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Our US Road Trip, Aug 15 - 10 Days, 7 States and 2,500 Miles


dfrbrowne
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Been living in Florida now since Jan 2014 and finally persuaded my mate to visit, rent a bike and do a road trip.

I have been missing the roads of North Wales and although I have had my Ducati Monster since May last year had only done 1300 miles on it.

My 696 was in for a real trial to see if it could cope with this Journey.

My mate back in the UK has a Diavel but as a choice renting over here you are pretty much stuck with Harley unless you want to pay over the odds so he chose the new Harley 750 for the trip.


So we set off from my home in Tampa and the first stop was Daytona beach. The plan for the tip was to avoid the interstate as much as possible and travel the secondary roads. From Tampa to Daytona was 180 miles and we went in past the speedway. All my mate did was complain about his Harley!


Next Morning our destination was Savannah in Georgia, riding up north on the A1A atlantic coast road past St Augustine the oldest settlement in the USA were we stopped for a break. We then road up through Jackonsville Beach and got the Mayport Ferry across St Johns river and then continued up the A1A to join up with Highway 17 North to Savannah a very straight road through lots of backwaters and small towns, we rode past the smallest Church in the USA, a little white hut set back in the woods, no matter what dead end town we rode through there was always one or two pristine Church's at each community. Got a little lost on the outskirts but we found our hotel and took a taxi into Savannah for the night out. A 280 mile trip for day two.


Next days ride was a long one, over 340 miles. we were heading for the smokey mountains and a town called Cherokee. The route I had planned was head North west to Statesboro continue up 25 North to Join 80 West at Waynesboro heading towards Athens. We stopped in Statesboro for a break and as we left we got caught in a thunder and lightning storm with torrential rain, we came to 80 west much sooner than I thought and headed along that way in the rain. I started to worry a bit when we headed into a town called Dublin which I did not recognise from my planning, later on we stopped at a tiny very quiet town called Jeffersonville. There was nothing there except a Subway! We were hungry so we stopped there for a late lunch.


Asked a local for directions telling them were we were headed and realised we had taken a wrong turn in the storm, we had headed straight west instead of North West, looking at the map I became aware there are two highway 80's in Georgia for some reason! One is State Road 80 and was is County Road 80. All we could do was continue into Macon, a small city and head North from there, my mate was adamant he did not want to do any back roads!

So we headed north on 129, had to take shelter from a storm again at Eatonton and continued up past Athens up into North Carolina. What was scheduled for a 6-7 hour ride became a 10 hour ride and when we got to the hotel we were shattered and hungry. The only place to go to get something to eat was the Casino hotel food court just down the road. We are in the middle of the Smokey Mountains but as its an Indian reservation there is a big casino hotel, a reminder of Vegas.


I had booked two nights at this hotel, to give us a break from long A to B journeys and to enjoy the mountain roads and it was on this next day that we did the dragons tail at Deals Gap. A very well know road over here, 318 curves in 11 miles. At the gas station and diner before the start of this road there is what is called a tree of shame with bits of all the crashed bikes hanging from it for riders who have ridden beyond their limits.


After a nervous start up this road soon got into the swing of curve after curve and started to enjoy the road, my mate went off ahead as he is better on the curves than I am but we both got to the top in one piece but having ridden past one accident recovery in progress where a bike was being pulled out of the trees.


My mate was then saying come on you have to let me do this road on your bike, this Harley is crap so I relented and we swapped bikes for the trip back down the dragons tail. I must admit he was right about the harley especially the brakes which were not that responsive, good job I took it carefully and easily back down as I narrowly avoided another Harley coming round one of the corners just over the wrong side of the Road, the guy shaking his head apologetically. I also pulled into one of the pull offs to let sports bikes past who where bombing it down, one even had a kid as a pillion on.


So that was the highlight so far.


The next day we set of for Chattanooga, over the top of the Great Smokey Mountain and down the other side into Gatlinburg which was like coming down into a cross between Las Vegas and Blackpool after serene mountain roads, we had now also crossed into Tennessee. We then headed west on 321 towards Maryville which was a bit of an eyesore as we rode past Dollywood and all the fairground attractions associated with it. From Maryville we headed down 411 South, a very boring dual carriageway into Chattanooga for the night. A good night out in the town and there seems plenty to there so that went on my list of places to revisit.


Next day we were heading South through Alabama, destination Montgomery. We left via Lookout Mountain and into the small backroads of Alabama, eventually hooking up with 11 South which was my planned route. We were going to be passing very close to the Barber Vintage Museum so a visit was planned there, if you have not heard of it the story is a very wealthy billionaire bought himself some land, built himself a race track and got into motorbikes and has a private collection of over a 1,000 bikes, 600 being on display at any one time from vintage to modern day and everything in between, so for our trip it was a must visit. (see photo) We got there late, stayed late, got a little lost on the way out and made the decision to join the interstate for the final leg of the journey into Montgomery. When we got to our hotel and asked about restaurants and bars the manager laughed at us, telling us it was Sunday, this was the bible belt and everything was either closed or closing early. Anyway we took a chance got a cab downtown and found a bar and a restaurant, there were historical plaques along the street telling the history of the slave warehouses and markets in Montgomery. I had started to think I had either put to much distance between places or not stayed long enough as we were visiting all these towns but not getting to see much of them, on mentioning this to my mate he told me it was a ridding holiday and he did not mind.


