Charlotte to New Orleans

[Rettic]

Every year a couple of riding buddies and I get together to go on a trip. We always meet up in Hendersonville, NC and head out from there. This year we decided to go down to New Orleans for Easter.

Me and one other started our run from Charlotte,NC and by time we stopped off the Natchez Trace parkway, we clocked over 700 miles in 24 hours.
As always, my 79 special is part of the fun of the trip, what's gonna break? Well, started the trip with a leaky left seal, spent time at stops trying to find a replacement. By time we found one in Chattanooga, the leaking stopped. At least I have one if it starts back up.
The new fuel filters are ticking me off, if the fuel level gets to low it does not feed the carbs. If that happens, when we fill up next the float on number 2 gets stuck and leaks has all over the ground.
Horrible gas mileage through Alabama due to 70 speed limits and high head wind from the storms that where moving through. Was warned at multiple stops about how bad the storms were, didn't get caught in any until around 8pm in Tulepo, MS. New covers for the of filters worked great, no bogging down in torrential rain.
If you are on the fence about an AirHawk seat, I don't think I could have cover 700 miles with out it. Today is an easy 250. If any other members are in New Orleans, let me know, we would love to meet up!

[Rettic]

The big easy

First half of the journey complete. Covered 300 miles today. Bike did better today, found 65 is a happy medium between speed and mileage. New Orleans is a beautiful city, could eat Cajun food for the rest of my life.

2 full days of rest before the return 850 miles. Nothing better than finally getting to do 1000 miles in 2 days on a bike you have completly torn down to the frame and rebuilt. I love this bike, without the forums, I would have never had the courage to do what I have done.

[DiverRay]

Have fun down there!! DO NOT talk with the "ladies" on the swings!(if they are still there!)
Oh, and have a few hush puppies and some seafood gumbo for me!

[Gmac]

Speed limit on US 72 varies

If you ran that route into Tupelo. The weather has been not so good Thursday and Friday with big storms on Friday if you passed through Huntsville around 5-ish.

Out of mild curiosity why didn't ya'll run I-65 to Mobile? Straight shot from Huntsville depending on if you came in down 72 from Chattanooga and you would have dodged the storms from the NW. Posted speed limit is 70 but you have to run faster if you don't want to get run over.

All in all though it sounds like a fun run, especially down the Natchez Trace this time of year.

[Rettic]

When we do these rides we actually try to stay off the I's as much as possible to see more. Basically we choose the destination, then see how long it will take to get there by avoiding the interstates. If the time looks to long we will adjust the route. It's not every year we get to ride through all of the southern states on one trip.

We start with this site and go from there http://www.motorcycleroads.com

Once we get back home I will be able to post the routes we took.

As for the storms, the whole way through TN and AL when we stopped for gas we heard about the storms and hail they were bringing, but only ever saw the clouds for the heavy stuff. Some how all the way to the Natchez, we only got sprinkled on a few times. There was amazing lightning to watch while we headed south through the one storm we hit as we got on the parkway. Besides finishing the Natchez yesterday morning was serene, one beautiful road.

Oh, we did not see the girls in the swings last night, but we did hear some great jazz bands. It's great to be walking distance from the French Quarter.

[JeffH]

Nothing better than finally getting to do 1000 miles in 2 days on a bike you have completely torn down to the frame and rebuilt.
I love this bike, without the forums, I would have never had the courage to do what I have done.

...... and you can be proud of your efforts and accomplishments.
...... and we are all grateful for all the help and quick responses we get from the technical guru's here.

Smiles per Mile have to be a big number. Let us know when you get back to CLT.

Jeff

[Gmac]

That makes sense

and is why I like country two lane roads. Low and slow, there for the view on the journey and not to see how fast I can turn the run.

I figured if you saw the weather reports you'd try to dodge them. This time of year is not a good one for tornadoes here and that cold front was prime time.

Natchez Trace has got to be in full bloom about now, possibly next weekend too so rolling video with stops at selected locations for the posterity shots of people and places. You picked a great time of the year to drive through.

[Rettic]

Home again

I am a firm believer in if you are on a motorcycle, the only way to travel is by 2 lanes or US Highways. We don't know how we missed almost all of the storms from the cold front, but we were not complaining. There were a few times when we decided to push it on Interstate, but not much. Because of the amount of time it was taking, we did take it some along the Gulf Coast from Mobile, AL to Pensacola, FL on I10. It wasn't bad, wind to our backs and light traffic. Saved us about an hour, so it knocked our first section of the ride home down to 15 hours.

Here are route routes which we mostly stuck to. Few wrong turns or modifications we thrown in, but over all this is what we did. All the Google times are if you were driving and did not stop every 90 miles.
There:
Day 1 - Hendersonville, NC to Kosciusko, MS: https://goo.gl/maps/91pFK
Day 2 - Kosciusko, MS to New Orleans, LA: https://goo.gl/maps/0TSpF

And back again
Day 1: New Orleans, LA to Athens, GA:https://goo.gl/maps/MrMQ9
Day 2: Athens, GA to Huntersville, NC (home for me): https://goo.gl/maps/KWSQB

Slowly working through getting pictures uploaded. Not a lot of time spent behind the camera. We do have some nice pictures of us on the Natchez Trace Parkway complements of my brother in the crap hauler.

In my mind, the ride home through Alabama and Georgia was my favorite section. The Natchez Trace was the most beautiful, lots of trees in bloom, leaves on most of the trees.

The bike ended up doing fine, we just adjusted our fill up distance and I laid off the throttle the whole trip. No wild take off's. It would noticeably have fuel challenges after passing, usually when we were at 85 miles on the tank. The oil leak stopped for the most part. It still seems to be leaking, but only while cold. I will be replacing the seal in the next week after I wash off 2000 miles of road grime. The fuel filters are going to be tossed after I get some of the screen type from Autozone.

Smiles per mile: infinite.

[MaximPhil]

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to seeing the pictures.
Phil

[Rettic]

Pictures

Here be some pictures from our ride. No particular order.

The three Road Dog Rides:


My Co-pilot - Monkey - The kids love to get pictures of his journey:


Magnum Mound on the Natchez:


From the Natchez:


Mean Streets of NOLA:


The next morning:


Glamour shot:


Home Again - bugs destroyed!


Home Again - not as dirty in the picture as in person:

[MaximPhil]

Nice. I like Monkey too
Phil

[Gmac]

Missed me by >.< much

Ya'll literally drove by within 1 mile of where I live when you went down I-565 in Huntsville at the Space and Rocket Center. The Trace this time of year is beautiful as you saw, good times.

Love the blue paint.