From Cougar Canyon... Well, near there, actually Trinidad, Colorado.

It's been another good day. Cool. Sunny, until after I stopped when several thunderstorms came through. I'm glad I stopped when I did. Spending the night in Trinidad.

Today was two state lines - first New Mexico - the Land of Enchantment.

And it is really true. I hate to say it to Oklahoma, but as soon as you get into New Mexico the scenery improves dramatically. The endless fields of corn and soybeans gives way to lovely meadows leading to larger and larger hills and mountains. New Mexico starts the really beautiful part of this trip. But I have to wonder about some of the citizens, at least the ones who write educational notes on their Welcome sign:

Flat earth? I hate to say it, but my senses tell me the earth is round. That whole horizon thing. Oh well, to each his own.

I took the easy route today because I was sick and tired of gravel roads... and sand. I DO LOVE my pavement. I think I am almost ready to give up on the Trans America Trail and just ride the nearest paved roads along the same route. I could do the TAT if I needed to prove something but I don't. And I finally admitted that it is just not fun for me. I vote for fun. I like cherry-picking the TAT.

I have read that the off road section from Trinidad to Salida has some of the best and prettiest riding, so I am planning to do that section. Well, if these storms this afternoon don't make the path too muddy, which I am thinking may happen. We've been getting a pretty good rain this afternoon.

While it rains, I am enjoying Sunday football.

All is well.

Hey! From Elkhart,  Kansas.

The ride from Alva, Oklahoma to Elkhart was fine. All is well. But I have about had enough of gravel roads. Have I talked about those yet?

See that gravel road running clear into the distance. Yeah, I rode that and a bunch more like it today. I rode over 100 miles on gravel roads today. All kinds of gravel roads. Roads that were almost as smooth as pavement with just the tiniest rocks scattered about. I could go 45 mph on those. But on other gravel roads, you always have to look way ahead to tell where the last truck tires beat a little path that you can ride in. And sometimes it is hard to tell by color which is the beaten path and which is the pile of gravel waiting to trip you up. You can never look away. There is no enjoying the scenery on a gravel road. Disaster waits for you to make one little slip and hit that pile of loose gravel.

But then I would find a section that turned to sand. Sand is THE WORST. If the bike squirrels around when riding on a bed of marbles, like in Mississippi, it goes crazy on sand. I tried everything. Somewhere I heard that you power through it. So I slowed before, and gave it the gas going through. That actually helps, unless you are going downhill or are already going too fast and you want to slow down. You can't slow down! That's mayhem. I turned one corner and found this section that had sand six inches deep.

See the squirrel-ly tracks coming at you on the right side of that picture. You can see where I got ever so slightly off the beaten path and tried to recover, but then sand kept piling up in front of my front wheel making me zig left and zag right. See it there? I almost busted it on that one. The only saving grace of sand is that it serves as a wonderful brake. That's what they put in those runaway truck ramps in the mountains because it will stop you dead in your tracks. Fortunately for me, that's what happened. I barely managed to save it and put my feet down. Sand! Yuk!

There were lots of cattle guards today. And lots of cattle. The cattle guards meant that I was riding in some farmer's pasture WITH his cows. That's why there were signs like this:

I came to a cattle guard with three cows in the middle of the road in front of it. I beeped my tiny little horn a few times while approaching so they would not be surprised by the motorcycle, but they were surprised anyway. And afraid. Of little ole' me. I guess that is better than charging me, which I hear sometimes happens. Not to worry if that happens. My brother-in-law Ralph gave me a can of wasp and hornet spray for protection. He says it'll stop anything - a bear, a cow, a dog, but especially a person! Don't bother me. I'm CARRYING!

One calf in the group was really panicked and kept dancing one way then another. Then he found himself trapped in a fence corner with barbed wire. He ran into it several times in a panic. I shut my motor off to try to get him to calm down, but he must have known I was CARRYING, because he was still panicked. There were other ways around. The other cows went that way, but finally he dove between the barbed wires and made it to the other side. 

Cdabike? That's a BIG grain bin.

When I arrived in Elkhart, I discovered a car wash next to the El Rancho Motel where I am staying. How convenient because the bike and me were covered with dust and dirt and sand. So after I checked in, I went next door for a good powerwash.

