- Joined
- Nov 2, 2021
- Messages
- 828
- Reaction score
- 1,189
- Location
- Charleston
- Current Ride
- '21 402A
- Current Ride #2
- 2022 Bronco (wife's)
I'm a member in some adventure motorcycle forums and its common for people to post ride reports where they summarize an adventure with pictures and some written description. I just got back from picking up a '21 Oxford White Tremor from Kentucky and thought I'd post up a quick write up of the journey.
I'll start off by saying that buying a vehicle with a lien on it in KY is a total pain in the ass and I don't think I'll do that again. The transaction took 3 weeks. I finally got word that the paper work was in hand this past Monday and so I booked a one way flight for Thursday. Arrived in Lexington, Ky about 130 and took an hour long Uber ride with Puspa to Georgetown, Ky to meet the seller. After a bit of administrative mumbo jumbo, the big white truck was all mine!
Georgetown, Ky to Charleston, SC is a 9 hour drive. I decided to split it up into two legs and stay the night near Asheville, NC. Leaving Ky around 4PM, I was ready to put down some miles.
Jumping in the driver's seat, my first impression was that this truck is big - almost like my '06 F-250 big. After an hour or so I decided that the 'big truck' feeling was just in my head and probably due to the fact I've been driving a silverado work truck for 6 months and this Tremor is leveled and on 35 x 12.50's.
The first leg of the trip was pretty uneventful. Tried out bluecruise and just about every other feature I could manage while cruising 70mph down the interstate. I did stop in Cumberland Gap, TN. Apparently this was the gateway to the west back in the day. Grabbed a few photos of the truck in front of a train tunnel.
Fast forward to supper time - I made it to "The Woodshed" restaurant. I told the hostess that I heard they had the best grub around. She confirmed. Hamburger steak with loaded baked potato and a salad did me good after about 4 hours of driving.
While chowing down on 12oz of prime angus, I decided it was time to figure out where I'd be staying the night. There is an overlook nearby (Max Patch) that looked to be good for sunrises. I would stay somewhere near there tonight. Now to figure out how to get there. Looking at the Google Maps, it showed that the interstate exit to Max Patch was closed down. No worries, there looked to be some good curvy roads that would bypass the interstate. It would certainly take me a lot longer to get there but I wasn't tired at this point. How could I be? I had this sweet new (to me) rig outside just begging for some dirt! On to the unknown twisties in the darkness of night.
I didn't stop to take many pictures that night. Most of the next 30 miles was single lane gravel and I was focused on keeping the tires on level ground. I even had to keep the windows down to see around turns since the tint is so dark. I did come up on some hunters at about 930PM. They were on a single lane dirt road and had their trucks in the road to the point I could not get by. Sat there for a minute and could see them at the back of their trucks messing around. Finally I got out and asked if they could move so I could get by. The obliged. It wasn't until a mile or so down the road it dawned on me that I don't think it's bear season and I also don't think you can hunt at night. Weird encounter in the deep woods with no one else around. They were the only people I saw for about 20 miles.
There were a lot of recently downed trees that thankfully had been cut.
Another 13 miles and I made it to Max Patch parking lot. Enjoyed a local IPA and camped out for the night inside the truck. The back seat is not good for sleeping BTW.
Woke up about 530 to catch the sunrise. It's a short hike to the top of Max Patch which is a bald with an elevation of 4,629'. You guys from the west coast shut your mouth - that's pretty high for the us easterners. The sunrise was pretty damn cool. I thought I'd be alone up there but there was a couple and a few college kids that wanted to check it out as well.
It was a little chilly up on that hill - about 48F. While waiting on the sun, I was getting hungry and looked up a greasy spoon breakfast joint on the maps. J Creek Cafe is the next destination. Once that sun popped up, it was time to book it back to the truck and get some of that heated seat and steering wheel! There's more gravel to tackle and breakfast to eat!
I did manage to grab some pics on the way down the mountain:
J Creek Cafe was interesting. Best I can describe is in three words - Original Waffle House. This is the spot all the local mountain folk come to eat. Average age in here was probably 68 so you know the food is good. If you ever go, bring your own spoon to stir the coffee. Mine was covered in dried food. After a 15 min conversation about canned corned beef hash with my new breakfast bar buddy, It was time to hit the road again. It was about 730 at this point and I have a 4.5 hour drive if I hit it down the interstate. Screw that. The early summer mountain air is good for the body and soul. Cruising curvy mountain roads with the windows down (or on a motorcycle) is one of my favorite things. I realized I was pretty closed to hwy 276 and figured I'd take it to Brevard and pick up the interstate around there.
Saw this small waterfall on the way.
Stopped in at the Hub - a cool bike/outdoor gear/beer store but they didnt open til 10am. I shot across the road to Davidson River outfitters to window shop for a second.
