Saturday, May 30, 2009

Down South

Four days, 2095 miles and six states.

Firstly I want to say, I love south, the place, the people, their slow and sweet accent, everything about it!!


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Day 1: 751 miles (New Jersey-Pennsylvania-Maryland-West Virginia-Tennessee)

I am a lazy and a long sleeper kind of specie, I need at least 7 hours of sleep for me to function properly. But when it comes to road trip, :-) I sleep less, I ride more. I woke up at 5am and was on road by 6 am. I had a long way to go this day, plan was to do 750 miles to reach Tennessee the same day but since I hadn't done that long distance before, I was'nt sure so did not book any hotel but generally I don't book any hotels because I don't like my trips to be exactly planned and pin pointed. I just keep a rough idea in my mind of the places and then explore which is much more fun and adventurous!!

I worked on my motorcycle myself this time. I changed the disc brake pads, the brake fluids and engine oil myself. I had a little trouble with it but everything was fine by the end of it.

Few hours after I started, I saw the brake fluid leaking from the sealed container which gave jitters and like always, I forgot to keep the spare bottle of brake fluid with me.

In the afternoon, ride was tough, I was so sleepy that I had to stop every 40-50 miles for 5 minutes but then, later in the day when the rays from setting sun starts falling my face, I felt fresh!

Reached Tennessee by 10 pm after 16 hours of ride and as I said adventure begins...no hotel around, the place was like jungle and I do not have any other place to go after wandering in and around the sleepy town, I found super 8 motel. The hotel was in the jungle, it looked like a haunted place and the two ladies at the counter looked so scary to me. One of them was in her 30s, she had a strong face with strong face texture and her voice did not match her look and build it was so chirpy that I got goose bumps, the other was in her 50s and looked horrible. The reception room had antique stuff all around with few molds of wild animals. Anyway I took the room keys and unpacked everything from my horse and went to bed by 1 am.

Day 2: 311 miles (Tennessee-North Carolina - Tennessee)

This is the day I was really looking forward to. I did Dragon (Deals Gap). Dragon is a US Hwy 129 which 319 turns in 11 miles it has been rated as top 10 scariest highways in USA by Forbes Magazine. Adjacent to 129 is Cherohala Parkaway which is equally fun, long sweepers. I did Dragon twice that day, I almost had an orgasm I must say. Real real fun!!! I camped that day on the mountains. Can you imagine wireless internet inside your tent in the jungle where there are not even proper phone signals ? :)

Day 3: 602 miles (Tennessee-North Carolina-Virginia)

This was another long day but I did not expect the route to be as interesting as it turns out to be. One of my friend was also coming to Virginia beach to join me. For one reason, I was happy, for another, I was'nt, because that breaks the rules of vagabonding, when you want to be alone and on your own!!! :)

Day 4: 395 miles (Virginia-Delaware-New Jersey)

When leaving from Virginia to Delaware, there is a 20-30 miles long bridge over the sea. It's amazing to have laid the bridge on the sea. Imagine you are driving and all you see is sea all around you, no earth!!!

1 comment:

born_in_the_woods said...

Your photos are amazing...and so is your spirit.
Enjoy!