When I was all done, I hit the starter and the motor turned, but did not start. Uh Oh. 

You should know that I am not riding this trek without some measure of fear. Especially fear of a break-down in the middle of nowhere. But I am working hard at overcoming my fears. That is part of what this trip (and others I have taken) is about. You just can't let fear keep you from doing things, or you will never do anything. Fear is something to be overcome. But there is always that nagging feeling in my gut about a breakdown. It never goes completely away. That's the reason I have the simplest bike made - an old fashioned bike without special electronics and whiz-bangs and gizmos that only the biggest motorcycle shops would be able to work on. This one even has a carburetor! It's one cylinder of simplicity. Even I can set the valves, change the oil, change the spark plug, and adjust the carburetor. But my mechanical knowledge is limited, and I worry about what I don't know.

And I did have a breakdown in Fayetteville, Tennessee. It died and would not and did not start. I was just lucky that someone came by in five minutes with a trailer and could haul me and the bike to the motel I had reserved only six miles away. And I quickly found help in town to examine the bike, but without success. Turns out, I had let the bike get low on oil and had blown a piston. I had to cry Uncle that time, and called Sarah to bring the pick-up truck and haul me and the bike back home. It took a few weeks for that repair. So I do have some experience being stopped dead in my tracks. And that haunts me.

But I think, I THINK, everything on the bike is running fine. And I check the oil every day now. It does use some.

So it wouldn't start again. But it had to be water. It was running fine when I got to the car wash, but not after. I pushed the bike next door to the motel and waited. Every 15 minutes or so I would go out and try it again. Nothing. Since tomorrow is Sunday, I knew I would have to wait an extra day in Elkhart to get a mechanic on Monday to help me. It had to start.

Only after an hour and a half did it fire back up, and I was back in business! No problems, mate. I'll be on the road again tomorrow.

Follow me at https://share.garmin.com/CHESTERANDERS

(Oh, and just so you know, I do have a gps with an SOS button on it. If I am in nowhere land and have trouble, I can hit that button and the signal goes to a satellite, and search and rescue comes to find me. I even paid the insurance to get $50,000 of search and rescue expenses covered. Plus if I am in civilization I have AAA. If all else fails, I'll call Sarah again and wait for the truck! Not to worry; I'm covered!)

On the Road Again

You have been wondering what was in the little yellow bag I carry on the bike. Here it is fully enlarged! You never know when you are going to need Bumblebee to come to your rescue!

So yes, I am finally on the road again after a week away. We had the family reunion in Shawnee, Oklahoma to celebrate my mother-in-law's 101st birthday. Now she is Mrs Patterson 101. Or that is what John Jones said. He is the Indian man who picked me up at the airport. You see, during the birthday celebrations, Stuart Powell died in Danville, Kentucky. His daughter, Patti, talked to the new pastor at Danville, Joey Pusateri, and Joey invited me to come back to the church I served for 20 months as interim pastor and preach the funeral message. It was great fun seeing a lot of my friends in Danville again, and it was especially fun having lunch with Joey and learning about all the good things he is doing for the church. After you have served a church, even as an interim, you learn to love the people and want them to succeed and do well. It has been so exciting for me to see Joey growing the church so much. After the funeral, I flew back to Oklahoma City, where Mrs Patterson 101 had John Jones pick me up at the airport and bring me back to Shawnee.

I had left the bike at the Sehorn Yamaha dealer in Shawnee for some bike repairs. Yes, I got a new battery, plus a new x-ring chain and sprockets. I also changed the oil and cleaned the air filter myself. The bike is running like new again.

So I left early as always, and headed north toward the Oklahoma border with Kansas, where I picked up the TransAmerica Trail again. They are having a wind-boom in these parts with lots and lots of wind-farms.

I stopped in Stillwater, home of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, at Daylight Donuts because I saw it! AND because there was rain about. After checking the weather radar on my phone, I decided to head directly west through the rain and then go on north to catch the TAT westward. The plan worked really well, and I avoided the worst of the storm... and the lightning.

I stopped in Blackwell at Bob's Grill and had a wonderful fried catfish lunch for $7! What a deal. It seemed that everybody in town had discovered the good food and good deal at Bob's. I also met Don who was riding a Harley from Santa Fe to St. Louis, taking the back roads. What a delightful guy! Like me, he travels alone. He said he always tells people exactly when he is leaving and where he is going, but nobody shows up to go with him.

