Every few years, I get happy feet... the need to take a high-mileage trip and discover new country... going out on walkabout, as Crocodile Dundee would say.
For ages I had been doing this sort of thing on motorcycles, and originally planned on doing this trip on my beloved 955i Triumph Tiger adventure bike, but last year a negligent j@ck@$$ in a pickup truck pulled out in front of me, bringing a swift and violent end to my Tiger and my decades of motorcycling. I'm very lucky to be here.
Having no Adventure bike (while my Adventure riding spirit remains alive and well) my choice of long-distance unpaved-road touring machine seamlessly transitioned from two wheels to four. I already had the Jeep, a 2001 TJ Sahara, so I used my bike's insurance settlement to get the Yeep up to snuff. The Gecko is just as nice of a fellow in person as he seems on TV.
I had been planning this trip for nearly two years... saving money, saving vacation time at work, planning the route, and looking on the 'net for cool things to see along the way.
The main reason for the trip was a military reunion in San Diego, CA over the weekend of the 17th & 18th of September. And while I was in Cali, ride up to the Bay Area to visit my sister and her family.
And getting there is half the fun...
Atlanta GA to Tupelo, MS.
I left the Atlanta, GA area in the early afternoon of September 6, Labor Day. I camped for the night at Elvis Presley Lake campground in Tupelo, MS, after a 356 mile day.
Sept 7 - Tupelo, MS to Muskogee, OK. -
Got on the road at about 8 am and swung by Elvis' boyhood home here in Tupelo. Elvis was born here in this house in 1935, but he and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1948 when he was 13 years old.
Me on Elvis' front porch swing.
I continued on to Memphis. I first went to the site of the former Lorrain Hotel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered. I didn't take any photos, as I didn't think it appropriate. I spent a few minutes paying my respects.
The website of the National Civil Rights Museum
Just a few blocks away is Beale Street, mecca of Delta and Memphis Blues music, which I passionately love. I spent an hour or so walking up and down the street checking out the music stores, clubs, and restaurants.
It was just before lunchtime, so none of the clubs were open and none of the acts were playing yet. There were a few guys hanging out in the parks and sidewalks though, playing the Blues. Beale Street made me wish (again) I had room in the Jeep to pack my Stratocaster and amp.
Crossing the Mississippi River on I-40, westbound and down.
Conway, Arkansas. I don't know how to explain this one.
"Lemme just mask these letters and I'll spray-paint 'em. This is going to look good, I just know it."
I stopped for the night in Muskogee, OK. 467 miles for the day, 823 total
Sept. 8 - Muskogee, OK to Alva, OK. - Known to many enduro and Adventure-bike riders is a network of dirt roads that runs westward from Jellico, Tennessee all the way to the Pacific Ocean in Oregon, called the Trans-America Trail (TAT). A hardcore enduro rider named Sam Corerro mapped the route over the course of several years, and then put together a set of maps and roll-charts, available for sale on his website...
Trans-America Trail
I had ridden some of the eastern part of the route on my adventure bike, and was eager to do a few miles of the TAT as I headed west on this trip, as time permitted.
I swung north through Tulsa to the town of Bartlesville, OK where I picked up the TAT, heading into the Osage Indian Reservation...
The State Line, looking west... Oklahoma on the left side of the road, Kansas on the right.
The Tallgrass Prarie Preserve. Words fail me as I try to describe this area... it just feels old. Anciently old. With the exception of the road and fence, I would bet this part of the world doesn't look much different than it did 5,000 years ago. All it needs now is buffalo...
I was starting to get low on daylight, and I hate driving at night, so I got back on the slab and high-tailed it to Alva, OK for the night. 291 miles, many on dirt, 1114 total
Sept. 9 - Alva, OK to Cimarron, NM -
Once I got settled in for the night in Alva, I realized that if I wanted a couple days to gallivant around the countryside in Utah and Arizona (and make it to my reunion on time), I had better stay on paved roads and make some time. So with regret, I left the Tras-America Trail behind (for now) and slabbed across the skinny part of the Oklahoma panhandle into New Mexico.
Sunflowers as far as the eye can see.
In the front yard of my motel in Cimarron, NM.
398 miles for the day, 1512 total
Sept. 10 - Cimarron, NM to Farmington, NM. -
I took US 64 west from Cimarron, heading west through mountains and canyons to Taos.
I love visiting the American West. Maybe part of it is my understanding of Geology and that not as much of the geologic features out west are covered with soil, grass, and trees. You can see the individual layers of sedimentary rock as it was laid down as sand and mud hundreds of millions of years ago, and the tilted angles of the strata that were uplifted to create mountains. Out here the bluffs, buttes, and volcanoes are still visible.
The Rio Grande Gorge, just west of Taos, NM...
I crossed the Continental Divide near Tierra Amarilla, NM at an elevation (according to my GPS' altimeter) of nearly 10,500 feet. I continued on through Chama and the Jicarilla Apache Reservation to Farmington, NM. I still had plenty of daylight left and felt good at Farmington, so I figured I'd press on the 30 more miles to Shiprock, NM in the Navajo Nation.
