Day 3 - The Road Trip Begins

Day 3 - The Road Trip Begins

Paul's bike is loaded on the back of his truck and all our luggage. The boys are excited and we're about to head off on our first day of the dumb way round adventure... The first leg is to head south to Tennessee to pickup the hire bikes... This could possibly be the most boring part of the trip... using the Interstate 81 for approx. next 7 hours!

The weather has turned to shit and within the first hour of leaving it's pouring rain. I'm glad we decided to put all the luggage in plastic rubbish bags before we left... It wouldn't be a good start if everything we had was soaked.

We hope for an improvement in the weather as we get closer to the pickup destination and tomorrow's forecast is better than predicted.

2 hours later: Luckily, by about halfway, the rain had pretty much stopped and we we're making good progress. To say there are strange people in the US is an understatement!! 

We get to Tennessee feeling OK. It has been a long day, but the trip was pretty good... A typical boyz on the road 'trip' :-) There just so many things to take the piss out of each other about. It was great!!! 

We drive through a very busy and bustling place called Pigeon Forge. No one had heard of it, but it's going off. Tourist attractions like an Aquarium (WTF would an aquarium be doing in the middle of Tennessee??!!), helicopter rides and heaps and heaps of other places for miles and miles, and all new! Can't forget Dollyworld (yes Dolly Parton... It's her home town!)

The Smokey Mountains are just awesome. We drive into the Smokey Mountains to get to Townsend. Dan, the owner, has the bikes ready and waiting. Last minutes checks are done and the bikes are packed and loaded, ready to go. 

Gees what have we done. Are we all ready for this?! Too late now!! :-)

We get some basic instructions from Dan about the best and easiest route back to I81 and then head out for the nearest highway. We decided to go the Interstate for the first leg so we had time to get familiar with the bikes and make sure there was nothing wrong with the bikes or our packing! 30mins in, all good. 30mins later, bored stiff. Can we get off this freeway!!?? Nope, but we have a little fun to break it up  as we settle in and head for Bristol Virginia, where we stop for the night.

Its been a long and busy day. We're all stuffed and very tired. We are going to sleep very well.

Next, the ride to West Virginia via the Blue Ridge Parkway from Roanoke.

I'll post photos tomorrow.