Homeward bound

Today, I start to make my way home. I’m hoping to have enough time to go to the Bahá’í temple in Wilmette, IL, then around Lake Michigan, through Sudbury, and stop in North Bay to visit family. Plan B is to go through the Muskoka region and Algonquin park; they have some of the top motorcycling roads in Ontario. I could also go through Niagara Falls. I’ll head straight North to Cincinnati, OH, and see how I’m doing for time. I like the flexibility I have on this trip.

I woke up an hour later than I hoped. Writing these last articles takes me over three hours! It was around 1:30AM by the time I hit the sack. There goes my hope for an early departure.

For now, there are not many options for breakfast near Oliver Springs; I head for the nearby Hardee’s, at a gas attendant’s suggestion. I spent more time than I thought recording my expenses and planning my next move: I hit the road at 11:00AM.

In the brochure for the Tail of the Dragon, it shows a bunch of fun roads for motorcycles in the region. I hadn’t noticed it before this morning, but I was smack in the middle of the Devil’s Triangle: “a 44 mile loop with some of the sharpest and steepest switchbacks you will ever see. […] Even more of a challenge than the Tail of the Dragon.” Oh yeah! I can do part of the loop and continue on my way from the end of the second of the two fun sections. Guess what I’m doing next? Wheee!

I go around to the first twisty part and have loads of fun with it. Gotta be careful, of course, there’s a little more car traffic than the Tail of the Dragon. I’m a little more cautious on this road and take it a little slower. It’s still quite fun anyway! Super twisty all the way up the mountain, and all the way down too.

At one point, I decide to stop to take a picture of one of the switchbacks going left. I pull over to the edge of the road, the mountain on my right. There’s no shoulder, so I’m right on the line. Engine still running, right foot on the rear brake pedal, I unzip my jacket to pull out my phone.

To my utter astonishment, the Bonnie starts to lean to the right, and I have no way to support it up: it just drops down into the ditch! Oh crap! I do my best to take my right leg out of the way while the bike topples over, and I try to land safely in the other side of the ditch, at the base of the mountain wall. Shit!

I’m ok; I didn’t get hit, nor did I hit anything hard. Whew! Now, I examine the bike: it’s leaning on its right side, wheels up the ditch, its top down into it. The engine has stopped, the lights still on. I forget to take the key out of the ignition for safety.

At this point, I start smiling and chuckling to myself. Well, we’ve done it now: I put my bike in the ditch on the Devil’s Triangle. In a dumb way. Too funny! I gotta take a picture of the situation. I reach into my jacket, only to find my phone isn’t there: I had put in one of the saddlebags to charge while riding; guess which one? Yup, the right one, the one under the bike at the moment. The other camera is there too. I can’t get a picture of the bike in that funny position as evidence. Hey, maybe that’s a good thing.

I try to get the bike up: nothing doing, it’s way too heavy to lift by myself in that situation. Soon enough, a car rounds the corner, sees me, slow down, and stops to help. I take the duffle bag off the bike to lighten up the load. The two of us still can’t manage to get it up. We successfully turn it perpendicular to the ditch, though. Another car comes around, and stops too. Good, the three of us manage to get the bike up and back onto the road.

A quick thought crosses my mind: What if the bike is damaged to the point that I can’t ride it? How will I get home? I do a quick check and the bike seems OK so far; it just fell into the soft, muddy side of the ditch. I clean off the little mud that’s on it, then visually inspect it.

Before the good samaritans leave, I try to start the engine: nope. Oh crap. Oh wait! I had left the ignition on. I turn it off, then back on, wait a second or two, then, perfect! It runs! The throttle is a little sticky with mud, but it works. I signal OK to the men, and they drive off.

Now to do a more thorough examination: Leaks? Check. Breaks? Check. Fork? Seems OK. Front wheel? Seems OK too. Handlebars? OK. Exhaust? There’s a very little wobble to it, but I wonder if it was like that before; it should be OK. I try to adjust the mirrors, the arm on the left one is loose. Time to pull out my tools. Fixed. The bike seems OK. Time to see how it rides.

I slowly ride off, hyper-sensitive to how it feels. Is there any wobble? Does anything seem loose? No, the bike feels normal. That little play on the throttle, was that there before? I think so. Hmm, the front wheel wobbles a bit sometimes. No, it’s just the road, that’s perfectly normal. I’m just super sensitive after that mishap.