After leaving here I hit the boring interstate and made it back to Charleston by about 2pm
Below are shots of my MPG's from the trip. Trip 1 was the whole trip from KY and Trip 2 was from J Creek Cafe to Charleston.
The brothers:
I'll start off by saying that buying a vehicle with a lien on it in KY is a total pain in the ass and I don't think I'll do that again. The transaction took 3 weeks. I finally got word that the paper work was in hand this past Monday and so I booked a one way flight for Thursday. Arrived in Lexington, Ky about 130 and took an hour long Uber ride with Puspa to Georgetown, Ky to meet the seller. After a bit of administrative mumbo jumbo, the big white truck was all mine!
Georgetown, Ky to Charleston, SC is a 9 hour drive. I decided to split it up into two legs and stay the night near Asheville, NC. Leaving Ky around 4PM, I was ready to put down some miles.
Jumping in the driver's seat, my first impression was that this truck is big - almost like my '06 F-250 big. After an hour or so I decided that the 'big truck' feeling was just in my head and probably due to the fact I've been driving a silverado work truck for 6 months and this Tremor is leveled and on 35 x 12.50's.
The first leg of the trip was pretty uneventful. Tried out bluecruise and just about every other feature I could manage while cruising 70mph down the interstate. I did stop in Cumberland Gap, TN. Apparently this was the gateway to the west back in the day. Grabbed a few photos of the truck in front of a train tunnel.
Fast forward to supper time - I made it to "The Woodshed" restaurant. I told the hostess that I heard they had the best grub around. She confirmed. Hamburger steak with loaded baked potato and a salad did me good after about 4 hours of driving.
While chowing down on 12oz of prime angus, I decided it was time to figure out where I'd be staying the night. There is an overlook nearby (Max Patch) that looked to be good for sunrises. I would stay somewhere near there tonight. Now to figure out how to get there. Looking at the Google Maps, it showed that the interstate exit to Max Patch was closed down. No worries, there looked to be some good curvy roads that would bypass the interstate. It would certainly take me a lot longer to get there but I wasn't tired at this point. How could I be? I had this sweet new (to me) rig outside just begging for some dirt! On to the unknown twisties in the darkness of night.
I didn't stop to take many pictures that night. Most of the next 30 miles was single lane gravel and I was focused on keeping the tires on level ground. I even had to keep the windows down to see around turns since the tint is so dark. I did come up on some hunters at about 930PM. They were on a single lane dirt road and had their trucks in the road to the point I could not get by. Sat there for a minute and could see them at the back of their trucks messing around. Finally I got out and asked if they could move so I could get by. The obliged. It wasn't until a mile or so down the road it dawned on me that I don't think it's bear season and I also don't think you can hunt at night. Weird encounter in the deep woods with no one else around. They were the only people I saw for about 20 miles.
There were a lot of recently downed trees that thankfully had been cut.
Another 13 miles and I made it to Max Patch parking lot. Enjoyed a local IPA and camped out for the night inside the truck. The back seat is not good for sleeping BTW.
Woke up about 530 to catch the sunrise. It's a short hike to the top of Max Patch which is a bald with an elevation of 4,629'. You guys from the west coast shut your mouth - that's pretty high for the us easterners. The sunrise was pretty damn cool. I thought I'd be alone up there but there was a couple and a few college kids that wanted to check it out as well.
It was a little chilly up on that hill - about 48F. While waiting on the sun, I was getting hungry and looked up a greasy spoon breakfast joint on the maps. J Creek Cafe is the next destination. Once that sun popped up, it was time to book it back to the truck and get some of that heated seat and steering wheel! There's more gravel to tackle and breakfast to eat!
I did manage to grab some pics on the way down the mountain:
J Creek Cafe was interesting. Best I can describe is in three words - Original Waffle House. This is the spot all the local mountain folk come to eat. Average age in here was probably 68 so you know the food is good. If you ever go, bring your own spoon to stir the coffee. Mine was covered in dried food. After a 15 min conversation about canned corned beef hash with my new breakfast bar buddy, It was time to hit the road again. It was about 730 at this point and I have a 4.5 hour drive if I hit it down the interstate. Screw that. The early summer mountain air is good for the body and soul. Cruising curvy mountain roads with the windows down (or on a motorcycle) is one of my favorite things. I realized I was pretty closed to hwy 276 and figured I'd take it to Brevard and pick up the interstate around there.
Saw this small waterfall on the way.
Stopped in at the Hub - a cool bike/outdoor gear/beer store but they didnt open til 10am. I shot across the road to Davidson River outfitters to window shop for a second.
After leaving here I hit the boring interstate and made it back to Charleston by about 2pm
Below are shots of my MPG's from the trip. Trip 1 was the whole trip from KY and Trip 2 was from J Creek Cafe to Charleston.
The brothers:
hunting. That’s probably what they were doing.
