NPT Rebel Edition - Ride Report

It's hot, but it's better than work.  I cannot recall how many times this rang through my helmet, but it was true.  Every ride seems to have a mantra for me, and this one was singular - HYDRATE.  3 days, 2500 miles, temps in the upper 90's. Bring it.

July 27, 2012, departure time 03:00.  First leg to Kings Mountain National Park, SC followed most of the same route that my saddlesore 1000 did in March.  78-81 with 77 being the new wrinkle.  Twist the throttle and get gas when miles to empty says 0.  No blasting zone headaches or snarl this time.  At 500 miles it felt like I had just left.  This new setup makes a world of difference.  Next up was Cowpens NB SC which was an on the fly addition. Unremarkable, except for a neat obelisk out front.  States=7 

Next stop was Carl Sandberg NHS Flatrock, NC.  I would like to have sat down and had a chat with old Carl.  First off, parking area was 1/3 mile downhill from the house where the stamp was located.  Temp was 95 already and humid as a sock.  I thought of this as an Iron Butt Rally bonus and the howls from the competitors which would ensue were that the case.  Turns out this is the only poet with a national park and that is because he was Lincoln's biographer, among many other endeavors.  I loved his most famous of quotes.  He found his place of loneliness in this homestead.  I would move in tomorrow.  Carl should have ridden on 2 wheels as it has the same effect, but with more scenery.  Better..that's is a judgement call. States = 8

Next up was some winding through western NC via Ashville, the home of my favorite musician Warren Haynes.  On to the Blue Ridge Parkway for the first time in many years.  It was raining, but it was still beautiful.  Traffic stopped dead in the street around a curve within eyesight of Great Smoky Mountains National Park visitors center.  Nice rack.

Grabbed a hotel near the GA, TN, AL border with storms rolling in and a mere 15 minutes from my next park.  Grabbed a burger and hit the sack.  Great day, and yes, way better than work.

Day 2,. July 28, 2012.  No need for an early start since I am 15 minutes from Chickamauga Battlefield, GA so had a banana and wheels were turning at 7:30.  Too bad the visitors center doesn't open until 8:30.  Had a great chat with some scout leaders and one of their kids about all kinds of things waiting for the doors to open.  Human contact was a welcome respite not being on the clock.  Cannons out front were neat, I am not feeling these southern battlefields though.  Better than St Gaudins though.  States= 9

Russell Cave, AL was a sleeper park for me.  Ride in was very enjoyable and wished I had time to see the cave.  I had no idea indigenous history went back that far.  Road in was really nice country twisty road and a nice counterpoint to the slab.  Also stamped for Little River Canyon NP and back on the road.  I was getting the feeling that I was not going to make my plan of Mammoth cave in KY today.  Unplanned 1/2 hr here, 1/2 hr there adds up when you only have 9 to play with.  I am loving the ride and really don't care.  Kentucky is hittable from home at a later date if it doesn't work out.  States = 10

Mississippi is hot as hell, but the best leg of the trip was here.  The Natchez Trace Parkway down towards Tupelo was just fantastic.  Not a car on the road.  Just me, my tiger and the turns.  Stopped at the visitors center and stamped for Brices Crossroads as well.  Tupelo National battlefield, another stamp.  I should feel more pride and interest here but I don't.  I am glad I am seeing these battlefields, but growing up daytripping to Gettysburg, Valley Forge, Washington's Crossing, Independence Hall and the Liberty bell seems to have calloused my sense of battlefield amazement.  I want to come back and run Natchez Trace again some day.  The next few sweltering hours were spent concocting a route that would take me all the way down the blue ridge parkway and onto the full Natchez Trace Parkway experience.  Someday rabbit, some day.  States = 11

Did I mention it's hot?  Are you sure?  Because it is blistering out here.  I am chugging water via the camelback and it's making it's way through the system on schedule.  3 litres by mid-day down and a partial refill of the camelback.  It's ok moving, dreadful at stops.  I recall 97 degrees being the highest number I saw, and I saw it several times.

40 miles or so from Shiloh National Battfield, TN, things don't seem right inside the helmet.  Decisions are coming a little slower then they should and there is a lack of confidence in my GPS for no reason.  I struggle over stopping for gas or pushing it with the yellow light on.  My riding seems fine, but that's what drunk drivers say too.  I stop at a gas station about 5 miles from Shiloh and finally there is gas.  87, 87 and 87 the pump says.   This sucks.  I poke at it a bit with my credit card trying to find the slot and there is none.  I have to go old school and pay inside I guess.  I thoroughly enjoy the blast of air conditioned air inside and strip off the jacket and wander the store for a bit and grab 4 bottles of water.  I have to pee as well.  What the hell is going on with me?  If I am taking a leak, I can't be dehydrated.  Confusion is getting a little worse, concerning, but not panicking me.  I put in $10 of the low test gas with trepidation, chug a cold water and refill the camelback with the others with slightly shaky hands.  Did I mention it's hot?