The off road sections looked more like the above picture today, which is not bad at all. You can't tell from the picture, but it wound up raining a good bit  in places today. Some of the roads handled the rain really well, like this one. Others not so much. So when the trail took a muddy turn down toward a river, I bailed and took the easy route again to Alva, Oklahoma.

It's been a good day.

Don't forget that you can follow me on the map and actually see where I am while I am traveling during the day by going to the web site below. My GPS sends a satellite signal every ten minutes. You can see the dot and even click on it to see how fast I was going at the time.

The web site is https://share.garmin.com/CHESTERANDERS.

From Shawnee, Oklahoma

When I got ready to leave Clinton, Arkansas early this morning, my battery was totally dead again, of course! But I quickly found someone who had jumper cables, and I was on my way. This battery problem is not going away.

I had a really nice morning riding the TAT but taking the green, easy, paths whenever I could. There were still plenty of gravel roads. And I was almost ready to proclaim the gravel roads in Northern Arkansas to be mighty fine. They were nice smooth, wide roads with very small gravel. Easy to ride on. And I was feeling a sense of mastery, letting the bike float and scoot and slide much like a kneeboard on water. I was feeling really good about the TAT.

I even had an early water crossing that was no problem, as you can see from this picture:

But then just before reaching Oark on the green trail, I somehow managed to get on a logging trail that was unquestionably the worst stretch I have seen. This was no longer a gravel road; it was a boulder road. Just look at the size of the rocks in this picture:

It was like a creek bed except the path went up and down mountains. I backtracked a bit to see if I had missed the right road, but there was no other road. So I plunged forward with lots of this and worse:

I went up and down a few mountains and wanted to go back, but I wouldn't because I just couldn't face going back over those awful spots. But it went on and on. Ever so slowly I made my way over the rock strewn mess. I could see on the gps that this "road" eventually caught up with the blue line and the regular TAT, but then I noticed that there was a creek just before reaching the TAT. I thought, "Oh, no. Another creek crossing." I was just hoping beyond hope that the creek was not flooded and could be crossed. Otherwise I would have no choice but to go back over the miles of rocks.

I was surprised when I turned a corner and found a closed gate. I was afraid I was ending on private property. But I unlocked the gate and made my way to the creek.

I walked all around it and examined the water, then concluded that it wasn't too deep. So once again I did a water crossing. This one got about 8 inches deep, but I plunged through and had no problem. Then after another half mile, I was on another of those very respectable gravel roads, and was on my way to Oark and a wonderful half pound hamburger.

Then I left the TAT because I had a commitment to get to Shawnee, Oklahoma for the family reunion and celebration of my mother-in-law's 101st birthday. Can you believe that? And she still lives at home by herself and is very healthy. So I got on the pavement and headed straight for Shawnee. It was wonderful pavement, but it was boring pavement - miles and miles of straight road running at a steady 55 mph. That's not the stuff adventures are made of. But then, I had had about enough adventure for this day.

I managed to keep the bike running most of the day. I did kill it at lunch and it started, but when I got gas this afternoon at Keota, OK, the battery was dead, and I had to push it to start it. I must get a new battery for the bike, no matter how long it takes to find one. So I may be in Shawnee for a few days. And I may get a mechanic to look over the bike just to make sure I am good for the long remote stretches ahead. I'll post again when I am underway, so don't be surprised if there is nothing for a few days.

From Clinton, Arkansas - a long post
This is a post for two days since I did not have internet access last night.

Tuesday, September 5
I left Corinth early hoping to get ahead of the storm. After being on the TAT for about an hour, I turned north and saw the storm coming with lots of lightning. Yikes! This picture was taken after the storms had died down a bit.

I started looking for a place to hide from the storm. Church awnings would work good for that. But I decided I could outrun the storm going south so I took the roads to Ripley. I stopped at a service station with a worthy awning and looked at the radar. You can actually see from the photo that by going to New Albany and then swinging northwest, I could miss the main part of the storm. Doing that I avoided rain altogether!