The next day the destination was New Orleans another long 350 mile trip soI decided to get a head start and we used the interstate for the first couple of hours coming off to join 31 south at a place called Georgina which had nothing in it. We had to stop at Evergreen for fuel again nothing but a crossroads and gas station and then continued onto Mobile eventually stopping there for lunch. We then headed along the coast road Hwy 90 through Mississippi and into Louisiana our 7th state. Again I had planned a two day stop in New Orleans so we could have the next day off the bikes to explore the city. On that first Monday night we went to a trendy wine bar just outside the French Quarter and for any Mad Men fans out there was sitting down with my mate when a group of six came in, three girls, three guys, one of the girls was Elizabeth Moss, Peggy from Mad Men. My mate had never heard of her or watched it but I was sure it was here and they sat at the next table to us. So I had to say hello which I did but did not go as far as to ask for an autograph or photo. Anyway that was a highlight for me!


The next day was a day off the bikes to explore the French Quarter and so we spent the day as regular tourists.


Our final night was going to be in the Florida panhandle at a resort called Panama City, again this was a long ride of about 250 miles so we took the interstate out of New Orleans to go as far as Mobile and come off there for the smaller roads.

Heading into a small town the car in front of me was weaving all over the road, it was an old wreck and god knows what the driver was doing. When we came to a junction with Traffic Lights there were two cars ahead of this guy, so I hung over to the left and as all the other junctions were clear when the lights when green I turned the throttle and just speed ahead in front of all three cars getting up to about 80 on what was just another very long straight road. As I checked my mirrors to see where my mate was up to I could see flashing blue and white lights behind me in the distance. "Oh shit" I thought I just knew they were for me, so I slowed down to the 50mph speed limit and when what was an unmarked Alabama State Trooper caught up with me and flashed me to pull in I pulled over into a small car park expecting that I would be getting a ticket and a fine. After Ib had taken off gloves, helmet and got off the bike, there was my mate riding past with his head low leaving me behind!

First question from State Trooper was... "What was going on there?" I guessed he had pulled me for jumping the lights so I explained how the guy in front had been weaving all over the road and I did not feel safe behind him, that was why I had speed off in front.

He checked my licence, said he understood me wanting to get in front of the guy but it was the wrong place to do it. Anyway he seemed an OK guy asked about where we were coming from, where we were going and just let me off with a warning. I counted myself very lucky, at home on my own housing estate a florida State Trooper gave me two tickets and two warnings.


I caught up with my mate later up the road and we finally got into panama city about 8pm, really nice beach but overdeveloped, took my mate to Hooters for our tea which was a first but although lots of eye candy not very friendly and food was crap.


Next day we spent some time on the beach and left about 11.30am for the final ride back home along the florida panhandle coastline, into Perry and then South to Tampa, nice coast roads but again once headed south just straight road after straight road and of course now we were back in Florida the thunder and lightning came to visit us again.


We got back about 9pm, safe and sound, my 696 Monster had handle the journey really well with no problems at all. My mate could now stop moaning about his Harley which he had done every single night!


Just before returning his bike the next day I had to take him around the local roads I ride on without our helmets so he could have the experience and he really enjoyed that.


So that was our trip, some photos attached. A great ride, seen a lot of the US one would not normally see, some great roads, some tiny middle of no-where towns and some endless straight roads, one of my favourites was a road in Alabama which although straight was hill after hill for miles and miles, it was like riding a rollercoaster.


Of the 2,500 miles only about 350 on the interstate. States: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana (though we only rode through Mississippi and did not do an overnight there.)

barber.jpg.777e3f6ace29472deb0985144b4f0e58.jpg

At Barber

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Inside Barber

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At the start of the Dragon

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Awesome stuff! Sounds like you had a great time and a good write up, enjoyed reading it.


I've heard the dragons tail is epic and see many videos on YouTube. Jealous!!!

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Heard about that motorbike museum in a magazine, their all working bikes aren't they? All restored in working order?


Ah panama city where Nitro Circus is based!! They do a holiday resort there for adrenaline junkies! Awesome!


Sounds like a good road trip, I too want to do the dragons tail one day. Nice one, on a nice bike too.

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Barber,


I think a lot of the modern bikes are in working order and they still race some of them. They had the new Kawasaki HS2 on display as well.


Heres a few pics, the Senna, special edition Ducati, an Africa Corps BMW, The chopper from Easy Rider and a display that looks like a shelf of toys!

senna.jpg.6abfc3c84a71cca9cf76b3be30b3bec5.jpg

africa.jpg.5cde6572711dadfd6f374bb08f430057.jpg

chop.jpg.8dbe4af64a931d2658e3bd896822f097.jpg

nine.jpg.e544f74ef01575bf584f3e2e7bf5d10a.jpg

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