Wow what a day. After yesterdays fast gravel, we thought we would be in for more of the same. If you think Oklahoma is boring, you need to ride it on a grom. We got off to a leisurely start this morning and once back on the TAT pootled along. Good gravel, cool temperatures, lots of wind farms and oil rigs to look at. It was very much straight roads with 90 degree turns here and there. One stretch of road...
kick stand spring -1, puncture +1 Straight, left, straight, right, straight etc...
Crawdad +1, kick stand sensor -1, rear shock -1 Trouble comes in twos. After yesterdays great riding, we were expecting more of the same. Not long on the trail, we came across a section of the TAT which was pretty unexpected. We were just following our little blue line on our GPS app (OSMAnd+) when the road turned from good gravel, to slightly muddy sandy stuff then steep rocky stuff reminiscent of the snow mobile trail we accidentally took on the MABDR...
Roadrunner +1, charging cable -1 What a fabulous day of riding today was. We left our motel a wee bit later than planned because of yet another thunderstorm but were still on the road by 7:30. The roads along the TAT route had dried out but were still damp enough to keep the dust down. The first part of the day we did a wiggly route through all the back roads. One second we were on gravel the next we were on sealed...
Lots of good intentions to get on the road by 7:30. Just strapped all our gear on the bikes and it started to rain. Uh oh. Checked the weather forecast and it looks like its a lot of thunderstorms coming all down the TAT route. Weather channel says says roads are ponding. Dunno what ponding gravel is like but we don't wanna find out. Wimping out and taking a proper rest day at our super 8 motel near Hazen. Damn, could...
Deer +5, cotton maize and soybean fields + lots The mosquitoes from last night must have been full from feasting on Simon as they were nowhere to be seen or heard this morning. Neither of us got a particularly good nights sleep, so it was a less than refreshed start on the road at 8am. We didn't bother rejoining the TAT where we left off, but got back onto it near Enid. I think I have come to terms with the reality...
Turtle +1, Deer +2, Superglue +1, Ed March fans +2 My turn to check in with ADVRider and make sure you are all behaving :) Slightly delayed start to the day because we made plans to meet up with the creator (of the TAT). After a rather large breakfast at the local diner (V won) we rolled over to meet Sam and Laura. What a great couple! Sam truly lives the TAT. He gave us a tour of his command centre and a...
Armadillo +1, supeglue -1 We hightailed it out of Huntsville and rejoined the TAT at Elkton. The trail wound its way through rural back roads. Mostly poorly maintained sealed road with the odd bit of fast moving gravel. We stopped for lunch where the TAT crosses the Natchez Trace Parkway. Our lunch stops usually entail finding a shady spot on the side of the road when we start feeling hungry. They don't always match up with a town or a scenic view...
Cool space stuff +1, working shock +1 So for those that don't know, Huntsville Alabama is about 50km (31 miles) south of the TAT. It is also basically the birthplace of Americas rocket development programme including the Saturn V rockets that got Buzz and Neil to the moon. When we were planning our trip, we plotted the TAT on a map then plotted a 60km (37 mile) boundary either side of it and set about seeing if there was anything worth visiting...
Kind internet stranger +1, Semi nude Dutch Harley rider +1, possum -1, armadillo-1, trash panda -1 We packed up our tent, before eagerly awaited the rival of klaviator who had kindly offered us a place stay and tools to use and on top of all that had decided to ride 2 hours to meet us at our campsite and escort us to his home. This guy loves to ride. We are always a little apprehensive about meeting new people, especially strangers...