EaSTOC - Jun 22, 2005

Stecoah, North Carolina
This was yet another great event with some ST Owners at the Iron Horse Motorcycle Campgrounds and they didn't even give me a bad time about bringing my Wing... well, not much anyway..

I had been wanting to get back to the Smokies and made a last minute jaunt to North Carolina to hang out with some ST riders I'd meet in California last year and knew from the ST owners site.

---

- Wed 6/22 -
Around 1pm, I headed towards Jackson, MS where Blink and I had stayed a couple times on previous trips to/from the Smokies, Roosevelt State Park. This leg of the trip was 450 miles and I got there around 7:30. It was 95 degrees during most of the ride and had started cooling off a little, 94 degrees, when I got to the campground.

I set up camp and was glad I bought a battery operated coleman tent fan with a magnetic base/plate that allows positioning the fan anywhere within the tent and providing a nice breeze. This thing works off a D cell battery and I fell asleep two nights leaving the fan on for 5-6 hours at a time. A+ on that accessory, HERE's the link to a review on MotoCampers.

---

- Thu 6/23 -
I woke up and left Roosevelt SP about 5:00 am for Stecoah, NC where the Ironhorse MC Campground is, about 600 miles. Not much scenery until I hit US 64/74 in NC.



I made it to the campground at 2 ish and started meeting some guys I had known from boards but never met and a few I'd already known, great time.

---

- Fri 6/24 -
Time to ride the Gap, got out with a guy from California I met last year and another guy from Canada, one on as ST1100 and the other an ST1300. We left at 6 am as this being Hoot weekend we didn't want to get run over by tourists so we hit the Gap and found almost no traffic at all.

Some of these guys are pretty funny, here are some pics from atop the gap and around the area:

---

- Sat 6/25 -
I woke up Saturday and packed my gear then had breakfast with everyone and started back in the direction of Texas. I took a look at the map and decided to snake my way through some of TN and then make it to the Natchez Trace Parkway, which I had never ridden before. It was 300 miles to the parkway and along the way I took some more pics of TN.

The Natchez Trace Parkway was OK.. but, it pretty much looks the same for the 100 miles I rode so, with the 100% humidity, 50 mph speed limit and nothing all that special to see... I hit the interstate the get the air moving around me as even though it was only 85 degrees, I was dying.. I don't think I did a good job of hydration on this trip.

I hit 3 different State Parks in Arkansas on the way back home and all of them were full, that's what I get for heading back on a Saturday. So, I kept riding 'til I found Bob Sandlin State park in Texas. I was only a couple hundred miles from home but it was a very tiring, hot 900 mile day and I just needed a few hours sleep so that's where I ended up.

---

- Sun 6/26 -
After a nice short morning ride home, time to relax... it was about a 2,200 mile trip and lots of fun.

Here are the rest of the pics.