My epic (not so epic) 3 night camping trip (with not so much camping).

[2talltim]

Lots of reading and lots of pics and a video. Please bare with me and my poor typing and run on sentnces, but it really is a interesting adventure I had. And the story and pics get better as it goes. 

 

So since I'm still off work and I was bored as hell I decided to take off on the bike and since my bank account is getting smaller I decided to try some moto camping to save some coin. The plan was to take a twisty route through WV, KY, VA and NC and head towards the BRP motorcycle camp ground for 2 nights. Then I was going to hit a couple nice loops around that area then head to the Deals Gap resort for another night of camping or two before heading home. So the night before I packed up and went over the bike with my usual check list and the only thing I found odd was my tire pressures were way off from what they usually are, keep in mind i had just returned from the gap trip a few weeks previous and had no issues. So I adjusted my pressures and the bike was ready to go.

The next morning I get up at 6am and roll at 6:30. It was cold 48 by my garage thermometer and the bike felt weird. But i was loaded down with extra camping gear and being the tires were very cold I though it was just that. After 15 or so miles I notice nothing is feeling any better so I click though my dash info to the TPMS screen and it says my tires were at 37 rear and 36 front and that's 5 lbs lower than I usually run. At first I thought my TPMS was off due to the low temps but then decided to pull over and check the tires with my gauge. And my gauge said 41 and 42. So now i'm scratching my head but rolled anyway. About 20 miles later I needed gas so I stopped just outside Buckeye lake and decided to check the tires again and figure out what was going on and that is when I noticed this. 

 With Zero pressure my gauge was reading 6 lbs. so now I have realized my gauge is fucked I get my little 12volt pump out to put some air in. So at this point I'm basically guessing how much I need. I pump some air in both tires and roll. Now my TPMS is reading 38 R and 39 F I'm still not comfortable with that so I stop again and put more in both now I'm at 40 and 40 but now I have sliced the fuck out my knuckle because my the edge of my rear rotor is sharp as hell and I'm bleeding all over the place. My plan was to get to Walmart in Logan a buy a new gauge and now I need bandages. Bike feels better but still not right but I make it to Walmart and park out by the tire center since what I needed was back there. I go in a by some bandages and the most expensive tire gauge they have which is this one. 

I go back out to the bike and tend to my wound and then proceed to air up my rear tire with my 12 volt pump.  Once I air it up to what I know is too much put the new gauge to use. I'm now at 44 lbs and proceed to use the bleed valve on the gauge and IT DOES NOT WORK!!  At this point I'm like fuck it ill just bleed of the extra air with the valve cap, the rear tire is now at the correct pressure so I go to the front. AND WTF is wrapped around my front right rotor and caliper??? It's bailing twine, i do remember rolling through some loose hay or straw on the road that a farmer had drug out of his field right after the last time I air up the tire, apparently I picked up a piece of loose twine laying in the road and I wrapped all up in my rotor buttons and caliper. I spent 40 min with a pocket knife cutting and unwrapping it, what a pain in the dick. Once it was all off I went to air up the front tire and guess what? THE FUCKING AIR PUMP CRAPPED OUT!!! Thank goodness I was back at the tire center and the good folks that worked there permitted me to use their air hose and just threw that pump in the trash. So now I'm aired up patched up and ready to roll. Now the bike feels normal again and glad that was all  behind me. 

At this point the tire issue has been resolved but it was still fucking with my head. I was in a bad mood, out of my groove it just fucked with my mojo. I'm rolling through hocking and I blow a couple corners and tell myself I just need to back it off until my head is right plus my GPS route was taking me down roads I really didn't want to take due to a bad waypoint. Maybe a half hour later I'm rolling decent at this point but see some gravel in the corner ahead so I slow down a bit but there was more than I could see with the bare eye. It was some of that gravel that looks like stuck pavement but was not. By front wheel hit it and the bike was on it way down. Only thing that kept me from eating it was that my foot got between the road and my touring peg bracket and while it twisted the fuck out my ankle and bruised my foot it straitened the bike back up and I saved it. It also wrenched my already injured back due my reaction so my foot ankle and back are now sore as hell. I turn around to see what the fuck just happened and found the very fine loose gravel that was almost like white sand. So at this point I'm rolling super slow and head is totally off it's game.     

