Highlands to Lowlands - TN to FL

From the Tennessee Plateau to South Florida

All good bike trips begin with a spirit of adventure. The best trips find you and not the other way round.

So when my Friend-Neighbor-Realtor-Extraordinaire Judy sold their house in record time, her husband and part-time Ducati-Driver Dick needed someone had to drive the motorcycle trailer to Tennessee. Luckily there was room for my BMW K75S and I'd just ride it back. The LONG way, through the mountains, of course.

Remarkable how many people told me a ride like this is just TOO FAR on a bike. I'll put some final ride statistics at the end of this page. You Decide!

Of course, the Itty Bitty Biker Bitch wanted to come along. She LOVES to ride on my bike but not this time. The Biker Dog is NOT happy. Bikes are tied-down and I'm ready to drive.

Dick's Tahoe with Ducati and BMW on the trailer.

I try to take as many back roads as possible. It's weird to see the Interstates Packed Nose-to-Tail and beautiful side roads with 65 mph speed limits are nearly empty. But, where the backroads get lost in a gnarly diversion through forgettable towns, that's where I hopped on the Turnpike to I-75.

Lauren and Iván made me the best invitation to spend the night in Gainesville at Univ of FL where both are working on PhD's. Plus Iván got me a tour of the Small Animal Research Hospital at the College of Veterinary Medicine! Fascinating.

Lauren, of course, took Itty Bitty's place on the Ducati for a Photo-Op. 

What it is about that Italian Bike???

Iván, doesn't speak Italian, so he rides his own 1.8 Liter V-Twin Suzuki Boulevard. 

Nice Engineering. 

Hello TORQUE!

Yes Dear, Helmet is secure, Thank you, Sweety. Argh.

There's not much to report about a car trip on I-75 to the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. The best thrill for me -- coming from Flatistan (our quaint nickname for the ex-ocean floor we call South Florida) was to see mountains!

Soon as I got to Chattanooga, I got onto the backroads 27/29 N

Judy and Dick have a beautiful house on the lake. Up on the plateau it's cooler and I get a break from the sweltering Florida heat. It was about 45 def F (7 C) the next morning when went for a local biketour and I was happy for the leather pants. (I'll think of this a week later when I'm riding in south central Georgia at 97 Deg).

Dinner on the deck - Paradise 

My big adventure this trip was to test out bike camping. I've seen so many adventure blogs about Motorcycle camping but there is only one way to know if you will like it - so I gotta try it out!

Right off, I think I ignored the first rule: Decide what's important to take along and then cut that in half. I had too much stuff. Partly because I had driven the SUV up and had extra gear. It wasn't a big problem, but the extra weight made the bike a bit top heavy in the turns. The 20-year old BMW ran like a dream. I decided to just ride the country roads East until I hit the Smoky Mountains and find a place to camp.

Lunch Break along a small river.

There is a lot to explore in the Smokies. I was just riding along and saw a tent symbol and decided to follow it. I ended up in the Cosby section of the mountains with a beautiful campground. No one at the ranger house so pick a site, pitch the tent and go back and self-register; after name and address there were two questions: 1) How many campers, and 2) How many horses? Seems this area has strong equestrian draw. Tent pitches were special-built, raised areas surrounded by heavy wooden ties and backfilled with peastone. Perfectly level and great drainage. For $7 a night it's a great deal. Campfire is burning, bike is covered, time to check out the Army surplus sleeping bag.

Was nice to have the bike parked on pavement close to the tent.

After a couple days, it was time to head to Georgia to visit other friends. I rode south towards North Carolina and in the middle of the mountains, found the road was closed and the detour led East again on a yet narrower mountain road. But what fun that was. Never would have thought to take this little windy, country road and it took 45 min before I was back on to the main highway in the direction of Asheville. That is the pure joy of Motorcycle travel on a cool, sunny day. Sadly, I didn't stop enough to take pictures.

Denny takes a break from yard work to welcome me

From Asheville, I meandered towards Franklin and the scenery became a bit more open with grand vistas of springtime mountains and steep-cut valleys. The bike runs without a single concern. 4000 rpm yields 55 mph. My brother calls it a sewing machine, it's that smooth. I stop for gas when the fuel reserve light comes on after 180 miles but the bike will go another 80 miles before empty. It's good to take a mental break and a short snack or a cup of coffee. At 50 mpg, the bike can run longer than the rider.

View from the Bridal Suite

Lee "at work"

By midday, I find myself in the familiar roads of Hiawassee, Georgia just a few miles south of the NC border. Lee and Denny own a summer house on Lake Chatuge.. I get to stay in the Bridal Suite, Lee's pet name for the apartment over the garage. The view is again stunning. 