Make it to Shiloh, park the bike, strip off the clothes.  Must...get....stamp...  I feel like shit, legs are like jelly and now I am changing from concern to worry.  Walked into the big building, no stamp, have to go to the bookstore "over there".  I walk around a bit in the air seeing if that will clear my head to no avail.  Hit the bookstore for the stamp, have to pee again.  I am NOT dehydrated.  Chug more water from the fountain. Thoughts of sunstroke creep in, but that doesn't seem to fit but not sure if I can trust my faculties.  I am now foggy at best and just lay down in the grass behind my bike trying hard to assess my situation.  It was hard work thinkin'.  My legs were rubbery in my stamp quest.  It was high heat and sun at approx 2pm.  I could not continue my adventure, but there had to be a reason.  I was in an unsafe condition to operate any motor vehicle, let alone my prized steed.  I am not one to accept defeat, pretty much ever.  I told myself that I was in fact defeated and that I had to move on with a plan to get back to normal, then home.  I felt it becoming a survival situation and started making plans to ask passers by for assistance.

Ding!

Kid walks by with a brownie or something in hand.  My that looks...  SONOFABITCH!!!  I didn't eat at all.  The banana 7-8 hours ago was not cutting it.  All the symptoms of low blood sugar snapped into place.  No I am not diabetic, yes, I have been tested.  No, this is not a common occurrence.  I pretty much struggle to get to my feet  and stumble to the bike that is 10 feet away, brushing the ants off of me.  I HATE ANTS.  I opened the top box and inhaled a melted protein bar and a Planters Energy bar.  The downward spiral stopped while I was still chewing the second one.  Why not, wack a third one, this time the heart healthy Planters one with the cranberries.  (I love them!).  Lay back down again, this time hopefully not in the ants. Were there really ants before? 30 minutes or so later, I felt like a new man.  Not perfect, but able to safely continue.  My efforts of the last 2 hours to stave off my (lack of) dehydration were keeping me active back and forth to the air conditioned stalls.  I will admit publicly that I was scared.  I was loving the ride and never once thought to eat.  This is a stupid mistake that could have ended in tragedy.  Hopefully that is a lesson learned permanently. 10:00, 12:00 and 14:00 for protein bars from now on when on the bike whether I want them or not.  Check.  Oh yeah, States = 12

Hey stupid, it is SAFE, long distance motorcycling...

All hopes of mammoth cave are now shattered obviously, but I decide to press on and get there anyway.  I90 and I65 presented me with the fastest riding I have ever done.  Hammer lane was 90+ the WHOLE WAY.  Slow lane was 80.   Made mammoth in quick time feeling like a new man.  I ran across a military guy riding his wing from Buffalo that morning to Mississippi that night.  We talked for a while and wished him luck.  When he asked if it was hotter there, I just laughed and told him at least the sun will be down when you get there.   I had been thinking BBQ for 2 days, now's my shot.  Local's pointed me to "Big Moose's BBQ" in Glasgow, KY.  I am SO glad that they did.  Have you ever had Indian Stew at Big Moose's BBQ?  Run, don't walk, dear reader.  Ribs were smoked and sauced and just what the Dr ordered.  I want more indian stew.  Talked about my ride for a while with the owner in hopes he would part with the recipe or at least some hints.  No dice.

I grabbed a Days Inn in Mammoth for a deeply discounted rate somehow.  Great adventurous, though almost disastrous day, but not many miles on the clock.  In retrospect, 587 miles is my 4th highest day all time prior to this trip.  Amazing what a little experience and modifications can do to one's perspective.  Original plan was to hit Mammoth Cave at 4:59 and keep going back through Ohio, and stop there for the night for a short jaunt home on Sunday.  That ain't happenin now hot stuff is it?  I will just have to hit it in the AM.

