Talico Plains TN - Tornado warnings and storm watching.

Still here at the KOA in Talico Plains TN. Glad they gave me a cabin to wait out the storms!. Well in tornado country there are two alert levels, one is Tornado watch the other is Tornado warning, the second meaning you better be prepared for a Tornado touching down in your area. So yesterday after the first and second storms went through and it was just beginning to get dark we were all ordered to go to the main building because of Tornadoes warnings in our area. These are people that are used to these things and I can tell you they were very worried. Luckily we were missed by an actual Tornado touching down but in the darkness thought we could see one in the distance. A storm like I have never seen in my life nor probably anyone that is reading this. The sheet lightning was absolutely continuous for quite some time, one on top of the other covering at least 180 degrees of the horizon but without any thunder, which I don't understand, but combined with the  sheet lightning was lots of fork lightning and it had plenty of thunder to go with it. All this combined created quite the light show for sure, in fact it was amazing, something never to be forgotten. Just before we all got called to the main building I hear a tree in the distance break and then heard and watched a colorful explosion of a transformer on the main street to the south of us.Since I have been here the wind has been different than I am used to, one minute it is calm and the next it will hit in a short burst like someone has slugged you, well during the storm that was even more pronounced and although we didn't get much rain initially after the Tornado warnings were lifted we sure got the rain. One second nothing the next it completely soaked in half a second. as I experienced while I was outside trying to see in the dark was was banging and crashing and checking to see if my bike was still standing. Now it is morning and all is calm, dark but broken clouds and very little wind but much cooler than is normal. I attempted to get still photos of the lightning with out success, but I did capture some on my phone with video, not sure if it will work out or if I can post it but I will try.

Maybe I can add some video footage of the storm from my phone later if I figureout how.

During all this it was nice to visit with people. I met a couple from Michigan that were on there way home from Florida after being there since Jan. They had a fifth wheel toy hauler that they carried there motorcycles in ( non Harley) so that gave us something to get started on, trying to figure out the Harley culture. They also had picture of them on there bikes at Deals Gap.They were well educated and had Canadian friends so were easy to get to know and talk to. They call  there friends there southern cousins cause they are actually further south even though they are in Canada, bottom of the great lakes I guess.

Today I am on to my first rally, the weather will be cool but dry, after than it goes bad again so I may just end up heading down to Florida after all. Trouble is I guess I can't ride home even if I get tired of all this because the weather up north is still far too cold due to this crazy weather that seems to be happening all over this spring.

Nice roads, nice scenery.

Jacksboro to Talico Tennessee via Deals Gap/ Tail of the Dragon

Got to Bushtec this morning and got new trailer tires, they confirmed the trailer has probably been in an accident which is probably cause the trailer tires and rear bike tire to wear faster. They offered me $800 trade in on a new one, maybe I should have taken it. Oh well off I go, now looking for a rear bike tire. Managed to find one not far away and got it installed, not the one I wanted but a good one none the less. Now I'm all set to check out the famous Deals Gap and Tail of the dragon road that I have heard about. The most exiting part of Deals Gap has 318 curves in 11 miles.

So this road is amazing, Ive never ridden á road that good before that is so long, I had to rest for awhile along the way and watch the others go by. There where also 3 professional photographers set up along the way that make there living selling the photos they take of people going around the corners. Hopefully I will get some of me. They sure jumped to take my picture when they saw some nut flying around the corner pulling a trailer.

The ones that didn't make it.

I must admit, a few metal parts did scrape on some of the corners, sure glad I had new tires and also my new Ohlins shocks, which I cranked up before the corners  There is also a really nice road after called Cheranola Skyway going through the mountains up to an elevation of about 5000 ft.

So here I am, day 2 a the KOA campsite in Talico Plains Tennessee, waiting out storms. The second one has just missed us I think and there is another one coming later. They thought I shouldn't be riding so gave me a cabin for the tent price. There is a bike shop in town that has all sorts of clothing etc. He showed me a good route to take down to Hiawassee tomorrow, so looking forward to another nice ride.

Jacksboro Tennessee

The  scenery in Tennessee is nicer, pine trees seem to disappear for awhile but now they are back again. More hills and even some small mountains and rock cliffs. It seems a little less humid, I will see tonight when trying to sleep, of course the sleeping bag is still a little soggy from last night. I just blasted up here on the interstate as I needed to get up here for trailer tires from Bushtec tomorrow. On the way back I will go the more scenic slower way down to the rally site at Hiawassee Georgia. They are suppose to be some very nice roads, one famous one is called tale of the dragon, so we will see, of course they might not be much fun at the posted speed limit. Didn't get a welcome to Tennessee photo because I was on a crazy interstate. Hopefully I will get a few pictures tomorrow, depending on how long the trailer takes, I may stay here another night.

Rogersville Alabama

Well I was sitting on my little stool outside the library in the shade of tree writing to Steven and catching up on emails, very uncomfortable and my legs kept falling asleep.

So I am trying this nice rocking chair across the street belonging to what appears to be a restaurant that is not open today, comfy chair.