Everything went well today, except for the gravel roads. Here I am supposedly taking off roads to Oregon, and I have to confess that I don’t like riding on gravel roads. And I rode on way too many gravel roads today. To be more accurate, I only hate some gravel roads. I don't mind the ones that are well-worn where the rocks are mostly packed or where there are clean paths where lots of pickup trucks have passed. And I don’t mind level and straight gravel roads too much. It’s the ones that are curved or that go up or down steep hills that bother me. Oh, and the worst are the ones that are covered from side to side with marble sized rocks that give absolutely no traction. The bike slips and slides and weaves and dodges and jerks and pulls. Probably the absolute worst is trying to stop at the bottom of a steep hill covered with those kinds of marble rocks.

I mentioned that I am a beginning off road rider. Well, I have ridden quite a few gravel roads by this point on the TAT, but there has also been a LOT of pleasantly paved back roads on the TAT. I love tarmac! Even if the it is a one-lane road with lots of pot holes and patch jobs and only pieces of pavement, that is better than marbles.

I still do all the wrong things, according to the adventure web sites where I have sought advice. I tense up. I know I shouldn’t. I tell myself not to. But the front end slips six inches before grabbing, and I suddenly have the handlebars in a death grip. And I prefer to sit rather than stand. “They” say that standing enables you to let the bike move under you better. But it seems to me that it just makes that much farther for me to fall! I have tried some of their tips, but have not mastered any of them. And “they” say speed is your friend. I know that it makes sense that going faster will allow the bike to power through the marbles, but it also makes sense that going faster means a much harder fall. You notice that the word “fall” keeps coming up. My problem with off road riding is that I really don’t want to fall. I am too old and my bones are brittle. I am not a 16 year old out playing on a dirt track.

Oh, I don’t mind dirt either. Dirt’s fine. Dust is fine. It’s the marbles I hate. But I must admit that I don’t cherish riding in the mud either. It seems the word “fall” comes up again when I think about slip-sliding around in the muck. And I have seen the photos of bike wheels so covered in muck and mud that it becomes impossible to move forward. Here's a good sample.

 I've seen worse. I'm not really interested in that. This trip is supposed to be a fun lark for an old guy. When I think about all that kind of mud, I fall in love with pavement all over again. Traction is a glorious thing.

But sometimes you are traveling a road like this:

And turn the corner to find this ten miles from nowhere.

Anyway I have been tempted to give up on the gravel roads. I’ve already taken plenty of short cuts and will again. I guess I am cherry-picking my way across the TAT. But I think tomorrow I will COMMIT and see if that helps. I should have lots straight gravel roads in Eastern Arkansas through the soybean and rice fields. Good time to practice and see if I can learn to breathe while on gravel.

I stopped for the night across the Mississippi River from Helena, Arkansas... at the Isle of Capri Casino! It had the only hotel for miles and miles, and it was cheap! They want you to stay there and gamble. I know too much statistics to gamble, but I know a deal when I find one. Plus they had a wonderful buffet in the same building. But they didn't want you gambling on your computer; they wanted you gambling at their slots and such. They had WiFi, but I never could get the Internet on it.

Wednesday, September 6 - Clinton, Arkansas

I always leave pretty early. I was ready to go before 7, but when I tried to start the bike - nothing. The battery was dead. I have had some trouble out of that battery before. But I thought I had it fixed by adding water. I knew I should have changed it out before going on a trip like this.

I can "bump start" my little bike by pushing it preferably downhill and popping the clutch. But the parking lot was flat, and the bike is harder to start cold. After trying once, I spotted a man coming to work, so I asked him to push me. He tried, but it still didn't start. But a friend of his showed up and he had jumper cables. That got me started quick.

I decided to leave all my extra items that drain power, like the gps and the phone, off for a while so that the battery would charge up again.

Today I crossed the Mississippi River into my home state of Arkansas. I was committed to the TAT today. Committed to gravel roads too. Before I got to Marvel, I was learning that one of the tips the Adventure Riders give seems to work. They say to turn the bike by pressing on one foot peg or the other, and not trying to steer with the handle bars. Turns out that was one of the things I was doing wrong. When I turned the front wheel, that sucker started grabbing gravel. But I found that putting downward pressure on the right foot peg made the bike drift to the right where I wanted it. That helped a lot.

Just before Marvel, I came to one of the iconic stops on the TAT.. the TAT House in Trenton.