Everyone asked how the weather was. Perfect. Cool. Low humidity. Ideal for motorcycle touring. I learn that South Florida is having an unusual heavy rainfall for the last week, 3 or 4 inches of rain a day. And it was getting time to return. Well, that's why I brought along the Frogg Toggs Raingear.
Lee gave me a suggestion to go East through the mountains before turning south onto 441. That single road runs from North Georgia all the way to Wellington, FL. At times, in Southern Georgia, I would ride for 15 min without seeing another vehicle. I thought for a moment that the road was closed, But I guess everyone is on the big highways.

Luckily Lauren and Iván kept the guest bed as I left it and I could stay there for the weekend. Great fun touring the Gainsville area and both got a break from heavy studying schedules. I checked the weather and realized if I got up at 5am and headed South, I could beat the rains. "Don't worry, I won't wake you", I assured them. "We'll be up", Lauren replied, "Cause we're riding with you as far as Ocala". Wow, I had company for an hour and I half and it's fun to travel with another biker.

 

Riding from Gainesville to Ocala - Sharing the GoPro

Made it to South Florida and never hit a single drop of rain. So how was the ride?

• 1300 miles on the bike. Never once did I feel in danger due to traffic, weather or road conditions. Most drivers were courteous to bikers. 50 miles to the gallon (4.7 L/100 km). I never feel tired riding the bike. It's invigorating.
• Motorcycle camping is great fun. Less fun was the weight I had to carry. Need to find a smaller tent and devise equipment that serves multiple uses.
• The new self-inflating air mattresses are the best ever. A bit bulky for the bike but it is nearly as comfortable as a good bed. Worth it.
• The new micro gas cookers can boil a cup of water in under 2 min. Tiny and light weight.
• Tent was too large at 9' x 7' and 8 lbs. The external support poles take too long to set up (20 min). Need to find a smaller solution.
• My Hosts were fantastic. Thank you all!

Hog Fiction Apr 2013

Mickey had asked us for years to come stay at the ranch, so this April we went for a month. We loaded the Pom into the BMW -- Deb's new car that at 9 months old had just 1000 miles on it -- and headed out for Buffalo, TX a 2500-mile roundtrip. We decided to drive on side-roads that generally parallel the interstate as maybe we'd get to see something. Only problem? There is NOTHING to see from Northern Florida until you get to Texas. Just run-down towns and abandoned buildings. Hard to believe it's the USA. Route hugs the Gulf coast -20' elevation Day 1 is getting late as we pull into Biloxi. MS for the night. On Day 2, we cross into Texas. Note the 75 mph speed limit on the wide, Texas back-roads. Finally at the ranch. We jumped into the carts for a quick tour. Newly enlarged pond is now HUGE and filled with Bluegills and Bass. Cows (who are registered Democrats) mobbed us for free handouts. For all of you have been here before, the rolling hills and open fields are quite beautiful. Here a solitary bull wanders down for an evening drink. This is the view we have from the front of the new Ranch House Solitude of Lake Woebegone OK, Time to Get Some Work Done! Little -- if any -- maintenance had been done on the house for the last 13 years. My goal was to give the house a make-over from the street to the front of the house. The paint was peeling everywhere, brick was dirty and the color scheme we called 'Crappy Brown' wasn't working for us.  Step 1 was to head to the Ace Hardware in Buffalo and pick out some more attractive colors.  Step 2 was to pressure wash the entire house to get it ready for the new paint. Pressure washing with TSP The old paint was Brown-Everwhere. Who wants to look UP and see a brown sky? We found an off-white that looked great against the clean brick. So OFF with the brown... "Looks like a new House", says Mike. Detail work with the finish accent color And the FINAL RESULT! Debbie added the Calibrachoa flowers Last thing was to paint the patio. But what color? There is one thing in Texas you cannot escape--the omnipresent dirt. I didn't want a nice new patio to show every foot print. So I scooped up some of that dirt, put it in a jar, scurried off to the paint store and had them match the dirt color! Seriously. After the paint was dry, I sprinkled the original dirt over the dry paint and it disappeared.  Color was an exact match for the Texas Dirt The Money Shot Time for a break. We had all those empty paint cans. Maybe Debbie can help by putting some holes in them? Then Mike went checking on the cows only to discover that the very-pregnant-Rosie was missing; so she must have gone off to have her calf. Could we find her? After about an hour of searching the remote corners of the grounds we found her with a healthy calf just a few hours old. This was Rosie's first calf but the interesting thing was that she chose to deliver probably not 100 feet from the spot where she herself had been born. Hours-old new calf Proud Papa looks on at a distance OK, time to clean up the yard. What's that expression? Many paws make quick work? Itty Bitty drove the tractor to the dump site. Itty Bitty Tractor Driver Debbie found it easier to hose off the louver doors OUTSIDE All that play and work builds up an appetite. Mick grills Bratwurst and made sure we were well-fed. Itty Bitty woofs down her dinner, too. Now with the house all sorted, the next bits looked shabby by comparison. Some barbed wire posts needed repair... That rusty pink gate was begging for a new coat of high-gloss black... No More Pink Gate But that MAILBOX was first on my list. Repair the door, bang out the major dents, high-gloss black enamel and get the new family name painted over the old. Scott doesn't live here anymore Looks like new... Found this beautiful cedar in the woods and gave it a new home by the front gate New Fresh Appearance - From the Mailbox to the Porch