So I cross the river in Huntington WV and decide to fuel up and clear my head. I text a couple friends on the board about what has happened that morning and tell them I'm thinking about just going back home and scrubbing the trip. One says he would probably just go home and the other said just take some chill time and clear my head and keep going it will only get better. At this point I'm only 40 miles from one of my point of interest i wanted to see so I decide I will at least see it before I turn back so  I roll down WV 152 to 12 Pole Rd. just taking my time. On 12 pole Rd, there is a state park called Cabwaylingo State Park. Beautiful state park and I was almost through it when I round this corner to a truck in the middle of the road. At first i didn't see why but then noticed a flipping tree was in the middle of the road. The dude from the truck was trying to chop on this tree using a hatchet and a machete  we are talking a full sized tree here. I check my maps a realize a detour would be almost a hour around this thing so I get off the bike to see what the story was. I decided that i would just help this guy and maybe someone with a chain saw would show up eventually. No one ever showed with a saw but a few others showed to help and in 30 min with just 4 guys and the hatchet and machete we cleared a path to get through. Talking to the guy in the truck he was a local that just ran into town for some supplies and said it was not there 15 min it took him to get what he needed. So it basically it fell 5 or 10 min before I got there. Here are couple pics.

Now i'm rolling again towards my POI and feeling great now. Maybe my good deed shook of some of the bad mojo i'm not sure but I was feeling great. Now this is a real cool area full of tunnels and one lane RR bridges that are now used for the road way. Old trestle bridges and wrought iron sided one lane spans it was really cool. Here is a pic of one of the dug tunnels with natural support wish I had taken more pic and got some of the bridges.

Now on to my first point of interest. The Dingess Tunnel, this tunnel is a one lane almost 3/4 of a mile long former RR tunnel that you can ride through traveling the road. Dan first told me about this tunnel years ago with the story that he wreck his SV in it. Not going to steal Dan story but I is a very interesting story he tells and is worth a listen by a camp fire with some drinks. Now this tunnel is very dangerous and if anyone wants to check it out heed my caution. It is very wet, muddy, mossy, slippery filled with debris. I rolled through in 1st gear at maybe 10mph and felt to bike sliding all over the place, but it was a cool experience. The tunnel is strait and you have to make sure no cars are in the tunnel when you proceed because you cant turn around in it not even on a bike.   Here are some pics. and a video of the tunnel.

 

 

 

 

 

   

Edited July 1, 2017 by 2talltim

[2talltim]

 

Here is the video of rolling though the tunnel, sorry shitty quality Just hit record on my phone in my Xgrip.

 

Couple articles on the tunnel if you want to read up.

https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1926

http://appalachianmagazine.com/2014/02/23/americas-bloodiest-tunnel-wv/

At this point I'm feeling good, got my mojo back and I want to keep going. But I'm now 3 hours behind schedule and check the forecast for the BRP and they re calling for rain the next morning so I make the decision to just head for a hotel for that night and re-coupe for the rest of the trip. So I head down 23 and for a 4 lane its a really nice ride towards Johnson City TN. Stopped for a late lunch and found a good deal on a Wingate in Asheville right next to the BRP so I booked it. That night at the Hotel I realize that the temp for the next night in the Smokies is going to be in the upper 30s and my sleeping bag was only rated for 45 so I decided to find a hotel for the 2nd night as well. Found a cheap room in Gatlinburg and thought it would be nice to do the touristy thing for a day/night so i booked it. Next morning I hit the BRP and it was glorious, no traffic, beautiful weather and cool temps. Even going across the the National Park traffic was thin and moving well. Here are some pics I took at a over look, the sign and the GSMNP, Clingmans Dome.

 

[2talltim]

Now this is the first time I've been through Gatlinburg since the fires last year and it's kind of bitter sweet. I'm feel so bad for the ones that lost thier lives and homes but the fire is like a renew for the forest itself. And its crazy how the fire jumped around and was so wide spread yet spared a lot of areas. Also some parts of Gatlinburg were getting kind of run down and dirty in recent years and that fire forces these area to get cleaned up and rebuilt into nicer things. A lot of the hotels have new landscaping and have repainted and the hotel I stayed at  had all new carpet, beds and linens. The lady at the desk said they had to because of all the smoke smell. The entire town still smelt of smoke and well kind of like a camp fire, it was everywhere. The hardest hit area was on the east side of town where there was still a lot of burnt out houses and buildings and the hill side on the east side of the park is scorched bad even killed the trees. But the forest will rebuild itself and it forces man to clean up and rebuild too. In all I think it's better for the area just sad for the lives lost and affected. Clicked a few pics..