I finish the first tricky section, super slow, and decide to pull off to continue the inspection some more. I check the chain, the front wheel, the fork, the handlebars, the back wheel, the brake housings. I shake the bike to see if anything might be loose. Everything seems OK. I get back on, and hesitantly ride off.

Hmm, coincidentally, a little while ago, there was a guy back in Oliver Springs who saw my bike and said he has one too: he mentioned there’s a Triumph dealer north of Knoxville. Perhaps, I’ll have a mechanic examine it before I do more extended riding with it. I’ll definitely have the dealer back in Ottawa do a full inspection once I get back. I’ll check the address of the nearby dealer, once I get to where there’s a cell signal.

I continue to ride, paying extra attention to how the bike handles. This section of Highway TN 116 is pretty normal, albeit a little curvier than regulars roads. Again, the bike seems OK. On to the second twisty part.

This one is even crazier. I’ve been riding in second and third gear in the first set of twisties; now, I’m often forced to downshift into first, for most of the super-curvy switchbacks. What a fun road! I’m so focused on it, that I often forget the bike had dropped.

Compared to the Tail of the Dragon, this one definitely has some twistier curves, but the two sections are relatively short. The Dragon was fun for much longer.

Back on regular roads, I stop at the nearby town, pull out my phone and check on the Triumph dealer: Closed. Right! It’s Sunday. Other dealers are also closed. Hmm. Better avoid the main highways for now.

I stop for a break at a gas station in Caryville, TN. As I pull in, a group of three other bikers pull in too. I go in for a pee break, coffee and a snack. I see the guys checking out my bike; I go out and chat with them as I eat my snack. I tell my story about dropping the bike, to their amusement. I thought about getting their opinion about what to do with the bike, but they seemed like new riders, so I pass on that, in order to hear about their stories.

The bike seems to ride OK so far, so I decide to go on the highway, still very aware of how it behaves: it rides OK at higher speeds. I’m sure the bike is fine, it’s just me. The further I ride, the more confident I get about it. I worry less and less, and get back to just enjoying the ride.

I decide to skip having meals from now on, and just have coffee & snacks at fuel stops; I also carry my trusty water bottle in a saddlebag. I’ll cover more distance that way. Remember, I only do my main riding during the day; I ride at night only to get to a place that has WiFi, after I set up my campsite just before sundown.

This section of highway has wider lanes than usual, and the limit is 70mph. That’s 113kph for us non-Americans. They drive fast on this road! When I ride at 130kph, most cars still pass me! I still feel safe, because there’s plenty of room around me, and the road has long straights and long curves. Drivers respect motorcyclists around here, much more than I’m used to.

As I approach Corbin, KY, I see a sign for the Harland Sanders Cafe and Museum. I must confess something that Nathalie despises: I enjoy having KFC once in a while. There, I said it. When I saw that sign, I decide I have to go check it out.

This was Colonel Sanders’ first restaurant, where he developed his famous fried chicken recipe. They restored it and turned it into a museum. And, yes, you can eat a KFC meal there. I’m impressed by the quote on one of the posters.

After checking out the exhibits, I decide to have one of the meals off one of the original menus: “3pcs. Chicken, Whipped Potatoes, Gravy & 2 – Hot Rolls.” The original price circa 1954 was $1.10. I paid $10.37 for my old-fashioned meal, with my ultra-modern Apple Watch, just for the fun of it. The meal was actually better than I remember.

As I approach Cincinnati, I slow down and watch for the Welcome to Ohio sign. I’m not sure I could actually take a selfie with it, since it’s in the middle of the city, and on a bridge. Just as I suspected, as I see it, it’d be a real challenge to safely take a picture of it, not on the bridge anyway. I forget about the idea. Cincinatti does look like a cool town I’d like to visit one day. I stop at one of the Rest Stops that has a visitor information centre.

Just outside of town, I pull into a BP gas station to fill up. The Bonnie must be happy now: petrol from a British company, for a British motorcycle. I decide to look for those stations the rest of the way, just for the fun of it. I’ve given Exxon more money than I care to give them on this trip. I didn’t have much choice then.

As I set up the tent for the night, I think about how similar an experience it might be to go canoe camping: you’re on a journey on some form of roadway, set up camp for the night, then pack up and move on. You just need to carry your food with you, and don’t need to stop and fuel up. If it wasn’t on my bucket list before, it is now.

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