Stuck in Louisiana

Things certainly aren't going as planned. Yesterday, my destination was somewhere beyond Houston as I had seen there would be some serious weather in Dallas. Dropping down would allow me to miss it. Despite my prudent planning, the weather gods turned evil and threw me something else. The problem was very high winds. In fact, I can't ever remember riding in such winds before. While the sustained winds were strong, the gusts were amazing. The biggest problem was there was no way to predict them. They just hit randomly and when they did it was like being clocked with a load of bricks. Twice I was blown onto the shoulder and several times I fought just to stay on the road. It was an incredible amount of work and I finally gave up and decided to find a town and stop. I've never bagged a ride due to wind, but there was no point taking a risk so I pulled into Alexandria, LA and got a room.

Today has been more of the same so I'm holding over at the hotel. As I write I can hear the wind whipping through my hotel door. It's sunny at the moment, but there are all kinds of weather warnings and winds are sustained at over 30 mph and gusting up to almost 50 mph. Due to the delays I am again changing my course to head through Dallas, but the weather there is so bad, they've cancelled the flights in and out of the airport.

So much for making time. Ain't much to do in this here in this town to boot. My motorcycle does seem to be a source of interest for many at the hotel though. Already one person has asked me if I am actor. Another asked if I am a famous travel writer. Wow, a celebrity in my own mind.

Let the Adventure Begin!

Well, after many false starts this week the journey has begun. Yep, I tried to ride out of Ann Arbor earlier in the week taking advantage of a favorable weather pattern. My bike would have nothing to do with it though. It had developed an electrical short that knocked out most of the electronics. It took two dealerships many hours to track down the shorts, two of them. During this time my plans changed several times based on the weather only to end up back at the original plan of riding from Deal's Gap.

And that's how it began at about 10:30 this morning I rode south through the Gap. I stopped at the store on the North Carolina side and then bid Amy and Tucker a final good bye. I plugged New Orleans into the GPS and set off. I diligently followed every twist and curve the GPS threw at me only to find myself riding right back to through Deal' Gap abut an hour later. *WTF* Yep, the first hour of my trip was GPS gibberish and that have yet to figure out and it kept me from making it to New Orleans. As such, I changed plans a bit and decided to ride higher so that I could still drop down into Big Bend when I got to Texas.

That said, the riding in Tennessee was awesome as usual and the GPS error gave me even more of the experience. If you love curves it's really one of the motorcycling wonders of the world. The weather was cool, but nice. The roads had dried up early from the vicious storms that had moved through the nite before (think Atlanta Tornado).

It's nice to be riding again!

The Official Start Date

It's official, my trip will begin March 14, 2008. Since it's still a cold hard winter in Northern Michigan, I am choosing Deal's Gap as the fitting and official start of my journey.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deal's Gap, it's an 11 mile stretch of curvy road located between Tennessee and North Carolina noted for it's 318 curves and no road entries. It is also one of my favorite stretches of tarmac east or west of the Mississippi. While it isn't not a dirt road, it is the kind of road that a large GS comes to life on.

As for the bike, it's currently in the capable hands of the service crew at BMW Grand Rapids getting remade for the trip. I have to reiterate, of all the BMW dealers I have dealt with in my travels, these guys are truly top notch!!! Then again, people who shop there already know that!