Saturday 13th
We have to get to Tellico Flats today for a reservation at the Farm House Inn B&B for 2 nights which caters to ADV riders. We have a rest day planned there and Bill needs time to receive the coil and CDI ignition parts he ordered for his bike. Tellico Flats is a kind of a meca for ADV riders on the western side of the Smokey’s with great access to Forest Service roads and trails. We will also meet up with our the other 3 members of our lager Mad TATter group (Joe M, Ed & Steve) coming in from the coast of NC.
We had a long way to go today but there was a red (difficult) option on our GPS map that we wanted to try. We were curious “how hard is a red section” and the route is interesting in that it takes us into the southern end of the Smokey Mountains National Park where few people go. It was a long 30 mile route with only a short 2-3 mile difficult section in the middle of the route with steep severely rutted mountain roads. I wouldn’t want to ride this section with a big 1200cc bike like some of the TAT riders have. We stopped in Maggie Valley for lunch and then pressed to make miles to Tellico.
We make Tellico at 7:30 in the twillight in a heavy rain. Our B&B is great….. Kyle, Laura and their 2 Aussie’s (Ellie and Sydney) are great hosts and we dump our wet gear on their porch. We headed back out into the rain to go to a dinner of smoked chicken, backed beans and IPAs. It was worth the ride in the rain.
I think I will miss the mountains as we move west into TN and MS. Tropical storm Barry is to our west moving North through Arknasaw & W. Mississippi now so we are in no hurry to move west into the storm. We will still have to deal with the wet aftermath of Barry in a few days when we get there….. stay tuned.