Ahh, I thought I was done. But one thing still bugged me. Why did someone cover up those windows with plywood? The windows were double-glazed, expensive stuff. Why paint it on the inside and board it up? Only one way to find out. Pull off one. Wow, the house looks better. Maybe I should pull off another? And another? Why cover them up? Last one to go... Plywood gone: We have a stunning architectural window feature! OK, so WHY do I call it Hog Fiction? Because in all the time I have been there I have never seen a feral pig. Not once. Deer, yes, they are everywhere. They seem to get a good laugh out of the Hog Fiction Ranch name. THE END The Tour Bus Texas Flowers (Spiderwort) Itty Bitty Doggie - Movie Star

Wellington to Naples (Florida) Loop

In Florida, when people talk about The West Coast, we mean the western Gulf coast of Florida. Since I live on the east coast, a coast-to-coast trip makes for a fun theme and Naples lies directly west and it's a popular tourist destination, so let's check it out. 

Throughout the 1870s and '80's, magazine and newspaper stories telling of the area's mild climate and abundant fish and game likened it to the sunny Italian peninsula. The name Naples caught on when promoters described the bay as "surpassing the bay in Naples, Italy".  

We'll take some highways on the leg out and return through the back, rural roads stopping to see small towns and smaller local airports (even on a bike, the pilot in me can't pass up an airport visit).

Coast-to-coast; Wellington to Naples Florida

Trip Prep

Using the Harley Davidson website again for ride planning. I marked this route with numbered locations and saved the GPS data. If you have a Garmin GPS you can read the file directly, but with my TomTom I need an intermediate step. The free POI Manager imports the data and writes it all in my TomTom as Points of Interest. You can't store a complete route in the TomTom, so I just navigate to any of the locations (POIs).   To make the POIs quick to find, just tell the POI manager to write everything in a specific folder, in this case Naples. 

Things to See

OK, I already reported on a short tour we did through the cane fields to Clewiston. We repeat that part on the way to Naples. But what else is there to see along the way???

At Belle Glade, Rt 80 turns into a big 4-lane that follows the dike along the south end of the lake. We stopped at the John Stretch Park to see the lake from above the dike. On the trip to Texas, I stopped at the east side of the lake where a lock raises boats onto Lake Okeechobee. The boats can then sail along the canal (see below) to a 2nd lock just a bit west of this point. You then can continue on waterways to the west coast of Florida.

Atop the dike at John Stretch park east of Clewiston.

The park also features a neat static display of the old engines used to pump water for flood control. In front was a 6-cylinder 1240 HP engine, but behind it is the more interesting and huge 11-cylinder radial engine that produced 1655 HP to turn the pumps at 128 rpm.

Huge pumps were used to manage water in S. Florida

Further west, Rt 80 becomes a rural 2-lane road and the riding gets more interesting. Cane fields give way to citrus groves and then, as if you flipped a light switch, you hit the densely populated Fort Meyers. Try to avoid traveling the congested Rt 41 if you can, but it's worth it once you get to scenic Naples. Although it seems some locals take their majestic image with a bit of whimsey.

Exquisite Store-Front-Art on 5th Ave in Naples

View West along 5th Ave in Naples

We toured all the interesting streets that back up to the water. Beautifully designed and impeccably-maintained multi-million dollar homes stand side-by-side like so many M&M candies in a bag. Found an empty lot for sale on Cutlass Lane.

Empty lot on the waterway to the Gulf of Mexico

Bird of Prey dining on a Fish Lunch

Time to head back (327 miles round trip - 526 km)

The long, late-afternoon shadows reminded us it was time to head back. No more choking traffic on route 41 for me! I headed for the 2-lane rural roads that only run north-south and east-west. Immokalee Road runs south of the Corkscrew Watershed and it was interesting to see cattle grazing in foot-deep water. Few  live here it seems, save for cows and orange trees. Here and there an airport with crop dusters and a town for farm workers. It's a pretty landscape that not many vacationers on the tourist-laden coasts care to investigate. Roads are smooth, we pass only the occasional car or farm tractor under that deep, porcelain-blue sky of the sub-tropics. The 3-cylinder, water-cooled BMW engine hums like a sewing machine as the ride comes to a successful end. 327 miles was a bit long, but incalculable fun.