I had read a lot about it and see a lot of photos of bikers who stopped there and posted their picture on Facebook. It was so early, I didn't expect it to be open, but as I rode by I saw Percy Kale opening up and flagging me down.

Percy said he had spies down the road where I had been. When they see a motorcycle go by, they call Percy to open up. Someone had spotted me, called him, and said, "I think you have a rider headed your way."

I signed the guest log, and he gave me a sticker he got from a friend of his who had been to Afghanistan. The sticker said, "Redneckistan, Arkansas."

Here's the picture Percy took of me and posted on the TransAmerica Trail Facebook page:

Before I left I noted this sign telling the depressing distance to Oregon:

Percy told me as I was leaving that there were a couple of bad mud holes ahead. Some riders had been stuck there and couldn't get out. He suggested I take Highway 49 from Marvel to Clarendon.

I used to live in Clarendon - served as pastor of First Baptist Church there. That's where I wrote my doctoral dissertation. One of my deacon friends from that church works at the Farm Bureau Office in Brinkley, nearby. So I decided to go there and drop in on Jimmy Reynolds. Unfortunately, he was out of town for the day.

So I headed for De Valls Bluff to pick up the TAT again. After getting gas, I turned off to the north on a gravel road. Uh Oh! The road was in the process of being graded. A road grader had gone down one-half of the road, which mean he left a big row of stones and muck about a foot high in the middle of the road. AND that meant that any nicely packed tire paths were now covered with a million loose marbles! Marbles and mud since it rained yesterday.

But I was committed! Committed to the TAT. Committed to gravel roads. So I plunged ahead. It was a mess! I got mud all over the bike and me, but I pushed one foot peg and then another and made it the mile down that road before I could turn left onto another. But when I got there, there was a big sign, "Road Closed." About that time the road grader passed me going back the other way. I studied the maps, but there was nothing for me to do but to go back to De Valls Bluff and find a detour.

I stopped in De Valls Bluff to study the map, and found a way around. But I had killed my bike to study the map, and when I tried to start the bike, the battery was dead again. I knew I had a problem now. But there was a nice downhill slope, and I easily bump started the bike.

I decided my next priority should be getting a new battery. The nearest place was Bruno's Powersports in Cabot, Arkansas - about 45 minutes away. So I headed there.

I spent about an hour at Bruno's because Sonny thought he had a battery that would work. He charged it up, but when he tried to put it in the bike, it was 1/2 inch too tall. He didn't have a battery that fit. But Sonny said that when he took my battery off, the connection was loose and that my problem may have been a loose connection. I had no choice but to put the old battery on and hope for the best.

But that didn't put me in a very confident position for launching into the off roads of the Arkansas TAT. Besides, it had gotten so late that I would not be able to make it to a place with a hotel before dark. So I decided to leap forward to Clinton by riding the blessed tarmac! 

But tomorrow!  Tomorrow I am committed to the TAT!

Corinth, Mississippi

I made it about 300 miles today. The roads were easier than I expected - a lot of small paved roads, but enough of the harder stuff to make it exciting. I had several water crossings back in May. The one pictured below was really easy as you can see. The water was less than six inches deep.

I rode pretty hard and steady from 6:30 to 4 pm. I saw a lot of deer. One jumped across the road about 20 yards in front of me, but most were not trying to run over me. I did look a little too long at a couple of fawns on my left. When you look back over your left shoulder on a motorcycle, the bike tends to go right, which mine did - right into an embankment which caused me to fall over. I was going really slow so I was not hurt and there was no damage.

But picking up a loaded motorcycle is a chore. Most people ride bikes that are so heavy they can't pick them up. My FJR is that way. I think it weighs 600 pounds, and I have to have help picking it up. I read about a lot of off road riders who take heavy bikes in the rough stuff and fall over. One guy was alone, like me, and after trying and trying, he finally called 911 to get search and rescue to come help him stand his bike up so he could go on his way. He had insurance that covered the expense. Well, I learned that my bike is too heavy to pick up with all my gear loaded on top. But after I got the yellow bag off, I got it up and was underway again.

