Day 34 - Brevard, NC to HOME!!!!

CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S ROUTE

It was here - the final day. It was kind of hard to believe. The morning was the usual routine, food, pack, fuel, go. For the first time on the trip, the route today would all be familiar roads that I had ridden before. Most of the day would be on US 64 with a short stint on I-40 to cut some of the wandering that 64 does throughout NC. There were no planned stops today, the objective was to just get home.

Around Chimney Rock and Lake Lure is always a favorite ride - a really beautiful area of NC

Other than a fuel stop near Hickory, the short stop to take the above photo was the only stop of the day... at this point, I was just in a hurry to get home.

At 1:30, I arrived at the final destination of the trip. HOME!!

What an absolutely incredible 34 days! I got to see some beautiful places, spend time with good friends, and meet some interesting people. There were some problems along the way, but nothing that didn't get sorted out in the end. I am disappointed that I did not get to see the Washington and Oregon coastlines - I'll need to figure out a way to do ride that section some other time.

I think it is going to take a while for me to process the entire trip. I'll need to go through all the pictures, and re-read all of the daily posts to put the whole thing in perspective. Either way, it was by far one of the best things I have ever done, and would turn around and do it again tomorrow if I could.

I hope everyone has enjoyed following along - I have really enjoyed putting the daily posts together.

Today's miles - 251 (404 km)

Total Miles - 7731 (12,442)

The final totals:

34 days

22 States

8,001 miles   (the daily totals above were just point to point between destinations, it did not                         include any extra riding - errands, side trips, etc)

13 National Parks/Monuments

4 KTM Dealerships visited

There will probably be a few more moto-related posts about what worked and what didn't, what I learned, and what I would do differently. 

Wow. I made it.

Days 32 and 33 - Dyersburg, TN to Knoxville, TN then to Brevard, NC

I'm still trying to catch up, so I'll put the past two days into one post.

Day 32 - CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S ROUTE

Today would be just a day of chewing miles - the main objective was to get to Knoxville for a quick visit with my friends Mike and Melissa. Unfortunately, Melissa had to travel for work this week, but I'd get a chance to catch up with Mike for an evening. 

I arrived at their place around 5:30, and shortly after that we were heading out for Mike to show me some of Knoxville's brewpubs. Our first stop was at Schulz Brau Brewing Company (click for more). They brew primarily German Style beers and have a great biergarten 

This was the last night of their annual Oktoberfest celebration, so we both partook in the Best of the Wurst! Washed down with a nice black lager.

Our next stop would be the Crafty Bastard Brewery (click for more). This place was much smaller, but had a really great selection of beers. Both of us were pretty stuffed from the first stop, so we only had one beer here. The next stop would be at the Back Door Tavern. I love a good dive bar, and this one didn't disappoint. worn carpet, dart boards, old photos and news clippings on the wall... this place checked every box. After a beer here, we headed back to the house and caught up some more. Mike and I grew up about 40 miles apart in Southern Maryland, so we spent quite a bit of time the rest of the evening talking about growing up there.

It was nice to not be in a hotel for the night, have some coffee in the morning, and have a garage to stow the bike in for the night. Big thanks to Mike for being a great host!

Motorcycle note - for a few days, I had been worried that the I would need another new rear tire on the bike before I got home. If needed, I planned on getting one while in Knoxville. As soon as I got out of Oklahoma, the rough chip-seal roads disappeared, and I have been on smooth asphalt most of the time since then. The tire is wearing much slower now, so I am sure it will get me home.

Today's miles - 357 (574 km)

Total miles - 7,232 (11,639 km)

Day 33 - CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S ROUTE

The original plan was to finish the trip today. I was going to ride from Knoxville, back to Durham. Somewhere along the way I decided that I wanted to take an extra day at the end to swing by the western part of NC. 10 years ago this month, we spread my Mother's ashes in the western part of the state. I don't get this far over very often, so I decided to add an extra day so I could stop by. 

It was an absolutely beautiful day to be on the motorcycle. I rode south out of Knoxville, and a few hours later crossed the very last state line of the trip. This was the best one yet!!!

A short time later I arrived just outside of Brasstown, and spent a bit of time sitting under the little gazebo. I need to make a point to get out here more often it's a really beautiful place.

