it's padded bag and Michael was the
third rider to cross the mud without incident.
The
remainder of the days ride was more beautiful scenery and a few more
les drastic water and mud crossings. We took a few wrong turns along
the way, but with good maps and GPS to help with navigation, as well
as asking a few of the locals we encountered along the way, we were
back on course in no time at all. We rode about 175 total miles today
and by the time we met up with the chase vehicle around 7:00pm, we
were ready for some food and some rest. Tomorrow we'll try for 200
miles.
Photography
Copyright © 2006 Motorrad
Media and Chris Rankin. All Rights Reserved.
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