Well, walk a couple laps through Gatlinburg and got my exercise on, sampled some shine at 3 different places and some hot sauce at the pepper palace. In town wasn't that crouded and had a good time. Finished off the day with a big steak dinner and some beers.

This guy cracked me up, walked around with his gear on and a BMW hat, ATGATT I guess..lol It was like 80deg out. 

 

  

Edited July 1, 2017 by 2talltim

[2talltim]

Okay finally I get to camp. Rode from Gatlinburg to Deals Gap via River Rd, Townsend, Foothills and the Dragon. No I didn't stop in Townsend to check out the Gateway Inn. Got to the Gap Resort paid for my $15 camp site and set up camp. One thing I forgot was a soft cooler or drink so I utilized the Creek and some stones to keep my beer chilled, it worked perfect. 

Then of course the only thing to do for lunch was head across the Skyway for BBQ at Krambonz

 

While over there I wanted to check out a road someone told me about The Joe Brown Hwy. While looking for it I ended up finding 9 miles of dirt road and I was too suborn to turn around and go back but it was all good I found it eventally. The JBH was ok buy ill never go look for it again. The section that was nce had a lot of houses and traffic, the middle section was fresh paved but bouncy as hell they did a terrible pave job and due to my wrong turn i misses the first past but I'm sure I wasn't missing anything. 

So I headed back across the Skyway and had a damn near perfect run. Only had to pass one truck and the weather was perfect. Stopped at Bojangles to get me some dinner to take back to camp and when I pulled into the motorcycle parking area I kept hearing sounds of little kittens behind the little shed so I went to investigate. I found what looked to be a kitten mill operation, not really looked like somone was trying offer these kitties some shelter and was feeding them and had make shift houses built out of boxes and trash bags. Only little guy cam out to visit me but the boxes were full of them.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2017 by 2talltim

[2talltim]

So I headed back to camp and decided half way there I was hitting the Dragon for a lap. And it was the most perfect time to hit the Dragon. No cops, no cruisers and only had a few cars to get around and they pulled right over. Has such a great time on the way back I got to the state line and turned around and did a second lap. 

Night at camp was relaxing, meet a couple other campers and we shot the shit till 11pm then called it a night. That night I thought I add a day to my trip and head over to the BRP campground for a night before I went home. Next morning I walked over to the TOTD store for their wifi and realize the weather for the next day was going to be shit so I then decided to head home. Clicked this pic while enjoying the morning. 

 

Decided to head home via BRP out of Cherokee, then jump on The Rattler (209) out of Maggie Valley. 209 while the tarmac was beautiful all the gravel in the corners made the ride total shit. But I managed to get through it. 208 was nice and took TN70 north towards US23 and took it most of the way home into Ohio. Stopped for lunch on TN70 and noticed my tire was almost gone so it's a good thing I decided to just go home. And yes this is the tie wheelers put on just 3 weeks previous.Made it home on the tire and got the set I had in the garage mounted the next day, got the old connie shined up and ready for the next adventure.

 

 

 

Sorry so winded but that was my Adventure. 

 

Edited July 1, 2017 by 2talltim

[NinjaDoc]

Damn, thx for sharing 

 

now I understand your tire wear problem, u ride too damn much lol 

[2talltim]

Oh yea forgot to add it was 1670 miles in the 4 days of riding. 

[Wolfman1]

Thanks for sharing Tim, some times shit happens and you have to just power through it.  Looks like it turned out to be a good trip overall.

[JustinNck1]

Glad to see you made it past all the bullshit and still had a good time. The damn Connie is a tire eating machine. 

[Killer_kaw]

Even with all your troubles I gotta say I'm a little jealous. Seems it turned out to be a good trip

[2talltim]

32 minutes ago, Killer_kaw said:

Even with all your troubles I gotta say I'm a little jealous. Seems it turned out to be a good trip

Yup I would have kicked myself if I had turned back.

[Connie14]

Nice write up. Glad to see that the trip turned out well for you.

[Strictly Street]

Nice write up....

[Tonik]

tldr

[Helmutt]

Nice adventure.  Too bad you had to do it all solo, but that probably makes even more adventurous.  Thanks for the share

[2talltim]

43 minutes ago, Hellmutt said:

Nice adventure.  Too bad you had to do it all solo, but that probably makes even more adventurous.  Thanks for the share

It's nice to get out every now and then by myself. Stop when I want to stop, dick around when I want to, see something cool and bust a u turn to click a pic. All without worrying what the group or other person thinks or wants todo.

Edited July 2, 2017 by 2talltim

[2talltim]

3 hours ago, Tonik said:

tldr