Beating the storm
Checked the forecast and left earlier than planned because rain was so close. It was misting on me as I loaded the motorcycle.
I was on the road at 7:30 which put me into Nashville in the thick of rush hour. I tried the 440 loop and it wasn’t great — an older road with construction that bogged down when we got close to I-24. Even with slowdowns I was on my way out of Nashville by 8:30.
Stopped at a rest area and a truck driver came up to talk to me. He said we’d been passing each other ever since we left the Dallas area at the same time yesterday morning. Goes to show how my 4 gallon tank effects my progress. He drives slower, but I have to stop for fuel more often.
Sure enough, I recognized the nice South Carolina decals I had noticed on the tractor part of his rig. He was a motorcycle rider too and said he could tell by my build that I was a female so he was glad to have the chance to meet me. We chatted a while before we both needed to get back on the road.
It was sunny at the stop but I rode into dark cloud cover not long after and when going over one of the mountain ridges got caught in showers. Nothing too bad and I stayed dry.
Arrived in La Follette in sunshine and almost 80 degrees. The cold front I was wanting to beat arrives tonight. Low’s in the 30’s and high’s around 50 with rain for the next few days so I’m going to be a wimp and rent a car. Enterprise has a $15 a day special so it even fits the budget.
I hope to get pictures of the fall color tomorrow.
Gear issues
Gerbing heated jacket
I’ve decided one of my very favorite things about my heated jacket on cold days is the heated collar. There is something about that warmth around the neck that almost makes up for the fact the rest of the jacket is so large it isn’t close enough to my body to be as warm as it should. That’s the result of having bought Gerbing heated gear that was only available in men’s sizes at the time.
I’m really toying with the idea of wearing a long sleeve shirt over the jacket to see if keeping it closer to my body will be warmer but I’ve already had a problem with wires digging into my elbows and knees and don’t know if a shirt will make my elbows hurt worse. I will save that trial for a 35 or 40 degree day. It was upper 50’s this morning.
Garmin hardwire
I really like my Garmin Nuvi 2450 but had the second Gilsson hardwire fail about 7 hours out from Dallas yesterday. It was firmly wired into my Centech fuse block so the failure is in the adapter somewhere. At $29 a pop I’m now $60 into this effort when the GPS only cost $169 so I officially give up. I went to Radio Shack and bought a cigarette lighter charger for the rest of the ride. My worry is it will vibrate out of the cigarette lighter socket I have in the tank bag, but at least I can plug that back in. I really missed the GPS yesterday afternoon and today. The charge from the AC adapter only lasts 2 hours.
Funny thing about the GPS. I found out you could download different vehicles to show on the map. I switched from the default car this morning to a black motorcycle. I had to pull over and change it. I swear it looked like a coffin traveling along the map and it creeped me out so bad I couldn’t stand it. I changed to a beach ball the rolls along the route and found that entertaining for the hour battery lasted. I think I’ll try the yellow rubber ducky the next time.
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