I had a hard time riding here yesterday as the pain in my shoulders was really bad and today I am feeling sick so will take it easy and hopefully feel better tomorrow. I have to try and figure out what to do about trailer tires tomorrow. It's  a good trailer but I don't like having only one place to buy tires, far to stressful, and last time I needed them they didn't even have any. So what can I say about the landscape that I have passed by, hmm, well not any real big changes, still lots of trees with quite a few areas of farming ( always good to see some cattle along the way) reminds me of good memories. Still very humid, so much so that I had to dry the sleeping bags in a dryer as I fearful of them being damaged. The down was turning into soggy lumps. Not much fun sleeping in soggy bedding all the time. I had a hard time finding the campsite but finally got here and they had lots of space.

Not very well set up for tents, as with most U.S. campsites they are geared towards RV's. Talking to the girl at the office, she said it took a really long time for here to get used to living in this humidity as she is from west Virginia and I guess they don't have this problem there. Not sure were the dividing lines are, but I know it the south and eastern areas. BC is still by far the nicest area that I have ever been, and I guess I can say I've been in quite a few places now. When ever I am talking to people I make sure I ask if the weather is typical. Right now sitting in the shade at about 30c with a nice stiff breeze it is quite alright. The landscape all the way from the hill country in Texas through, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama has been quite pretty and very green, the difference being here they have had lots of rain. The land is mostly flat with a few rolling hill but not much change between the last 3 states.Not sure about Arkansas, apparently the west side is the nicest, didn't see much of that state.

Grenada Mississippi

Weather was about 33 most of the day, scenery pretty similar, in Louisiana and Mississippi, changing from time to time with more or less pine trees. The pine tree have long needles on them but not really sure what kind they are. I guess they grow here because it hot, but seems strange because it is also very moist, everything is green and lush. Can't get away from the humidity. some area seem like they should be dryer as they are mostly pine with little underbrush, but not sure as I didn't stop in those areas. The Mississippi State park that I was aiming to stay at was a slum with no one is sight so I took a motel 6 which also turns out to be pretty poor also, very musty. I might be inclined to head for Florida at this point but I need trailer tires so have to get that figure out first. I also need to find a laundromat and dry my pillows and sleeping bag as they are so damp just from being in this climate, down is not a good thing for here.Oh ya I forgot I was actually in 3 state today as the bike shop that I was planning to get my oil changed in Arkansas didn't even have suitable oil. So if you can believe it I got it changed at a Harley shop, they seem to be everywhere. They were booked solid but changed it for me anyways, which was good of them. The service manager is planning on moving to Vancouver soon when he retires as he can't stand the heat ( and probably the humidity here) can't say as I blame him. He has a calender of Vancouver photos on his wall. Ya I can take the heat but not this humidity. Can't stand feeling wet and sticky 24/7. Trying to dry out my leather riding gloves but they just seem to stay sticky and gooey feeling.

Never did find a welcome to Louisiana sign.

Here I am in Northern Louisiana.

My last night at Inks lake and my next night at Livingston lake got very hot and HUUMMID. Crazy, can't sleep in this so I have headed north to cooler climates. Well it is cooler here at Clairborne lake in northern Louisiana but unfortunately it is raining the wind is blowing and I have heard thunder so the possibility of my bedding drying out is kind of slim, although believe it or not it has dried out some. Hard to believe things can get so damp when it is in the high 30's. So as I was looking around this campsite I notice poles with antennas on them, hmm maybe WiFi, so sure enough here I am sitting in my tent storm bound using the WiFi, got to love it. Now it's just a matter of how long the batteries will last, if I only had an extension cord, power is not far away. So even though this site is $26 a night I am in the park rangers site and he has it booked as of today but not coming to use it until tomorrow so if I need to stay another night I get it for free.

So back to the scenery for the last 2 days. It has been mostly pine and oak forest with the more humid areas having very thick underbrush.Louisiana is more flat though with quite a bit more farming and cattle. Not sure on the weather state here but in the most areas of Texas they are having severe drought, hard to believe in the humid area as everything is so green, even the grass along the roads, one person told me that is because of the high humidity, hmm must just suck it out of the air I guess. Upon closer inspection between the trees he pointed out, that the ground has a lot of cracking in it and he said it would take at least 6" to moisten things up.

The following photos are between Inks Lake and Livingston Lake State Parks in Texas.
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The rain its getting heavy, guess I'm here for a forced day of rest, just hope it clears up by tomorrow as I have to leave due to everything here being booked for the Easter weekend, hope I can find something else for tomorrow night.

Well the storm finally passed and after I finally found the hole in floor of my new tent and got everything dried  out I was able to go take a few photos.

The following are photos from Clairbourne Lake State Park in Louisiana.

A few thoughts to ad while I have the luxury of sitting at a table: When riding close to dusk it is always a little nerve racking as there is road kill everywhere and of course when it starts cooling off in the evening the deer start to move, so I try real hard not to ride then. Along with the dead dear all along the way there are also lots of either dead skunks or angry ones. Another challenge is all the Vultures and other large birds fighting over the dead carcasses on the side of the road. They quite often fly away just as a vehicle approaches narrowly missing and quite often not missing judging from the number of large dead birds on the side of the road.