TAT day 3 (2nd day on the Trail) Tellico Plains to Ducktown, TN

TAT Day 3 06 08 2016

Departed Tellico Plains this morning with the thought in mind from having read other blogs and watched YouTube videos that the tough part of the day would be the 5 Water Crossings –  I was sorely mistaken, the water crossings were the easy part.  Just stay in the middle of the tire tracks or the old wagon wheel ruts as the case may be going in and coming out on the other side, and there’s no problem.

And a photo for Larry Munch, owner of Munch's since 1952 and featured on Dinners Drive In's and Dives...Munch's is on 6th St South in St Petersburg, one of my favorite hangouts...

Unfortunately, the remainder of the day was a MAJOR pucker-factor going up and over the mountain.  These damn Tennessee hill country people sure like to make their mountain roads a pain in the @ss.  Basically nothing more than a Jeep trail - not a Humvee, but a Jeep. The road was narrow, rutted, and had granite outcroping sticking up and large stones or rocks that could deflect a wheel and.... Well, I don't wanna think about the and - lets just say that I renewed my faith in God.  Probably to keep the Revenuers away from any stills that may be hidden in the woods.  Anyway, I made it.  Didn’t take any pictures as I just wanted to keep moving.

I was on the trail alone today, I did see one SUV pulled over to the side of the road – it’s not hunting season, so your guess is as good as mine what he was doing out in the middle of no-where.

My progress is admittedly slow, as I’m a street-rider, NOT a dirt-bike rider and I didn’t have the time or money to attend BMW’s Off-Road Riding School or RawHyde Adventures Riding School. The last time I spent anytime riding dirt was irrigating my Uncle's farm outside of Thermal, CA in the Cochella Valley, and I was 18 then - that's 44yrs ago.  I would highly recommend that if you are going to attempt an off-road ride of this scale that you get some sort of formalized training.  I’m winging it and learning by the seat of my pants. Believe me, it would have been time and money well spent – in fact after I finish this trip, you can bet that I will attend formalized training to break some bad habits I’m sure I’m developing and to learn some much needed skills.

I have no idea what’s in store for tomorrow, I still have to go over maps and install tomorrows GPS tracks…hopefully, I’ll be somewhere in Mississippi by the end of the day.  Progress is slow and steady.

Well, hang in here with me and we'll see if I can make all the way to Oregon - I understand the Mountain passes in Colorado are still snowed in, so I may have to bypass that part - that is if I get that far.

Oh and the 2005 BMW F650 is running flawlessly (when I keep it upright).  Thank you EuroCycles of Tampa Bay and especially their Master Wrench Robin for making sure the bike was sound and dependable - I've been beating the crap out of it, and it's going to need some TLC when this is all over with. But the F650TAT is just a plugging away...

Later!!!