And then I discovered that there is not a single motel to be found in Shiprock, New Mexico. None. So I backtracked the 30 miles back to Farmington and found a room there. 322 miles for the day, 1834 total
For ages I had been doing this sort of thing on motorcycles, and originally planned on doing this trip on my beloved 955i Triumph Tiger adventure bike, but last year a negligent j@ck@$$ in a pickup truck pulled out in front of me, bringing a swift and violent end to my Tiger and my decades of motorcycling. I'm very lucky to be here.
Having no Adventure bike (while my Adventure riding spirit remains alive and well) my choice of long-distance unpaved-road touring machine seamlessly transitioned from two wheels to four. I already had the Jeep, a 2001 TJ Sahara, so I used my bike's insurance settlement to get the Yeep up to snuff. The Gecko is just as nice of a fellow in person as he seems on TV.
I had been planning this trip for nearly two years... saving money, saving vacation time at work, planning the route, and looking on the 'net for cool things to see along the way.
The main reason for the trip was a military reunion in San Diego, CA over the weekend of the 17th & 18th of September. And while I was in Cali, ride up to the Bay Area to visit my sister and her family.
And getting there is half the fun...
Atlanta GA to Tupelo, MS.
I left the Atlanta, GA area in the early afternoon of September 6, Labor Day. I camped for the night at Elvis Presley Lake campground in Tupelo, MS, after a 356 mile day.
Sept 7 - Tupelo, MS to Muskogee, OK. -
Got on the road at about 8 am and swung by Elvis' boyhood home here in Tupelo. Elvis was born here in this house in 1935, but he and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1948 when he was 13 years old.
Me on Elvis' front porch swing.
I continued on to Memphis. I first went to the site of the former Lorrain Hotel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered. I didn't take any photos, as I didn't think it appropriate. I spent a few minutes paying my respects.
The website of the National Civil Rights Museum
Just a few blocks away is Beale Street, mecca of Delta and Memphis Blues music, which I passionately love. I spent an hour or so walking up and down the street checking out the music stores, clubs, and restaurants.
It was just before lunchtime, so none of the clubs were open and none of the acts were playing yet. There were a few guys hanging out in the parks and sidewalks though, playing the Blues. Beale Street made me wish (again) I had room in the Jeep to pack my Stratocaster and amp.
Crossing the Mississippi River on I-40, westbound and down.
Conway, Arkansas. I don't know how to explain this one.
"Lemme just mask these letters and I'll spray-paint 'em. This is going to look good, I just know it."
I stopped for the night in Muskogee, OK. 467 miles for the day, 823 total
Sept. 8 - Muskogee, OK to Alva, OK. - Known to many enduro and Adventure-bike riders is a network of dirt roads that runs westward from Jellico, Tennessee all the way to the Pacific Ocean in Oregon, called the Trans-America Trail (TAT). A hardcore enduro rider named Sam Corerro mapped the route over the course of several years, and then put together a set of maps and roll-charts, available for sale on his website...
Trans-America Trail
I had ridden some of the eastern part of the route on my adventure bike, and was eager to do a few miles of the TAT as I headed west on this trip, as time permitted.
I swung north through Tulsa to the town of Bartlesville, OK where I picked up the TAT, heading into the Osage Indian Reservation...
The State Line, looking west... Oklahoma on the left side of the road, Kansas on the right.
The Tallgrass Prarie Preserve. Words fail me as I try to describe this area... it just feels old. Anciently old. With the exception of the road and fence, I would bet this part of the world doesn't look much different than it did 5,000 years ago. All it needs now is buffalo...
I was starting to get low on daylight, and I hate driving at night, so I got back on the slab and high-tailed it to Alva, OK for the night. 291 miles, many on dirt, 1114 total
Sept. 9 - Alva, OK to Cimarron, NM -
Once I got settled in for the night in Alva, I realized that if I wanted a couple days to gallivant around the countryside in Utah and Arizona (and make it to my reunion on time), I had better stay on paved roads and make some time. So with regret, I left the Tras-America Trail behind (for now) and slabbed across the skinny part of the Oklahoma panhandle into New Mexico.
Sunflowers as far as the eye can see.
In the front yard of my motel in Cimarron, NM.
398 miles for the day, 1512 total
Sept. 10 - Cimarron, NM to Farmington, NM. -
I took US 64 west from Cimarron, heading west through mountains and canyons to Taos.
I love visiting the American West. Maybe part of it is my understanding of Geology and that not as much of the geologic features out west are covered with soil, grass, and trees. You can see the individual layers of sedimentary rock as it was laid down as sand and mud hundreds of millions of years ago, and the tilted angles of the strata that were uplifted to create mountains. Out here the bluffs, buttes, and volcanoes are still visible.
The Rio Grande Gorge, just west of Taos, NM...
I crossed the Continental Divide near Tierra Amarilla, NM at an elevation (according to my GPS' altimeter) of nearly 10,500 feet. I continued on through Chama and the Jicarilla Apache Reservation to Farmington, NM. I still had plenty of daylight left and felt good at Farmington, so I figured I'd press on the 30 more miles to Shiprock, NM in the Navajo Nation.
And then I discovered that there is not a single motel to be found in Shiprock, New Mexico. None. So I backtracked the 30 miles back to Farmington and found a room there. 322 miles for the day, 1834 total