Somewhere after Brasstown, I missed a turn somewhere. Before I noticed it, the GPS had already re-acalculated the route which added about 50 more miles to the day. I was a bit annoyed when I realized what happened, but it was a beautiful day, and I got to ride some roads that I had not been on before. This will be the last night in a hotel! Tomorrow I will be HOME!!

Today's miles - 248 (399 km)

Total miles - 7,480 (12,038)

Day 31 - Van Buren, AR to Dyersburg, TN

Once again, I find myself a few days behind on the blog. I started this post on the actual day, but just didn't feel up to finishing it.

CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S ROUTE

I woke up today, as everyone did, to the news of the mass shooting in Las Vegas. I decided to shut off the TV and just get up and go. I guess I wanted to put reality off for another few days. The problem with being alone on the motorcycle, is you cannot shut your mind off. I thought a lot about it today. I won't share my thoughts here, I'd like to keep the blog non-political. 

For the ride today, I started out for a short stint on the interstate before turning off on Arkasas Route 23 - also known as the Pig Trail Scenic Byway (click for more). As soon as I got off the interstate, the road started to get twisty and rise up into the mountains. It reminded me of the mountain roads that I ride in North Carolina. After so many days of straight flat roads, it was nice to see hills and curves again!

This is one of only two photos that I took the entire day - I just wasn't really feeling up to taking photos today.

As I rode further north and east, the mountains gave way to farmland again - and the air started to get really smoky - worse and worse the further northeast that I rode. I soon found out why - many of the fields that I rode by were being burned... to clear them for the end of the season I am assuming. It made for a pretty unpleasant ride.

There wasn't really a whole lot to look at for most of the rest of the ride. I continued northeast across the boot heel of Missouri where I passed through the town of Kennett, which the welcome sign told me was the hometown of Cheryl Crow. Exiting!

I finally crossed over the Mississippi river and into Tennessee! State number 23!

The actual sign was on the bridge over the Mississippi, so once again I settled for the sign at the welcome center.

It was only a few more miles to my stop for the day of Dyersbyrg, TN. I checked in to the hotel, grabbed something to eat, and called it a night. Not the most exiting day, but I was getting closer to home!

Today's miles - 390 (628 km)

Total miles - 6,875 (11,064 km)

Day 30 - Woodward, OK to Van Buren, AR

CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S ROUTE

I was up and out early today. There were two places I wanted to stop today, and wanted to make sure that I was able to take what time I wanted at each, so I was rolling out of Woodward at 0600. I started the day on the western end of the central time zone, so sunrise wasn't until about 1.5 hours after I started the day - but it was worth it!

I am not really sure what the landscape looked like for the first part of the ride, but there were HUNDREDS of wind turbines. Oklahoma is really cashing in on this technology.

Just outside of Oklahoma City, I turned on to Route 66 - it wouldn't be a motorcycle trip without hitting The Mother Road, so I had to do it. I took it a good bit of the way into the city. 

The first stop of the day was at the Oklahoma City National Memorial (click for more). I had not been able to see this the last time I was here, so I wanted to make sure I saw it this time - well worth the visit. The memorial is on the site of the Murrah Building - they have even left some of the original foundation intact.

Each one of the chairs in the memorial is in remembrance of every life lost in the bombing. People who were killed for no other reason than they went to work that day. The smaller chairs represent each one of the children that were killed in the onsite daycare.

This memorial is very well done, and I am really glad that I took the time to stop and see it. I would like to come back at night sometime as the photos of it lit up are really beautiful.

The next stop of the day was at the Seba Station Motorcycle Museum (click for more). My friend Bill had found this on a cross country trip a few years ago and told me that if I was nearby, it was well worth the stop. The building is an old gas station along Route 66 that was originally built in 1921 and owned by the Seba family. The building was restored and turned into the motorcycle museum in 2010. It is small, but they have an impressive collection of bikes.

Who remembers playing this game?

They even have 2 bikes that have never been removed from the crates - this is something I don't understand. Motorcycles are made to be ridden. If they don't want to uncrate them, give them to me! I'll do it!

After the museum there was nothing but miles to get to the stopping point for the day. I was on the interstate when I crossed the state line into Arkansas, so I had to settle with the sign from the welcome center.

Today was an absolutely beautiful day to be on the motorcycle - warm temperatures and bright sunny skies!

Today's miles - 389 (626 km)

Total miles - 6485 (10487 km)