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Checking in this evening from Chattanooga, TN. I left Roanoke, VA yesterday (Fri, 28th July) and
ended up in Nashville. I rode a bit more of the Blue Ridge Parkway before exiting at "Fancy Gap"
or mile marker 200. The first 56mi of the day I passed 2 cars (literally) and that was
it. Sweet! As the afternoon approached I noticed a bit more traffic, say, as in 1 car every
few miles and a lot more LEOs perusing the area. (As an FYI, mm 170-173 is a hot spot for
LEOs). Since the BRP is 450mi long that leaves me with 250mi to do at another time. I had
plans to meet Stromtrooper "SmkyMtnVStrom" in Knoxville in the evening to pick up a turn signal lens
for my Strom. As soon as I passed from VA into TN I stopped at the Welcome Center and reconnected
my V1 (radar):
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I was thinking that if I was Head Sign Maker in TN I'd make a sign that goes under the "Welcome to
Tennessee" sign at the TN/VA border that read "Feel free to reconnect your radar detector honey
since we believe in our State Troopers and our technology to catch your speeding hiney." Since
I'm not in charge of signs, I'll finish telling you about yesterday. I ran slab (I-81) until
Greeneville, TN where I exited and found a really nice country road. I've found these roads
are frequented by jacked up pickup trucks boasting NASCAR and deer antler decals and drivers who
appear to believe power-to-weight ratio has something to do with the power of their firearm in
relation to their body weight should they lose a race. I think many of these drivers must
call Greeneville home, much the same as the Amish buggy's are in Lancaster, PA! When I came
into Greeneville itself I passed a brown National Park sign pointing to "Andrew Johnson National
Historic Site." This was the first "surprise" stamp I've collected as all others were on
specific routes:
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I landed safely at SmkyMtnVstrom's and obtained the replacement orange turn signal lens. I was
thinking about the difference in problem solving/support while on the road between RT's bike and
mine. We had to divert 125mi to the nearest dealership where he dealt with strangers and was
charged $120 to have a turn signal switch cleaned (geez, it really pays to own a BMW, eh?!); whereas
I made no adjustment to my route, meet someone I knew personally, and had the issue solved for
free. No, the problems were not identical but you get the idea. Speaking of RT, he left 2
messages today...he arrived safely in IL though his right headlight bulb died for the 3rd time in 45k
mi on the "new" RT. Says he's feeling better but has made plans to see a chiropractor on Mon. My
guess is he's not going to have that kickstand down for long so someone in IL might want to come up with a
diversion plan to allow more rest time (hint hint).
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After leaving Knoxville I was en route to Nashville and hit about 45mi of really hard rain; the kind of rain
that when it hits your helmet it sounds like pebbles. The Tourances are indeed good in rain but not as
good as the Z6's. I can't really explain the feel. BTW, just yesterday Jim advised me that my new
Z6's are in and awaiting my arrival in AZ---woohoo! He also said the brand new cush drive direct from
Suzuki showed up. (Thanks, Suzuki!). Anywho, I made it to Music City and spent the night at my
Dad's. Late this morning I went over to Stromtrooper "SCraig" to work on my Strom in his garage. Since
being a hit-and-run (or was it run-and-hit?) victim it has been leaking oil. Let me reiterate that I've
had ZERO drivability issues since the tip over the day prior, however, whenever I stopped oil would drip in a
matter of seconds. This was highly unnerving to me but Jim reassured me what the problem was and how to
fix it. He said there was likely quite a bit of oil in the air box and when I pulled it I discovered Jim
was right for the 8,498,326th time:
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Somewhere on this forum I posted a while back something about why I run K&N air filters and one of the reasons
is so I can recharge them while on the road if need be. The air filter I removed today was a gunked mess
of oil and debris don'tcha think:
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SCraig ran me down to pick up a recharge kit from the corner auto part store, I cleaned & reoiled the filter, put
the Strom back together and off I went. If I was in need of a stock air filter, well, I'd be stuck. Thank
goodness for K&N! I left Nashville this evening and had a lovely slab ride to Choo-Choo town. Seriously,
it was sunset and the recent rain made everything look even more green. The bike ran fine and, as expected,
benefited from a renewed air filter if anything else. I will say that I saw twice as many deer in the 120mi
tonight than I did in riding 300mi of Skyline Drive/Blue Ridge Parkway (where I saw 7) the last 2 days. The
Matriarch has welcomed me here once again and is eager to help me with planning for the USA Four Corner trip (oh,
is this going to be interesting!). Incidentally, RT and I decided to move our start date back 2 weeks. As
of today, we will start the 10,500mi trek on Tues Sept 5th. We are debating on whether to start in CA or WA
(essentially do we want to end in FL or CA). The reason for making Blaine, WA the first corner is so we can
leisurely go up the CA coast. Just don't ask me to define what 2 hard core riders define as "leisurely.
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P.S. Came across this on VA-58 just west of the BRP:
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