Now I lay me down to...recalculating...ZZZZZ.  I awoke with a start, GPS on chest,  02:00.  Recurring dream that I am supposed to pick up my daughter from school and I forgot.  I have never forgotten, not once, not even been late.  I have learned over the years that this dream means I have a flaw in my plan, whatever the plan of the moment may be.  Recalculating...  This Mammoth Cave plan is a loser if I am to make it home before midnight. The little screen clicked around and the options became fluid.  I was awake.  Decision made to abandon Mammoth Cave.  I really did not want to abandon Kentucky though.  It is an awkward place to get to from my area, even though it is not too far away as the crow flies.  Only other Kentucky option, and just barely in KY was Cumberland Gap National Park.  If I leave now, I can make it there for the opening...  Snapped out of bed and got the gear on and as George Thorogood and John Lee Hooker said, out the door I went.

Day 3,. July 29, 2012.  KY rt 2008 is dark at 3am.  Just sayin'.

Dawn broke to heavy fog which got heavier as I wound through the hills and dales of SW Kentucky.  It looked like beautiful country though.  Fog gathered heavier, heavier..  It never really got light, though the clock said it should be.  Finally arrived at Cumberland Gap KY shortly after 8am and sauntered inside for a stamp.  Ranger showed me where the stamps were and I looked at the real nice exhibits they had there.  Seems like one of the better visitors centers.

"You know, there is an event occurring right now that you really shouldn't miss", says the friendly ranger.  By now on this IBA National Parks Tour, I am becoming adept at deflecting the tour offers.  Again he pleads with me to listen.  "If you can just spare 30 minutes (I swallowed my laughter), you will see a site that people rarely see.  It happens to a lesser extent, but nothing like this morning" he says.

"30 minutes huh?" I quip.

"Yup, you NEED to go to the pinnacle.  This area was created by a meteor impact long ago.  You will be amazed what you see."  This guy is really into this.  Strippers, sunrises?  What pray tell awaits me on your scavenger hunt.

"It's pretty foggy dude, not sure if I will be able to see anything anyway"

"That's the point, you'll see.  Just do yourself a favor, leave the parking lot and go right and follow the signs for the pinnacle"

"30 minutes?"

"Tops.  Go now."

Park rangers are like George Washington apparently.  They cannot tell a lie.

 

Thank you Iron Butt Association, and nameless ranger at Cumberland Gap National Park.  This site floored me.  Your adventure suggestions made this possible.  I do not believe it to be a sight I will forget.  The road up to the pinnacle was a blast as well.  Hairpin after hairpin.  Good training ground for the Beartooth Highway in 2 weeks, even though it did put a crimp in the schedule.  The reason it was so dark all morning until I broke through a few thousand vertical feet later, was that fog bank was so think and dense, it did not allow the light to penetrate.  I love mother nature, even if she does occasionally macerate and broil me.  This makes us even in my book. Allman Brothers Blue Sky played on the way up and  Johnny Cash's Sunday Morning Coming down on the descent.  My android conspired in my favor.  There could not have been a more eloquent DJ.  States=13

Back down and hit the highway and East bound and Down, the song from my saddlesore, was up next.  I am NOT making this up.  Giddyup.

My god is it beautiful.  That intersection of KY, VA and WV may be my new favorite place.  613-19 is one hell of a cruiser road with even better scenery.  

West Virgina is bigger than I thought.  

I am navigating by GPS waypoints provided by "Barb" on the NPT forum.  They are an absolute godsend.  Next waypoint is New River Gorge WV.  As I approached, I was taken off the highway.  OK.  Road got smaller.  OK.  Road condition got worse. Ok  Miles to go. ok?  This is odd.  At the end of this barely maintained road is this.  It's cool, though the strangest National Park visitors center to date.  The reason for the site is that there is no longer anything there, like Seinfeld, the show about nothing that was really something.  It is just an abandoned railway town.  I am glad that I went, even if it did cut into my time pretty severely.   The train which went through here switched from coal to diesel and the town immediately ceased to exist.  Lights out national park.  States = 14

Not only is West Virginia big, it is fast.  These drivers are posessed.  They can actually drive as well, much like the other states I have visited this trip.  Nothing like the northeast!

Now I was back to Maryland and the home stretch.  Traffic got bad and took a couple "wing it" detours to get over to 81 after sitting for a while nearly stopped in the sauna.

Garage door rolled up at 10pm.  Battery died in the GPS for about 30 miles, but still a great mileage day, and one I won't soon forget.

As the key moved my tiger into sleep mode, I in fact gave a muted rebel yell as I dismounted, and in the solitude that only home can give, smiled and said:

"More, More More"

States:  6 + 8 = 14

Parks = 13 + 13 = 26