Which brings me to another sensitive subject. How about that milk crate on back? Is that retro or redneck? When I loaded this time, I wanted to bring extra fuel, oil, and chain lubricant. And I didn't want to keep those things in the yellow bag with my clothes. So the day before I left, I started looking for some kind of basket to put them in and happened upon the perfect solution - an old milk crate. I love it! It is perfect for putting my warm jacket liner in when it gets too hot to wear during the day and for adding a couple of bottles of 32 oz Gatorade. (Did you know that you can get 32 oz Gatorade for 85 cents at Dollar General? That's amazing. I love Dollar General. You could live out of a Dollar General, and they have them in every small town in America.) 

Anyway, I figured the style conscious readers that I have might not approve of the lowly milk crate. But I think it is very functional. So much so that I plan to leave it on the bike as a permanent addition. You never know when you are going to need to bring a gallon of milk home and without the crate there would be no place to put it.

Well, there is rain in the forecast for tomorrow so I don't know how far I will go. I can ride in a little rain, but there is up to 1/2 inch forecast for here. I plan to ride in the morning until I see the front getting too close, then find a place to hunker down until it is over.

Don't forget that you can follow me at https://share.garmin.com/CHESTERANDERS.

Just so you know - I am having great fun!

At the early service this morning, I heard the Word of the Lord from Psalm 121:
"The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this day on even forevermore."
I thought that was a good word for my trip which involves REALLY going out and HOPEFULLY coming in.
Plus I heard a profound sermon on Love from John 3:16. Now there is a verse that is oh so familiar but not easy to preach from without being trite. This morning's sermon was profound. Just what I needed anyway.
So I rode the back roads (not the freeways) from Lexington to Fayetteville, Tennessee. It was about 8 hours of making the little 200 cc engine huff and puff as fast as it could, which is about 55 mph. Everybody passes me, which I don't mind. But I was shocked, just SHOCKED, when I actually passed someone just outside of Cookeville! That guy was on a Sunday afternoon ride!
It's Fayetteville because that is where I left off my trip in May, so I have to pick back up at that exact spot naturally. Tomorrow will be off road on the TAT (TransAmerica Trail). This path from Andrews, North Carolina to Port Orford, Oregon is probably 90% off road using gravel roads and forest roads. Sam Correro is an off road motorcycle rider, and he was the one who poured over the topographical maps and personally explored the whole route and thus "invented" the TAT.
I first heard about it at a gas station in Asheville, North Carolina last October when a motorcycle buddy and I were riding the Blue Ridge Parkway. We stopped to get gas, and some guys were there filling up a fire truck. They immediately came over and started enthusiastically telling us about the TAT. Well! That was it for me! I HAD to do it. I didn't know when or how, but I'm the kind of guy who can't resist when I hear about a great adventure like that.
When I returned from that trip, I began researching off road motorcycles and finally decided that the Yamaha TW200 was tame enough for an old guy like me. I found a used one, and started learning about off road adventure riding. It has not been an easy process for me, and I admit that I am a rank amateur at this. But I did manage the section from Andrews, North Carolina to here in May, and that was some of the toughest riding. From here through Mississippi, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, I expect to be mostly just riding on gravel roads. But I don't know for sure. I DO plan to take the easy options rather than the hard options. That's because I am a rank beginner; I am an old guy; I am riding alone; and I am a coward. If you ever watch youtube videos of those guys riding on the sheer edges of cliffs out West, it will scare you too. I don't plan to take unnecessary risks. I just want to get there alive. I might be more brave if I had someone riding with me, but I don't. So it will be adventure enough if I complete it, even on the easy paths.
But I don't have to worry too much because a dear sweet member of the church in Danville is on her back porch praying for me (and worrying about me). Henrietta is probably 93 so she couldn't come with me, but if she had been younger maybe!
Oh! The map. If you have an interest in following geographically, you can do that thanks to Garmin. I have a Garmin GPS which sends track marks by satellite every 10 minutes while I am moving. My friends and family can see exactly where I have been and where I am by going to this web site:
https://share.garmin.com/CHESTERANDERS
Yeah, I registered by my first name Chester, but that's me. You can open that web site while I am traveling and refresh it every 10 minutes or so and actually see me moving toward Oregon! Is that cool or what?
Well, that is if I remember to turn on the tracking. Today, I didn't figure that out until I got to Liberty, so the track of this day shows me starting there. Oops.
It's going to be a grand adventure. I just have to remember: The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this day on even forevermore! Oh, and that Henrietta is praying for me. I hope you do too.

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